Closing remarks by Deputy Country Director at the launch of the Cambodia Human Development Report 2011

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

While some of us think of climate change as an environmental issue, this Report makes it very clear that it is fundamentally a development challenge, and one that has the potential to derail Cambodia’s development gains.

As we have seen today, climate change puts risk and uncertainty at the heart of development. As the impacts of climate change become more severe, it will be increasingly important for us to monitor and debate the significance and the implications of those changes. This will require a lot of actions, in particular that information be freely and readily available, not only to a small circle of policy makers, but also to those who are feeling the impacts of climate change directly. It is also about putting in place legislation regarding the right to information because this will go a long way to opening up space for public debate about many important aspects of climate change, and  further strengthen overall transparency and accountability, enabling communities to respond based on facts.

Although uncertainty regarding the potential impacts of climate change will remain, as has been explained today, “No Regrets” actions taken now to build the resilience of society and in particular the resilience of rural Cambodians, will improve human development in other areas, including health, education, and poverty reduction.  For example, investments in rural infrastructure is not a direct response to climate change, but improving roads and irrigation systems will improve rural livelihoods regardless of the effects of climate change. Similarly, investment in irrigation infrastructure can improve agricultural livelihoods now, but will also prepare rural communities to cope with the anticipated effects of climate change.

We’ve seen that agriculture, on which more than 70 percent of Cambodians rely, will continue to have a dominant role in rural livelihoods, but this is also likely to suffer some of the earliest and most severe impacts of climate change.  

We’ve also seen in this report that while climate change efforts thus far have largely been concentrated on the national and international levels, efforts need to be focused on local planning and action, however, bringing different sectors together in integrated development planning that responds to local needs and circumstances, where the greatest potential to build resilient rural livelihoods exists. Cambodia is actually well positioned to deal with climate change at the local level as we have the ongoing sub-national democratic development reform, or decentralization and deconcentration. As part of the reform process, the Government and other stakeholders are currently going through a review of the functions of different tiers of Government. And it is a very timely opportunity to open up a debate on what is required for mainstreaming climate change in local development, and what roles will be played by different actors – communities, Government, private sector and the local level, as H.E. Keat Chhon observed in his opening remarks.

The Royal Government has made climate change a priority in development planning and action. To ensure the resilience of Cambodian society, future development efforts will need to include a climate change perspective. Despite the inherent risks and uncertainty surrounding climate change, Cambodia is poised to both contribute to global efforts to mitigate its effects and still pursue its development goals. In doing so, this country can provide an example of inclusive adaptive and sustainable development.

Excellencies, ladies and gentlemen,

I would like once again to thank all of you for taking the time to join us in today’s launch and to discuss the Report’s findings. We are very pleased to see a really broad spectrum of representatives from Government, development partners, and NGOs, as well as civil society organisations and university students. We hope that this report will continue to inform participatory, deliberative and informed dialogue among all of us on Cambodia’s response to climate change.

To conclude, policy decisions made now will determine the Cambodia’s future path. Working together we can ensure that it is a resilient growth path.

I wish to thank you for your attention and your participation.