Speech by Country Director Elena Tischenko at workshop on land degradation

Welcome Remarks by Elena Tischenko
Country Director, UNDP in Cambodia
Workshop on National Action Programme to combat land degradation
Phnom Penh, May 4-5, 2011

Excellency Uk Sokhonn, Secretary of State, Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries and National Project Director of Sustainable Land Management Project
Excellency Koum Saron, Advisor to Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries and Focal Point of the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD)
Excellency Chheng Kimsun, Delegate of the Royal Government, Head of Froestry Administration
Mrs. Camilla Nordheim-Larsen, Programme Coordinator, Asia Pacific, Global Mechanism of UNCCD, International Fund for Agriculture Development (IFAD)
Distinguished participants and colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen
Good morning

It is my privilege to be here today to deliver a few remarks at the national consultative workshop for National Action Programme (NAP) under the UN Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) and Integrated Financing Strategies (IFS).

Cambodia is a signatory to the UNCCD. The country is also a signatory to two other UN Multilateral Environmental Agreements: Climate Change and Biodiversity. As part of its commitment to the UNCCD, the government together with broad range of stakeholders  has prepared this National Action Programme with the Integration Financing Strategies (IFS) that we have before us today.

As we all know, land degradation and low resilience to climate change now affect significant areas of the agricultural land in many parts of the worl. There are at least two key manifestations of the problem:

1) Low soil fertility in farming areas, and
2) Reduced ecological services from the forest-covered land to support the needs of the agricultural sector.

Well defined focus of the NAP enabled to hopefully define and tackle specific priorities in an effective and practical way.

Low soil fertility is caused by two major factors. Firstly, up to 70% of Cambodia soils, including rice growing areas, have either medium or low soil fertility.  In addition to that, soil erosion due to the reduced ecological services from diminishing forest cover is also evident in agricultural landscapes. In the provinces of Siem Reap, Kampong Thom, Kampong Speu, Battambang, and Kratie, for example, it has been found that natural regulating systems, such as forest and vegetative cover in watersheds, have been reduced and therefore are unable to effectively control water run-off and promote water retention. Taken together, existing information indicates that 44% of the total land area in those area is either moderately or highly vulnerable to soil erosion.

These vulnerabilities are further compounded by the effects of climate change on the intensity of floods and droughts. Current capacity to adapt to these consequences is generally low. According to the Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment Report in 2010, commissioned by the Ministry of Environment, at least 700 communes out of 1621 communes/Sangkats have a high vulnerability index to climate change. Poor people and other vulnerable groups such as female-headed households, children and indigenous people, are affected most.

Land degradation has tangible socio-economic consequences. The agricultural sector is the key driver of economic development that accounted for 32% of GDP in 2010; it also constitutes more than 60% of the total employment in the country (2009). The government’s rectangular strategy seeks to improve diversification of agricultural producton, and promote a number of key reforms including land, fisheries, and forestry reform. Yet, agricultural development in Cambodia still has to reach its full potential. In 2009-2010, an average paddy yield rate was 2.83 tones/hectares, as compared, for example, with about 4.89 tones/hectares in Vietnam. Among the factors affecting agricultural productivity are low levels of technology, limited access to services, relatively poor soils and insufficient irrigation systems. 

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Why do soil-degrading agricultural practices remain prevalent? The analysis shows that a number of conducive factors need to be in place for stakeholders to apply correct practices and prevent land degradation. What are these factors?

Firstly, there is lack of access to science-based knowledge and proven tools and technologies to prevent and mitigate against land degradation or adapt to climate change. Information on the actual nature, scope and costs of land degradation is lacking. Without this knowledge, the addressing of land degradation, particularly that of agricultural land, could not be given high priority in the Public Investment Programme.

Secondly, there are insufficient policy-based incentives for key stakeholders to invest their own resources into sustainable land management. Small farmers and communities who lack tenure security, access to resources and are uncertain of markets, are not inclined to make long term investments in sustainable land management.

Lastly, manpower capacities for planning and implementing sustainable land management, particularly for agricultural land, are generally lacking. This is, both, because sustainable land management is not yet a high priority and the current extension force for mainstreaming agriculture is still small. In fact, Cambodia has one of the lowest extension workers to farmer ratio in the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

Today’s national consultative workshop is one of the most important steps in our efforts to develop the National Action Programme and Integrated Financial Strategies. The validation of the revised NAP and IFS opens up an opportunity to build a common understanding and agreed path for the NAP in Cambodia; and to discuss the funding sources to support its implementation. I am confident that discussions at this workshop will highlight the importance of the NAP for supporting key national strategies and programmes related to agriculture, rice production and export, water, forestry and climate change. The next steps in this process will include the mainstreaming of the NAP in the institutional mandates of the ministries and agencies through continuous consultation; legal, policy and institutional reform; active support for NAP demonstration at the field-level, and effective capacity development.

On behalf of UNDP, I would like to thank the leadership of the Ministry of Agriculture Forestry and Fisheries for their key contributions to the formulation of the NAP and IFS through a consultative process and for organizing this workshop as culmination of this process.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries and UNDP have had close and productive collaboration on the Sustainable Land Management project that led to the development of the draft National Action Programme. The NAP has been mainstreamed into National Strategic Development Plan (NSDP). This equips the government with the strategy and programme action plan for addressing land degradation issues in order to increase agricultural productivity. The NAP is centered on 5 strategic programme areas ranging from soil management and climate adaptation to watershed-based forest restoration to capacity development to partner coordination. We will hear today in detail about all these components that encapsulate 5 identified programmes, 10 sub-programmes and 30 projects over a ten-year period.

We are very pleased to note also that six concept note proposals have been developed and discussed with partners to mobilise resources for key priority actions of NAP. Twelve thematic maps have been produced and will eventually be attached to the NAP to show, among other indicators, the vulnerability to soil erosion in watersheds. In addition, a pool of 100 good practices have been identified, 6 policy briefs prepared and 5 technical reports put together. Over the next few months, the good practices will be disseminated widely.

On the capacity side, a Training Needs Assessment has been designed and tested, and 65% of the topics have been introduced to counterparts at the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF), and to the provincial and district facilitators under the Decentralization and Deconcentration framework in the provinces of Preah Vihear, Kompong Speu and Takeo.

Excellencies, Ladies and Gentlemen,

I would like to thank all the participants who have taken the time to join us in this stakeholder consultation workshop. We are very pleased to see today representatives from the ministries, agencies, provincial and local authorities, NGOs, which is the evidence of our shared concern and commitment to address land degradation and improve sustainable management of land and agricultural resources in Cambodia.

I would like also to extend my special thanks to Global Mechanism for their support in training Cambodian stakeholders on Designing Integrated Financing Strategy, for their technical assistance in Integrated Financing Strategies and for the Cost of Land Degradation Study.

I wish the best of success to this important workshop and to its follow-up through NAP implementation in the months and years to come.  

Thank you.