Rice is the predominant crop in Cambodia and most rice fields are rain-fed and thus vulnerable to climate change (source: Max Pixel)

By Omar H. Amach

PHNOM PENH, 8 April 2019 - Considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the world to the effects of climate change, the Royal Government of Cambodia is taking major steps to improve its resilience and reduce its disaster risk with support from the UN Office for Disaster Risk Reduction.

To build Cambodia’s resilience and protect its economic and social gains from climate-induced disasters, the country is upgrading its disaster risk management system and a key part of this effort is the development of the new Strategic National Action Plan for Disaster Risk Reduction 2019 – 2023. The strategy development kicked off with a multi-sectoral workshop in Phnom Penh that brought together line ministries, the UN system, NGOs and representatives of civil society.

“Cambodia has made impressive development gains, and we need to protect these.  The new DRR strategy requires the full engagement and commitment of all sectors in Cambodia to ensure our development goals are not delayed by disasters”, said Dr. Nhim Vanda, Senior Minister in Charge and Permanent Vice President of NCDM. “

Economic growth in Cambodia over the last decade has helped lower the poverty rate sharply from 48 per cent in 2007 to 14 per cent in 2014. However, many of these gains are being threatened by the country’s vulnerability to climate change as Cambodia is likely to experience an increase in temperatures, longer droughts, and more frequent tropical storms, according to a USAID report.

Cambodia is already experiencing more flooding in its wet season and longer droughts in the dry season, both of which threaten the livelihoods of 80 per cent of Cambodia’s population who rely mostly on subsistence crop production. In 2016, the country experienced a severe drought that Prime Minister Hun Sen declared as the country's worst disaster in 100 years, and in 2018 wide-scale floods affected more than 100,000 families.

The country is currently in the midst of another drought and a surge in high temperatures which have affected more than 20,000 hectares of rice fields in 13 provinces, according to Cambodia’s National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM).