via CAAI News Media
Friday, 26 February 2010 15:04 Khouth Sophakchakrya
CAMBODIAN authorities and international development groups have launched a new initiative aimed at addressing climate change in the Kingdom, officials said Thursday.
The Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA) is a partnership between the government and international donors, who have kicked in US$8.9 million in funding to support the effort.
The CCCA aims to lay the groundwork to allow Cambodia to respond to the expected threats of climate change, which scientists assert could impact food security and increase the occurance of severe weather events in the Kingdom. Until now, climate change-related projects have been implemented on a per-project basis.
“We are moving from a standalone project-based approach towards a more comprehensive, programmatic approach,” Environment Minister Mok Mareth said during the launch of the CCCA Thursday.
The existing inter-ministerial National Climate Change Committee will still oversee overall objectives, but the CCCA will be tasked with implementing the programmes.
The creation of the CCCA comes after Cambodian authorities last October called on international donors to provide funding that would assist the Kingdom in preparing for climate change’s expected effects.
A limited amount of research has been conducted into what those effects might be. Scientists, for example, expect fish stocks in the country’s usually bountiful inland river systems to be harmed – but there is no clear figure as to how significant the damage could be.
The CCCA, then, will help the Kingdom prepare for and study projected impacts, said Rafael Dochao Moreno, chargé d’affaires for the Delegation of the European Union in Cam-bodia, which is among the bodies that have provided funding.
“The EU is convinced that climate change will not be limited to food security or energy security in this part of the world,” he said.
“That is why we need to assess ... how and where impacts of climate change may produce instability.”
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