Phnom Penh – FAO, in collaboration with the National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD), Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries (MAFF) launched a new project “Strengthening capacity in the agriculture and land use sectors for enhanced transparency in implementation and monitoring of Cambodia’s Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC)” which runs until 2022.

Funded by Global Environment Facility (GEF)’s Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT), this project is supporting Cambodia to develop and strengthen the monitoring and reporting systems of its climate action, and to meet the requirements of the Paris Agreement Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF). Singed in 2016, the Paris Agreement brought all nations together around the common cause to combat climate change and adapts to its effects. Its central aim is to strengthen the global response to the threat of climate change by keeping global temperature rise this century well below 2 degrees Celsius above pre-industrial levels, and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 degrees Celsius.

The ETF is designed to guides countries on reporting their greenhouse gas emissions, climate change impacts and adaptation, and progress toward their NDC, the pledged efforts of each country to reduce national emissions and adapt to the impact of climate change.

For Cambodia, the project goal is to enhance the capacities to track of climate actions for two key sectors, the agriculture and land-use sectors.

As emphasized by Mr Antonio Schiavone, Head of Operation at FAO in Cambodia, Cambodia’s agriculture and land-use strategies, policies, and investments are crucial for addressing the nation’s poverty, food security, and its ability to respond and adapt to climate change.

“Enhancing monitoring and planning systems for agriculture sector activities to adapt to climate change impacts and to address drivers of anthropogenic Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions are crucial for fostering more sustainable development for Cambodia.”

In his opening remark, H.E. Tin Polork underlined negative impacts of climate change on Cambodia's economic development as it directly impacts a number of sectors, ranging from agriculture, biodiversity and ecosystems, water resources, transport infrastructure, to human health, especially for coastal communities, requiring a large amount of national budget in response.

By 2050, if there is no adequate investment in adaptation to climate change impact, economic growth will be reduced by about 10 points of GDP due to a reduction of productivity potential of labor groups and a reduction of agricultural output as a result of  rising temperatures, and deterioration of infrastructure due to severe weather events, as suggested by a study of the NCSD and the Ministry of Economy and Finance.

The need for action in the agriculture and land-use sectors to address climate change impacts and drivers of climate change is reflected in Cambodia’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC), which was submitted to the UNFCCC in 2015, and in Cambodia’s NDC roadmap.

“A clear framework for action to address both the impacts and drivers of climate change in the agriculture and land-use sectors and the basis for the development and strengthening of monitoring and reporting systems and processes pursuant to the requirements of the ETF are well reflected in the country’s NDC roadmap and stakeholder engagement plan 2019-2030, which was developed in 2019 by NCSD,” said H.E. Tin Ponlork.  

Furthermore, as indicated by Her Excellency Chan Phaloeun, Under Secretary of State of MAFF, the MAFF actions to tackle impacts of climate change and contributing to the reduction of Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions were integrated in some of policy frameworks, plans of action, programmes, as well as the Agricultural Sector Strategic Development Plan (ASDP) 2019-2023.

A number of barriers impede effective implementation of ETF requirements in Cambodia. Addressing these barriers will enable Cambodia to produce more timely and accurate reports for UNFCCC processes, and particularly the reporting requirements under the Paris Agreement ETF.

Therefore, this project will support the country to establish a Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) system of greenhouse gas to track the implementation of its NDC transparently and, more broadly, to assess the impact of climate change actions and policies.  Cambodia will be able to prepare reports from the agriculture and land use sectors, that are consistent with the requirements of the ETF, including more up-to-date inventories of emissions sources.