Participants joining the first day of the training.

Cambodia is one of the countries most vulnerable to climate change and ranks among the top ten in some indices.

Recognizing the negative impacts of climate change on people’s lives and livelihoods, and on the national economy, Cambodia has made important strides in responding to climate change. For example, it has updated its 2020 Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and successfully submitted it to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). For Cambodia, the NDCs defines its commitment to dealing with two important issues: adaptation to climate change impacts, and the reduction of national emissions so as not to make the situation worse.

The submission of the “Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN)” highlights Cambodia’s firm commitment and political will to address climate change. The LTS4CN is a detailed, evidence-driven roadmap, guiding Cambodia’s climate actions in alignment with the Paris Agreement commitment to limiting global warming to 1.5°C.

Indeed, at the center of the Paris Agreement is the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF), which requires party countries to report their greenhouse gas emissions, climate change impacts, adaptation actions and progress toward their NDCs.

Is Cambodia ready for the Paris Agreement’s transparency requirements?

Cambodia will need to prepare a Biennial Transparency Report (BTR) in accordance with the requirements of the ETF and submit it to the UNFCC by 31 December 2024.

The report will include an up-to-date inventory of greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions and removals estimated using the 2006 Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) Guidelines and information necessary to track progress against priority mitigation and adaptation actions identified in Cambodia’s updated NDCs.

As stated in Cambodia’s First Biennial Update Report (BUR), agriculture is responsible for 11.2 per cent of GHG emissions, while forest and other land uses accounted for 80.1 per cent in 2016. Cambodia, therefore, prioritizes the agriculture, forestry and other land use (AFOLU) sector in its NDCs and the LTS4CN. However, the country’s capacity to monitor and report on climate change in this sector remains limited.

The national capacity needs assessment highlighted a lack of institutional arrangements, including the absence of coordination for data collection and sharing; and technical capacity to measure, report and verify GHG emissions, especially from the AFOLU sector. 

Training event  

With support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) Capacity-building Initiative for Transparency (CBIT), FAO organized a much-needed training event for relevant stakeholders in Cambodia. The training event aimed at building their capacity to meet reporting requirements for the UNFCCC. The first event gathered around 60 participants from all IPCC sectors.

The event took place over four days in March 2022. It was designed to improve participants’ understanding of the various components of the Paris Agreement, reporting requirements focusing on the BTR, Modalities, Procedure and Guidelines (MPGs), and the nexus between the BTR and NDCs.

Trainees were introduced to the importance of proper institutional arrangements; the roles and responsibilities of all relevant actors; the need for a functional system for data collection, management and storage; and the importance of building the BTR roadmap and setting up a clear timeline based on actual country capacity. 

Mr Chann Mithona, Vice Chief of the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) Office, Department of Planning and Statistic (DPS), Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fishery (MAFF), expressed that the training was very useful for all relevant stakeholders who will need to contribute to the BTR compilation following the requirements of the ETF:

 “This is the first time but it is a great stepping stone and very important for me to learn about the adaptation and mitigation data, especially for the agriculture sector that needs to be reported.”

He also suggested that FAO provide more training events to improve institutional capacity in data collection and quality control; and support the development of an archiving system for proper storage of data, while building the capacity of relevant officials to ensure their ability to contribute to the reporting process.

Mr Antonio Schiavone, Head of Operations, FAO Representation of Cambodia, emphasized that “strengthening the capacity of the Government of Cambodia in preparing reports to the UNFCCC under the Paris Agreement’s ETF, with a focus on AFOLU sector, including inventories of emissions and removals, and information to track progress against priority actions identified in Cambodia’s updated NDC, is the core objective of the project”.

He also confirmed that a series of training events will be delivered intensively this year.

H.E. Dr Heng Chanthoeun, Deputy Director General of General Directorate of Policy and Strategy, Ministry of Environment, thanked FAO and its experts for organizing this important capacity building training with the purpose of providing guidance to Cambodia for the preparation of its first BTR.

He also commented on the key achievements of the project despite some disruptions caused by the COVID-19 pandemic. These included its contribution to the LTS4CN, notably in the AFOLU sector; and supporting the participation of Cambodia at COP26, where Cambodia presented its adaptation actions for the agriculture sector as a pathway for national resilience and economic growth.

The training session was organized as a joint effort of the FAO-led Cambodia CBIT project and the “Global capacity-building towards enhanced transparency in the AFOLU sector” project.