Kompong Thom, December 2, 2014: One hundred and twenty five participants (45 females) from relevant institutions came together for the second round of Regional Workshop on National Adaptation Plans (NAPs), under the theme “Initial ideas of civil society and community on NAPs components.” The event, organized by The NGO Forum (NGOF) brought together representatives from CSOs/NGO network members, affected communities, farmers, development partners, the private sector and government representatives from Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Agriculture and local authorities to discuss this issue.
The event was conducted in order to:
- Promote public awareness on climate change adaptation a national policy framework related to adaptation
- Understand the concerns of the affected communities, farmers, local authorities, and sub national government on the impact of climate change
- Consult with all the relevant parties on their initial ideas as well as future vision for their national adaptation plan in Cambodia
- To take a medium‐ and long‐term approach to reducing vulnerability to the adverse effects of climate change
- To facilitate the integration of climate change adaptation (CCA), in a coherent manner, into relevant new and existing policies, programmes and activities
“Since 2013, floods have caused 253 million dollars destruction and lead to h 168 deaths. Forty three per cent of the total communes are vulnerable areas, however, if we look at the villagers capacity on disaster preparation and resilience, we can clearly see that it is at a low level, especially the ability to integrate the climate change into the National Development Plan, commune development plans and the commune investment plans, These plans haven’t yet incorporated how Climate Change will become part of the development planning process ,” said Mr. Heng Pheakdey, NGOF’s Deputy Executive Director. “Hence, I hope this regional workshop will be a golden opportunity with enough space for the participants to share, learn from each other and be able to create the effective strategies from their perspectives to ensure the tactics are moving smoothly with good cooperation among the significant partners.”
Since 2013, UNDP, UNEP and GIZ supported by Cambodia’s Ministry of Environment (MoE) has identified entry points for the Government to institutionalize Cambodia’s National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process. The main points of a NAP process as suggested by the UNFCCC and LEG Technical Guidelines are:
“I’m very delighted and warmly welcoming to the organizing NGOs, including NGO Forum, for making this workshop happen in our province in order to strengthen the public capacity and knowledge about the climate change adaptation,” H.E. Sok Loo, Kompong Thom Deputy Governor said during his opening remark. “Meanwhile, in order to make our work more effective and efficient, I urge all the participants to pay attention, as I believe climate change adaptation and disaster response plan could proceed effectively based on the three main factors, capacity, resources and involvement.”
Under the Cancun Adaptation Framework, relevant multilateral, international, regional and national organizations, the public and private sectors, civil society and other relevant stakeholders are required to undertake and support enhanced action on adaptation at all levels. The Nairobi Programme also provides a platform for parties and stakeholders from a range of organizations to collaborate on adaptation activities in various sectors, levels and regions, and manage knowledge on adaptation.
This workshop was successfully supported by GERMANWATCH, DCA/CA and SOUTHERN VOICE.
