ALM UNDP

Cambodia is currently undergoing a process of decentralization, resulting in greater responsibility falling on provincial, district and community agencies. The project is aligned with this development by focusing on local capacity development and integrating project interventions with broader social and economic development programmes. After completion of the project, commune councils and provincial and district departments will be able to plan and implement measures to adapt to climate change, and will have enhanced capacities to plan locally appropriate economic development that is resilient to the impacts of climate change. However, this task has proven to be a major challenge to the project for two main reasons. First, MAFF is not the focal institution for sub-national planning processes or decentralisation and de-concentration; this is a new territory for the institution. Second, the project is only focused on climate change in the agriculture and water sectors. In order to mainstream climate change into sub-national planning process with a holistic approach, the project would have to widen its scope to other sectors, such as health, gender and children and natural resource management. Neither the project nor MAFF have a mandate or the expertise in these disciplines. MAFF, UNDP, IFAD and UNCDF are discussing modalities of how climate change mainstreaming can be implemented in alignment with the on-going sub-national planning procedures being developed by the Ministry of Interiors and Ministry of Planning in a holistic manner. 

Progress to date: In a poverty stricken coastal zone, land and farming are the limiting factors for poverty alleviation where rational use of land comes to the fore. The major contribution of Fish, Fruit and Forest (FFF) model is that it ensures livelihood security by accommodating 15 families/ha and appears as one of the pioneering rational land use model for a highly land scarce country like Bangladesh. Besides, in terms of rational income, the outcome of the model is highly rational for participating communities because it provides two to threefold added income in addition to their routine livelihood activities.  FFF Model differs in that it comprises the following Early, Mid-term, Mid/long-term and Long-term resource generation options for livelihood security of coastal communities. It provides opportunity to grow large number of improved variety vegetables on the 2.7m × 86.7m long top surface of the mound. Moreover, further expansion is possible through special supporting arrangements (scaffold) on the margins of ditch to support hanging vegetables for growing country bean, cucumber, bottle, bitter and sweet gourds (cucurbitaceous vegetables) and other creeper vegetables.Key lessons learned:

1. Involve stakeholders from different government departments to create appropriate adaptation measures: Identifying different needs and implementing them with multiple perspectives. Given the multitude of stakeholders, integrated communication and coordination will be key to success. The project aims to address these potential risks by coordinating closely with ongoing activities of the government and International Union for Conservation of Nature.
2. Ensure that there is on-going cooperation and consistent support between the stakeholders and the government: Communication with stakeholders, project team, sponsors and people of Bangladesh. In the absence of an integrated coastal development strategy which incorporates climate risks for the Government to utilize over the coming decades, the current set of ad-hoc activities is unlikely to address emerging climate change, including variability, problems coherently.  There is a need to develop strategies based on existing opportunities, understanding of the level of climatic risks, political and economic feasibility of adaptation to climate change response options.
3. Involve district authorities and local communities at an early stage of project design: Involving local residents in various stages of the project has been beneficial. Awareness-raising of projected impacts and potential solutions has been conducted through local media and other appropriate channels.
4. Identify risk management/ vulnerability and areas for synergies with other sectors during the initial stages of the project: Identify complementarities and establish linkages with other programmes and sectors (e.g. disaster risk management). The project will further generate adaptation benefits by facilitating the integration of climate risk into existing poverty reduction and rural development strategies, especially as they pertain to coastal regions.

The key stakeholders are people involved in water resource management in Cambodia and two contrasting agricultural districts: 1. Chi Kreng District in Siem Reap, which consists of 12 communes, 154 villages. The Chi Kreng District consists of 22,994 families with 127,032 people (64,807 women) of which 21,832 families are farmers. 2. The Bavel District in Battambang Province, which consists of 6 communes with a total of 18,842 families (95,847 people, of which 48,731 are women). The project objective is to enhance adaptive capacity, at the national, institutional and local levels, to climate change–induced changes in water resources availability for the agricultural sector in Cambodia. As a contribution to this objective, the project goal is to enhance food security and food production in the face of changed climate conditions. Part of this process will include improved capacity to conserve and manage fish stocks as an element of integrated rural livelihood development through integrated packages of small rural livelihood interventions. Complementing this capacity development process, which will apply at the national level, the project will also build capacity of selected local communities to adapt to changes in water and land resources resulting from climate change to promote sustainable agricultural development.