Cambodia is launching its first university-level climate change curriculum, according to USAID, which is supporting the pilot program.

The curriculum , developed by 14 Southeast Asian and American universities over the past two years, covers four modules: basic climate change, social and environmental soundness, low emissions, land-use planning, and carbon measurement and monitoring. Cambodia is the third ASEAN country to test-drive the new curriculum, after Vietnam and Thailand.

Last week, USAID held the first of several planned seminars to train eight Cambodian universities in the course material.

The Royal University of Phnom Penh, which participated in the training, hopes to implement the materials and eventually offer a new major. “We are already in the process of enrolling interested students,” said Dr Sok Vanny, vice rector at RUPP.

A US credit agency last year named Cambodia as the most vulnerable country to climate change.