The Global Environmental Facility is set to fund the $4.35 million CamAdapt project with the aim of helping coastal fishing communities and ecosystems adapt to climate change. Heng Chivoan
A five-year project known as CamAdapt, which aims to help coastal fishing communities and ecosystems in four coastal provinces – Kampot, Kep, Koh Kong and Preah Sihanouk – adapt to climate change, is expected to start early next year.
The project is being funded to the tune of $4.35 million by the Least Developed Country Fund of the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), the UN’s Food and Agriculture Organisation (FAO) in Cambodia told The Post on Monday.
Climate Adaptation and Resilience in Cambodia’s Coastal Fishery Dependent Communities (CamAdapt) will be implemented by the FAO in Cambodia and the Ministry of Environment’s Fisheries Administration (FiA).
The project will involve carrying out vulnerability assessments for men and women in fishing communities in coastal areas and developing strategies to help them adapt to climate change.
CamAdapt will offer livelihood diversification options and early warning systems, provide safety at sea for fishermen and women and develop a management plan for fisheries and other coastal resources.
It will also help integrate adaptation considerations into relevant policies and programmes and strengthen partnerships among stakeholders at national, provincial and local levels.
More than 130 officials and experts participated in four provincial workshops from May 7-10 to validate the CamAdapt project.
Participants included officials from several ministries – Environment, notably the Department of Marine and Coastal Zone Conservation; Land Management, Urban Planning and Construction; Water Resources and Meteorology; and Women’s Affairs – and from fishing communities, NGOs and the FAO in Cambodia.
The provincial validation workshops were successful in mobilising support for the project, with national and sub-national levels and relevant stakeholders working together to come up with context-specific adaptation options for coastal communities, and capacity development plans for their supporting institutions.
“There were great enthusiasm, involvement and commitment, showing readiness for taking the necessary steps to enable coastal fishery communities to adapt to climate change,” FAO in Cambodia said on its website.
Last Friday, officials and experts from the FAO in Cambodia, the FiA and the Ministry of Environment met for a national workshop in Phnom Penh to reach a final agreement before submitting a project document to the GEF.
The Post was unable to reach FiA director-general Eng Cheasan for further details on Tuesday.
