PHNOM PENH – Sweden granted 28,000,000 Swedish Krona (approx. US$3.8 million) on Friday (14 November 2014) to support an initiative implemented by the United Nations Development Programme to help Cambodia improve its capacity to respond to climate change impacts on its development.

Ms. Anna Maj Hultgård, Swedish Ambassador, and Ms. Setsuko Yamazaki, Country Director of UNDP in Cambodia, inked the grant agreement formally extending the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA) into a second phase, which will run through 2019.

On this occasion, Ms. Anna Maj Hultgård said “Increased resilience to climate change, environmental impact and natural disaster constitutes a key goal of Sweden’s development cooperation with Cambodia for the period 2014-2018. We are therefore proud to formalize today our continued support to the CCCA, through which we will be able to assist – jointly with UNDP and the Delegation of the European Union – the Cambodian people and the Royal Government of Cambodia in their endeavors to strengthen national systems and capacities to better implement and coordinate the response to climate change both at central and local levels.”

The new grant is the second by Sweden which also contributed more than US$4.4 million to the CCCA programme during its first phase, 2010-2014.

Recent studies have consistently identified Cambodia as one of the countries that are most vulnerable to climate change due to its heavy reliance on agriculture, the large proportion of the population residing in the low lying areas and weak capacity to cope with unpredictable and extreme weather events such as drought and flood.

The CCCA was established in February 2010 as a multi-donor programme to serve as a unified entry point for development partners to channel resources for climate change initiatives in Cambodia. Donors during the programme’s first phase included Sweden, the European Union, Denmark, and UNDP. The programme has supported Government institutions and NGOs to implement 20 demonstration projects aimed at testing adaptation measures to improve resilience of rural communities most at risk to climate change. ....

This article is taken from UNDP Cambodia. Please follow the link for full information.