18^th February 2019, the Programme Support Board (PSB) of the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA) conducted its 13^th meeting at Ministry of Environment (MoE) under the chairmanship of H.E. Eang Sophalleth, MoE’s Secretary of State, on behalf of H.E. Say Samal, Minister of Environment and Chairperson of the CCCA’s PSB. The meeting was also attended by PSB members from the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries; Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology; Ministry of Economy and Finance; and representatives from the development partners including the European Union, UNDP and Sida, as well as representatives of selected stakeholders to review the​ entire implementation period of 2018, and​​ the key priorities for the final 6 months of this phase of the programme, from January-June 2019.

In his welcome remarks, H.E. Eang Sophalleth underlined NCSD’s and CCCA’s work with Ministry of Economy and Finance and Ministry of Planning to mainstream climate change in Government priorities, including the new Rectangular Strategy 4, the National Strategic Development and sectoral strategic plans. He also highlighted the increasing allocations for climate change from the national budget for the 5^th year in a row, and the work done by CCCA with universities on climate change research.

The meeting reviewed the achievements of CCCA during 2018, discussed planned activities for January-June 2019 as well as plans for the 3^rd phase of CCCA.

Key achievements for 2018 include:

At policy evel:

• Through joint work with MOP and MEF, climate change is a top priority in the new Rectangular Strategy 4 (one side of the rectangle on inclusive and sustainable development). The draft NCSD 2019-2023 has extensively integrated climate change in relevant sectors.
• Modelling of CC impacts on economic growth was completed with MEF (-0.3% of GDP growth every year until 2050 if nothing is done). This has helped to identify critical sectors where action is needed to minimize this impact.
• Government expenditure on CC increased for the 5^th year in a row (83 MUSD in 2017), based on the climate public expenditure review conducted with MEF.
• With CCCA support, MRD has a new five-year strategy and action plan for the sector which fully integrates climate change in their priorities
• Climate Change indicators have been adopted for the Cambodia Sustainable Development Goals (CSDG 13), in cooperation with MOP

Impacts on the ground:

•  Overall since the beginning of CCCA, the proportion of climate change vulnerable communes in Cambodia has been reduced from 49% (2014) to 43% (2016). A new assessment will be done this year (2019).
• CCCA 2 has supported 22 projects implemented by ministries and NGOs (4.5 MUSD in total), with over 19,000 direct beneficiaries to date. These projects have led to a number of policy changes and impacts which were detailed in the annual report.

Some of the key focus areas in 2019 (January-July) will be:

• Documenting lessons learned from the CCCA grants and ensuring successful pilots have a path to sustainability and scalability;
• Launching of the new knowledge management information system on climate change;
• Continued work on integrating climate change in the national budget;
• Publication of the results of research partnerships with universities;
• Mid-term review of the Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan;
• Climate change awareness and outreach activities.

Board members discussed the need to strengthen capacities for monitoring of the climate change action plans in ministries, asked for continued sharing of information on climate change-related activities (newsletters), and emphasized the importance of improving understanfing of the gender dimensions of climate change programmes, including through work with Ministry of Women’s Affairs.

On the next phase of CCCA, the board discussed the timeline to ensure a smooth transition from one phase to the other in June-July 2019. UNDP, EU and Sweden will finalize the required financial agreements and project document for consultations with NCSD and MEF. Sweden announced a contribution of SEK 34 million to CCCA for the 2019-2022 period, in addition to the EUR 6 million approved by the European Commission in November 2018.

The key decisions made from the 13^th PSB meeting are:

1. Approval of CCCA’s annual progress report for 2018;
2. Endorsement of the activities and budget plan for January-June 2019;
3. Approval on orientation and next steps for CCCA phase 3 preparation.