The Ministry of Environment (MoE) in partnership with UN-Habitat in Cambodia launched an inception workshop of the GCF funded project “Enhanced actions to respond to climate change through sustainable waste management in Coastal Cities in Cambodia” on Thursday, October 13, 2022 at Sangkahak Mith Hotel, Kep city.
The project “Enhanced actions to respond to climate change through sustainable waste management in Coastal Cities in Cambodia” implemented by the Department of Climate Change (DCC) of the General Directorate of Policy and Strategy (GDPS), the Ministry of Environment in partnership with the UN-Habitat in Cambodia is funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF) within 18-month implementation period (2022-2023). The project aims to improve wastewater and solid waste management in line with government initiatives, by taking into consideration of innovative strategic actions to ensure environmental protection in the coastal areas.
In the opening session, on behalf of the GDPS, Dr. Hak Mao, Director of the DCC expressed sincere thanks to representatives from ministries/institutions and relevant stakeholders at the sub-national level who participated and provided substantive inputs to the important workshop. He noted that Cambodia is a vulnerable country to the impacts of climate change, posing some immerging issues, in particular solid and wastewater management. The Cambodian coastal areas are among the most vulnerable areas due to sea-level rise and natural disasters including floods, and unprecedented windstorms. He emphasized although Cambodia is a low-emission country, the Royal Government of Cambodia has been ambitious and set specific priorities to address climate change impacts, both the national and international levels through ratifying the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1996 and the Paris Climate Agreement in 2017, particularly the development of policies, strategic plans and the preparation of reports, such as the Cambodia Climate Change Strategic Plan (CCCSP 2014-2023), climate change sectoral plans, Cambodia’s Updated Nationally Determined Contribution (Updated NDC), Long-Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN) and especially climate change capacity building and information outreach towards greenhouse gas emissions reduction and climate resilience.
Dr. Hak Mao recognized the vitality of the sustainable waste management which contributes to reducing greenhouse gas emissions by about 5.3 MtCO2e by 2050, based on the LTS4CN. On the other hands, solid waste and wastewater management in the coastal areas of Cambodia still faces some challenges, that is why the project initiative will support the government's efforts to improve the challenges said through catalyst activities that will contribute to the protection of the coastal environment and sustainable development.
The inception workshop was attended by program manager of the UN-Habitat, national experts, representatives from Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Public Work and Transport, Provincial Department of Environment, Provincial Department of Public Work and Transport, and officials from Sihanoukville and Kep with a total of 25 participants. There were range of activities and discussions including the presentations of the baseline study on existing policies and strategies on wastewater and solid waste management, served as important information for policy makers, while coordination roadmap was also discussed to ensure success of the project implementation.
