On 30 November 2016, H.E. Say Samal, the Minister of Environment, Chairman of the National Council for Sustainable Development, met with the Commission of Planning, Investment, Agriculture, Water Resource, Meteorology, Rural Development, and Environment of the Senate to provide details on the ratification of the “Paris Agreement on Climate Change”, which was recently approved in a general meeting of the National Assembly on 22^nd November 2016.

H.E. Say Samal informed the Commission that the 21^st Conference of the Parties (CoP 21) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) which was held last year in Paris, France, had successfully endorsed this historical agreement to address climate change, and that the Agreement had entered into force at COP22 recently held in Marrakech. H.E. Minister highlighted that the Agreement, once ratified by Cambodia, would enable the country to participate in the new climate regime, which is expected to lead to greater access to climate finance and to innovative technologies for low carbon climate resilient development, as well as to increased support to capacity development, research and cooperation in priority areas of adaptation and mitigation of climate change. This includes activities aimed at promoting energy efficiency and renewable energy, forest protection, climate proofing of infrastructure including transport, as stated in the Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC). He also underlined the importance of the Paris Agreement in mobilizing the private sector to become more involved in climate change related investments in Cambodia.

H.E. Say Samal further added that once the Paris Agreement is ratified by Cambodia the country can expect wide international recognition of the country’s political will, commitment and efforts in addressing climate change.

The Senate’s Commission fully agreed with the decision to ratify of the Paris Agreement and decided to bring this matter to the upcoming general meeting of the Senate for endorsement.