Climate Change and Water Governance in Cambodia

Phalla Chem, Research Fellow and Program Coordinator of CDRI

Sour Kim, Research Associate of CDRI

19-20 June 2013

Contents

• Overview of the Tonle Sap lake

• Research problems

• Research objectives and questions

• Theoretical frameworks and methods

• Progress and preliminary and expected results

• Implications

Overview (Tonle Sap lake)

• Located in Central Cambodia, biggest freshwater lake in SEA (300,000ha – 1.6 million ha)

• Rich in natural resources (300,000-450,000 of fish catch/year in 2005) and biodiversity

• 4.1 million people (2012) make their living on fishery and water for farming activities

Overview (Problems)• Cambodia is vulnerable to climate change.

• Infrastructure development will have negative impacts on the Tonle Sap lake’s flood pulse area.

• Rural livelihoods are highly vulnerable.

• Previous studies made use of secondary and global data. They also focused more on vulnerability to hazard and less on long-term vulnerability in relation to water security.

• Said studies involved stakeholders in a less consultative manner and with less attention on capacity building

Overview (Objectives)This new study looks at how change in natural and human systems

determine vulnerability and adaptive capacity of rural population and the government’s responses.

1. Assess the gaps in existing research on the water-related impacts of climate change in Cambodia and explore existing methods and generate recommendations to improve consistency in measurement of indicators across future studies undertaken in Cambodia;

2. Undertake hydrological change analysis, which results from both climate change and/or infrastructure development - to understand the implications of the interplay between climate change and human impacts on water security;

3. Assess the effectiveness of existing policies and institutional arrangements for water governance and formulate operational solutions to bridge the identified gaps.

Overview (Questions)Q-1 what are the different methods for analysing vulnerability and

adaptive capacity at community level?Q-1a what are the different methods for analysing vulnerability and adaptive capacity at

community level?Q-1b what household and community indicators will usefully monitor different levels of

vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity)?Q-1c how can existing methods be harmonised to improve the robustness of vulnerability and

adaptation assessment?

Q-2 how and to what extent have natural and human system changes impacted on water security at catchment scales?

Q-2a what are the implications of natural and human system changes on local livelihoods?Q-2b what are the impacts of water insecurity on different groups of water user (i.e., vulnerable

groups)?

Q-3 what is the current situation of existing water and climate change governance in Cambodia? How resilient is this governance system?

Q-3a how are institutions preparing to adapt to shocks of climate change?Q-3b to what extent are institutions prepared to respond to the climate change?

Theoretical framework

• Water security is linked to human security: food security, water availability, human needs, vulnerability to natural hazards, and sustainability (Cook & Bakker 2012).

– The water availability perspective define water security as accessibility and affordability of water for human needs and ecological functions. This definition suggests measurements of water stress and water shortage in relation to water scarcity.

– The human needs perspective covers the broad range of accessibility to water for food security and other human development related issues (i.e., health and education)

Theoretical framework (Continued)

– The vulnerability to hazard perspective concerns the protection of water resources from hazards and safeguarding access to water functions and services for human environmental needs.

– The sustainability perspective assesses water availability and need at all levels: household to the country levels.

• In Cambodia, water security needs to be examined against its social significance. Poverty is a key factor to accessibility and affordability of water. Therefore, it is closely linked to water governance.

Theoretical framework (Continued)

Methods• Q-1: reviews existing methods to examine how V&A assessment

tools can be adopted, improved and implemented– Criteria for selection of V&A assessment methods and tools– Indicators for measuring sensitivity, exposure, and adaptive capacity– Data needs and availability (site specific)

• Q-2, 2a, 2b: case study approach– (i) catchment water availability assessment using climate and hydrological

modeling approaches– (ii) uses a participatory approach to examine the link between climate

change and water security when analyzing indicators that determine vulnerability and adaptive capacity needs.

• Q3, 3a, 3b: case study approach– Multi-stakeholder analysis: KII, FGD, field observation and workshop

Progress to date

• Seven partners (three Cambodian ministries, two universities, CDRI, and Hatfield on behalf of M-POWER are formed.

• Inception workshop was successfully conducted.

• A steering committee of which members are from all partners, is established and first meeting was conducted in early 2013.

• Preliminary field visit to three catchments around the Tonle Sap lake was conducted.

• Existing methods/approaches to V&A assessment are being reviewed. A working paper will be published within this year.

Results (Findings to date Q-1)• Climate resilience and water security assessment

framework

– Sustainable Livelihood Framework and Environment Sustainable Index (Caney 2002; Esty et al. 2005), and Vulnerability-resilience Indicator Model (Pacific Northwest National Laboratory 2008)

– People capabilities and means of living: incomes, food, and assets in which livelihoods depend to assist people in coping with and recovering from stress and shocks, and in providing future generation.

Results (Findings to date Q-1)Climate Variability (flood, drought, storms,

deceases) Climate Change (temperature, rain-falls and run-off etc.)

Exposure

SensitivityWater,Land resourcesSettlementHealthEcosystems

Vulnerability &Resilience

Adaptation Decision and

ActionSocial Perception and willingness to

adapt • Well being• Potential gains• Avoiding losses Policy initiatives

•Communication•Trust•Equity and fairness

Mitigation

Adaptation CapacityHuman and Social AssetEconomic AssetNatural AssetPolitical Asset

Policy process and cultureQuality of GovernanceLeadershipKnowledge appreciation

When sensitivity is high (↑) resilience will be low (↓); if capacity to respond is high (↑) resilience will be high (↑). If specific exposure events, such as a drought or flood, occur, resilience will decrease (either an interruption in an increasing variable or a further dip in a decreasing variable).

Results (Expected Q-1 & Q-3)- Viable data on climate change & hydrology are scarce and

patchy at different agencies.

- Although the issue of climate change has been assessed since 2001 and National Adaptation Program of Action to Climate Change was adopted in 2006, it is not integrated well in sectoral policy development.

- At this time, in the drafting of the 2014-18 National Strategic Development Plan, there is a mandate requiring all line ministries to include green development and identify climate change risks surrounding their sectoral activities and to come up with measures to address the impacts.

Results (Expected Q-1 & Q-3)

- Institutional response to climate change is mostly passive adaptation approach takes place after natural disasters occuring.

- Local communities and authorities are yet to have solid knowledge of climate change and readiness to adapt to it in terms of water use, e.g., lack of local planning and resource (finance, infrastructure)

Results (Expected Q-2)• Vulnerability and adaptive capacity assessment in

relation to water security

– Degree of exposure to climate change: water availability, flood and drought including frequency and intensity of these hazards

– Factors that contribute to vulnerability: sensitivity and adaptive capacity to climate change

– Impacts of the current climate hazards on water security

– Factors that create to future vulnerability in socioeconomic and environmental projections

Implications• Promptly developing a comprehensive conceptual framework

results in robust outcomes• The right selection of method and tool for V&A assessment

ensures good results of the study• Assessing impacts of both human development and climate change

at local scale has never been attempted, so it is challenging and worth trying

• A unique multi-partner project is by far the most difficult process and poses an important challenge to coordinate the work, but is considered to be the most workable for policy influencing

• Time is needed for not just only raising awareness of climate change but also for policy influencing at the central government agencies