ADB provides $7.4 mln to Cambodia for climate change resilience

Published: 28-Apr-15

ADB Country Director in Cambodia Eric Sidgwick (left) and Cambodian Minister of Economy and Finance Aun Pornmoniroth sign the grant agreement during a ceremony in Phnom Penh. Photo/ADB

School of Vice: It is greed and official corruption that fuel climate change in the first place. And now more easy cash to swell corrupt pockets?

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PHNOM PENH (The Cambodia Herald) -- The Philippines-based Asian Development Bank (ADB) provided $7.4 million in grand aid to Cambodia to enhance communities' resilience to climate change impacts in the country's Koh Kong and Mondulkiri provinces. 

The grant, financed by the Strategic Climate Fund of the Climate Investment Funds, was signed Monday during a ceremony in Phnom Penh between Cambodia's Economy Minister Aun Pornmoniroth and ADB Country Director Eric Sidgwick. 

“Communities living in forests are among the most vulnerable to climate change because of limited alternative livelihoods and their dependence on the ecosystem,” said Mr. Sidgwick.

"“To address this problem, the project supports community-driven investments to improve and diversify livelihoods for 4,300 families in protected areas," he added. 

According to the World Risk Report 2012, Cambodia ranks eighth among the top 15 countries with the highest risk of impact from climate change, and has a very low capacity to adapt. 

In Koh Kong and Mondulkiri, an expected rise in temperature and higher risk of floods and drought threatens the food security and the agricultural livelihoods of local communities.

The $7.4 million grant will increase water availability through the construction of 40 rainwater harvesting ponds for home gardens and introducing drought-resilient crops in both provinces, ADB said in a statement.