Assessing Vulnerabilities and Responses to Environmental Changes in Cambodia Country Report
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ASSESSING VULNERABILITIES AND RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN CAMBODIA COUNTRY REPORT IOM OIM REPORT INFORMATION Citation G. Oudry, K. Pak, C. Chea. Assessing Vulnerabilities and Responses to Environmental Changes in Cambodia. International Organization for Migration, Phnom Penh, 2016. Editors G. Oudry, K. Pak, C. Chea, J. Bigham Published by International Organization for Migration, Phnom Penh #281, Tai Ming 4th Floor, Preah Norodom Blvd, Phnom Penh 12301, Cambodia P.O. Box 435 Tel: +855.23.216532 Fax: +855.23.216423 E-mail: [email protected] Supported by IOM Development Fund © 2016 International Organization for Migration Photos NASA - Tropical Storm (Front cover), Gnomeandi (p25), Alexander Podshivalov (p 29), CC 2.0 by Emilio Labrador (p32), CC 2.0 by Ariel Leuenberger (p36), CC 2.0 by Michael Cory (p40), NASA (p41, p44-45, p59), CC 4.0 by Dmitry A. Mottl (p50), CC 2.0 by Michael (p72), C 2.0 by Spotter_nl (p87), CC 2.0 by Jen Hunter (p93), Jaume Juncadella (Back cover) The opinions expressed in this publication are those of the section and do not necessarily reflect the views of the International Organization for Migration. This publication has been issued without formal editing by IOM. ASSESSING VULNERABILITIES AND RESPONSES TO ENVIRONMENTAL CHANGES IN CAMBODIA COUNTRY REPORT Edited by Guénolé Oudry, Dr Kimchoeun Pak, and Chou Chea FOREWORD Cambodia regularly experiences almost all types of natural hazards, including floods, droughts, heavy storms, riverbanks collapses, fire incidents and epidemics affecting people and their assets repeatedly, almost every year, and putting the country’s economy at high risk. Between 1996 and 2013, the National Committee for Disaster Management (NCDM) recorded no less than 7,800 disaster events. In 2011, major floods hit 18 out of 24 provinces, affecting more than 1.77 million people, approximately 13 per cent of the country population and leading to the evacuation of 52,000 households. In 2013, floods hit 20 out of the country’s 24 provinces, affecting 377,354 households and forcing 31,314 households to evacuate to safer areas. Over the same period of time, increased occurrence of severe droughts had devastating effects on the livelihood of rural communities. Climate change is anticipated to increase the frequency, intensity and severity of extreme natural events, which could turn into far worse disasters, with considerable impact on human lives, agriculture, health, economy, education, rural and urban infrastructures, and private properties. Over the last twenty years, migration became one of the most important transformational changes in Cambodian society. On one hand, steady urbanization has been fueled by continued inflows of migrants from rural centres, reshaping the spatial distribution of the Cambodian population within the country. On the other hand, it is now estimated that 8 to 10 per cent of the national labour force is engaged in cross-border migration, predominantly to Thailand, and primarily for the purpose of income diversification at a household level. Establishing clear linkages between human mobility, natural disasters and climate change remain highly complex and in many cases, direct causal links might be impossible to maintain. The decision to migrate originates from a number of factors. Environmental stressors can act as the primary factor or one of many secondary push factors for migration. However, given Cambodia’s dependence on natural resources, its exposure and sensitivity to climate change, and its relatively limited adaptive capacity, increasing pressure on the lives and livelihood of rural communities caused by the intensification of environmental degradation, natural disasters and climate change are expected to escalate the current trend of high rural to urban migration and international migration in the coming years. The case of Cambodia is by no means unique. Increasingly, attention is being devoted to the human mobility, environment and climate nexus, resulting in substantial policy development that incorporates a migration component. Of particular interest is the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015 – 2030 which emphasizes the need to improve displacement management at the global, regional and national levels. The Paris agreement under the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change represents another key step towards the inclusion of migration and human mobility into the global and regional adaptation frameworks. The study "Assessing Vulnerabilities and Responses to Environmental Changes in Cambodia", funded by the IOM Development Fund, has been conducted jointly by the NCDM and the International Organization for Migration (IOM), with the involvement of the Ministry of Environment (MoE), the Ministry of Women’s Affairs (MoWA) and the National Committee for Subnational Democratic Development (NCDD). The report builds on the existing evidence on the environment-climate change-migration nexus in Cambodia, and is complemented by active field surveys carried out in the Tonle Sap Great Lake area in 2015, to identify and document potential ways for Cambodia to address the growing threat of environmental induced migration. By doing so, NCDM and IOM seek to support a greater understanding on this issue and to contribute to Cambodia’s efforts to address natural disaster management, environment degradation and climate change in an integrated manner. Dr Leul A. Mekonnen Chief of Mission International Organization for Migration ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS This publication is a result of a set of activities carried out under the project "Assessing Vulnerabilities and Responses to Environmental Changes in Cambodia", funded by the IOM Development Fund. The final report presents the findings of a series of national, provincial and local level consultations, an extensive literature and policy review, as well as the outcomes of a household survey conducted in four rural communities between February and May 2015. The consultation and data collection work has been completed through a collaborative process and inter-agency dialogue, and involved many colleagues from national and provincial authorities as well as local non-governmental organizations actively engaged in rural development, community empowerment and climate change adaptation. This publication would not have been possible without their committed collaboration and valuable contributions. Therefore IOM Cambodia would like to express its sincere gratitude and appreciation to the following: From the National Committee for Disaster Management: His Excellency Mr Ponn Narith, Secretary General, for his continued support and leadership throughout the project implementation; His Excellency Mr Ma Norith, Deputy Secretary General, for his active participation in public consultation and liaison with the IOM management team; Mr Soth Kimkolmony, Deputy Director of the Training and Preparedness Department; Mr Ou Chandy, Deputy Director General of Cabinet, and Mr Em Samnang, Officer; for their coordination and management of all NCDM staff working with the IOM project team, and for their direct involvement in conducting field assessments and surveys. Mr Kong Chanthorn, Mr Chum Socheat, Mr Keo Propey (National Committee for Subnational Democratic Development); Ms Mony Chakrya and Mr Chhun Seiha (Ministry of Environment); Ms Ses Sreypao (Ministry of Women’s Affairs); for facilitating the provincial consultation workshops and the participatory rural appraisals; Mr Han Sihip and Mr Hong Chhet (Provincial Committee for Disaster Management-Battambang); Mr Im Saroeun and Mr Chan Sokhon (Provincial Committee for Disaster Management-Kompong Thom) for organizing and hosting the provincial workshops and mobilizing PCDM resources throughout the data collection process; Mr Yeb Phanith, Mr Sy Chhoeub (Village Support Group) and their team, for carrying out participatory rural appraisals and household surveys in Battambang province; All village representatives, NGOs staff and the government departments who contributed to the consultation process at various levels and provided priceless inputs; All respondents who participated in the household survey interviews and provided critical information on their personal experiences and migration experiences; Dr Kimchoeun Pak, Governance specialist, in charge of coordinating the policy review, and Ms Chou Chea, Climate change specialist, responsible of the field survey. Ms Fatima Rabab and Sabira Coelho, from the IOM Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific, for their continued support and technical guidance before, during and after the project implementation; Ms Mariam Traore-Chazalnoel, from the Migration, Environment and Climate Change Division, IOM Headquarters, for her valuable inputs and advise in reviewing the final research report; Ms Chanthida Dum, National Project Officer, Ms Phalla Kourn and Mr Pich Vong, project assistants, from the IOM project team in Phnom Penh, for their sustained commitment to ensure a successful implementation of the project, by providing administrative and logistical support as necessary, and their direct contribution to the data collection work; Ms Jo Bigham and Mr Jérôme Hivert for their editing assistance. Guénolé Oudry Project Coordinator 8 COUNTRY REPORT 2016 CONTENTS SECTION 1 ENVIRONMENT, CLIMATE CHANGE AND MIGRATION: ASSESSING THE EVIDENCE FOREWORD 05 INTRODUCTION 22 ACKNOWLEDGEMENTS 07 1.1. BACKGROUND AND CONTEXT 23 1.1.1. Location 23 CONTENTS 08 1.1.2. Climate 23 1.1.3. Demography 24 LIST OF TABLES 10 1.1.4. Economy 24 1.1.5. Poverty