climate change, global warming,and its effects on cambodia as a nation

8/3/2019 Climate change, global warming,and its effects on Cambodia as a nation

1/14

Individual reflection paper (IRP)

Student: SAY Vortana

[email protected]

Topic

Climate change, global warming,and its effects on Cambodia as a nation
mailto:[email protected]:[email protected]


2/14

Contents

- Introductiono Definition of global warming and climate changeo Strands of climate changes

- The causes of climate change and global warmingo General aspectso Case study ( Cambodia )

-

The effects of climate change and global warming

o General aspectso Case study ( Cambodia )

- Responses and challengeso General aspectso Case study ( Cambodia )

- Conclusion


3/14

InstituteofForeignLanguages Course:GlobalGovernanceInternationalStudiesProgram Lecturer:TuckerMcCravyISPE3.1

Introduction

Global warming is a term used to describe a persistent increase in the earths means

surface temperature relative to long-term average conditions (those that prevail over

centuries)

1

. It is difficult to distinguish the global warming and climate change sinceglobal warming results in climate change and the two terms are sometimes used

interchangeably, though climate change has a broader meaning and refers to changes in

average climatic conditions (temperature, wind, rainfall, and other climatic variables)

relative to their long-term average. Both natural and anthropogenic (human-caused)

factors can causes global warming.

Global warming and Climate change have been the environmental issues facing

humankind for such a long times, and these issues has attracted the international attention

during the 1970s. Over the past decades, leaders from states have negotiated to seek a

comparative solution for all parties; the institutional framework provided by the

UNFCC, the United Nation Framework Convention on Climate Change, in 1992 and plus

the 1997 Kyoto Protocol , yet these fragile frameworks do not contribute much to alleviate

the problems due to weak implementation, the conflict between the developed countries and

developing countries, lacking in private morality and uncertainty of states.

As agriculture based country, Cambodia has been affected by the global warming and

climate change. Despite its small territory and population, Cambodia rich in tropical forest

which play a vital role to promote environment, absorb Carbon dioxide, provide habitat for

animal and promote eco-system. Unfortunately, this poor country has suffered from disaster

such as drought and flood when most of trees have been cut down through legal and illegal

business. This irregular weather and period have posed severe problems to Cambodian as a

nation through economy, health and so on. What are the responses that have been undertaken

so far? Is it effective? Are global warming and climate change pose threats or potential

opportunities for Cambodian as a nation? All these questions will be sorted out in the

following chapters.

Thus, the global warming and climate change are complex issues and interrelated.

This issue poses a great challenge to the global governance since it needs more than one

actor to engage in measurements. In the next chapter, we will take a deep look to the

causes of global warming and climate change.

PreparedbySAYVORTANA 1 email:[email protected]


4/14


What are the causes of global warming and climate change?

We can divide causes into two categories increasing amount of Green house gases

(GHGs) and urbanization.

According to Time For Change organization report, almost 100% of thetemperature has been increased over the last decade years has been due to the increase in the

atmosphere of GHGs concentrations especially carbon dioxide (CO2); GHGs act like a mirror

and reflect back to the Earth a part of the heat radiation that is lost to space.

Fig. 1: the relative of the major human-produced greenhouse gases to current warming

[Source: www.koshland-science-museum.org/exhibitgcc/cause01.jsp ]

The higher the concentration of GHGs, the more heat energy is being reflected back

to the Earth. Thus, what are the causes of increasing those gases? So far, the causes of

variation of atmospheric greenhouse gases especially carbon dioxide are human-made

activities and natural disasters. There are various kinds of human activities that increase the

amount of CO2 such as burning fossil fuels, emission of smoke by factories, overpopulation,

clearing forests for development (agriculture, industrialization or urbanization) and logging in

the jungle.

http://www.koshland-science-museum.org/exhibitgcc/cause01.jsphttp://www.koshland-science-museum.org/exhibitgcc/cause01.jsp


5/14


Fig. 2:Carbon dioxide emissions in million tons per year over the last 200 years

[Source: http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Global_Carbon_Emission_by_Type_png]

Another cause is urbanization. In order to transform lands from forest or natural to

urbanization, industrialization or agriculture, policy makers often face trade-off between

development and environment. For example, in industrialized nations, they need fuel in fossil

fuels such as coal, oil and natural gases in order to run their factories. Even though, the

leaders do know that it will damage the environment, they have no choice rather than extract

natural resources within their countries or other states. The other interesting cause is

overpopulation. When there are more people, there will be more demands, and it will lead to

more supplies. Thus, in order that factories can increase their productivities, they need more

energy and natural resources.

Case study

There are three main causes which are deforestation, urbanization and

industrialization. First, Deforestation is a hidden causes and controversial in the international

stage as well. Between 25 and 30 percent of the greenhouse gases released into the

atmosphere each year comes from deforestation. For instance, Cambodia becomes one of the

highest rates of deforestation in the world, third to only Nigeria and Vietnam, according to a

2005 report conducted by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations

(FAO). There are some reasons behind this disaster such as war, fragile governance,

development, lands incentive for investments, agricultures, and so on. Second, the Cambodia

http://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Global_Carbon_Emission_by_Type_pnghttp://www.globalwarmingart.com/wiki/Image:Global_Carbon_Emission_by_Type_png


6/14



government has initialed to urbanize the city due to overpopulation and reform. Even though,

this development does alleviate and give benefit to this country, it also affects the

environment. For instance, when land is converted from forests or nature to urban

environments, the regional climate system is altered because urban environments are alsoislands of heat produced by industry, homes, automobiles, and asphalts absorption of solar

energy. Last but not least, in Cambodia, the number of factories, located in the cities and

countryside, also affect to the environment. The disposal of waste on land, in water and air

damage the ecosystems and leak abundance of green house gases especially CO2.

In conclusion for this chapter, green house gases, that created by human-made

activities and natural disasters, are the main causes of global warming and climate changes.

In the next chapter, we will discuss detail about the effects of the global warming and climate

changes.

What are the effects of global warming and climate change?

Even thought global warming and climate change have many effects, these

phenomena are interrelated, so to make ease for analyze the effects, I will categorized in six

main impacts (1) increasing the temperature on the earth; (2) rising of sea levels; (3)

changing landscapes; (4) increasing risk of drought, fire, foods and species extinction; (5)

increasing heat-related illness and disease; and (6) economic looses.

Increasing the temperature on the earth simply means the earth becomes warmer and

warmer, and this is not a new phenomenon, but due to global warming the temperature in the

world has increased rapidly and upward. Because the amount of GHGs mainly CO 2 increase

dramatically in recent decades, Time For Change Organization makes a projection that the

temperature of the earth will be increased by 3o to 50 by the year 2050.

As the world become warmer, sea levels rise because thermal expansion which

lukewarm water takes up more room than colder water1. Furthermore, the glaciers in the polar

melt leads to raising levels of sea which threaten to floods low-lying areas and islands,

threaten the coastal populations, damage property and ruin ecosystems.

Another effect is changing landscapes. We can divide it into two different issues land

degradation and desertification. Land degradation simply means soil quality is worsening.

This phenomenon is a result of over-farming and poor land-use practice. On the other hand,

desertification means the growths of deserts and sand areas.

Another major effect is increasing risk of drought, fire, foods and species extinction.

Drought and floods occurs more frequent, serious and widespread. In 2010, according to


7/14



Pakistani government data the floods directly affected about 20 million people, mostly by

destruction of property, livelihood and infrastructure, with a death toll of close to 2,000. 2

Due to the overpopulation, people need to increase the food productivities to meet the

demand. Unfortunately, because of land degradation and desertification, most of the soils inthe world become poorer and it leads to food insecurity in the world. Moreover, According to

The Nature Conservancy group, make projection that one-fourth of species will be headed for

extinction by 2050 global warming still occurs.

Another effect is increasing heat-related illness and disease. When the ozone layer

becomes thinner, more amount of sun light will come to the earth.

Last but not least, global warming prevail the economy loose. Globally, serious

change in weather (more serious hurricane, storm etc.) could cause billions of dollars in

damage to property and infrastructure. Plus, declining crop productions due to prolonged

drought and high temperatures, especially in Africa, could put hundreds of thousands of

people at risk.

Case study

Floods and drought are recognized as one of the main contributors to poverty. In these

pictures above, Cambodia is vulnerable to floods and droughts. High dependency on rain-fed

farming makes agriculture sector particularly vulnerable.

In Cambodia, the impact of climate change has become apparent, yet the public does

not feel alert due to limited knowledge and other. There are six implication suggestions on

Cambodia.

First, recall memory of economy loose. Floods caused 70% of production losses of

rice, while drought 20% between 1998 and 2002, and the floods caused USD 205 million

damage between 2000 and 20024.


8/14


Map of flood-prone communes


Map of drought-prone communes

Source: WFP(2005)

Second, According to Allison, he claims that Cambodias economy is rated as one of

the most vulnerable to impacts of climate change onfisheries. Third, if the sea level rises, it

will affect areas near the sea. The research of ministry of whether shows that 1m rise can

submerge 56% of Koh Kong City. Fourth, as an agriculture country, when the food

productivities decline, it leads to food insecurity in the country since Cambodian highly

depends on single crop and low processing capacity within the country. Fifth, another effect

is water quality degradation and sanitation. Finally, increase in water-related / tropical

diseases such as malaria and dengue. The Ministry of the Environment estimates that under


9/14



changing climatic conditions Cambodia may experience increasing incidences of malaria, up

16 percent from its current rate.

In conclusion, the government and all others relevant must come up with strong

policies and fast action to combat climate change. In the next chapter, we shall examine theactions undertaken by international actors and Cambodia itself.

Responses and challenges of global warming and climate change

After severe suffer from these environmental issues, states have recognized that they

are in troubles. Consequently, two key environmental conferences were held during the

1990s, namely Rio Earth Summit in 1992 and Kyoto Environmental Summit in 1997.

Held under UN auspices, the Rio Earth Summit brought together thousands of

delegates and representatives from state actors and non state actors. According to Time

reporter, Philip Elmer-Dewitt, published in Rich Vs Poor in 1992, the Earth Summit was

the largest and most complex conference ever held- bigger than the momentous meetings at

Versailles, Yalta, and Potsdam5. In this summit, 178 states signed two treaties, the UN

Framework Convention on Climate Changes (UNFCC), addressed global warming issues and

the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), addressed to protect endangered species and

biodiversity. The UNFCC sets the basic objective to achieve stabilization of greenhouse gas

concentrations in the atmosphere at a level that would prevent dangerous anthropogenic

interference with the climate system. Regarding this summit, the great success is that it

gathered many people from different part of the international community that had never

assembled to discuss a particular issue. Moreover, Earth summit also raised global

consciousness about environmental issue; however, throughout the Rio meeting, a conflict

between environmental protection and economic development was reveal because the

insistence of many Developing World states that feared that stronger wording might

adversely affect their economies.

Following the Rio Earth Summit, the Kyoto Environmental Summit in 1997, Japan,

intended to address the global warming issue. Despite reduction in the emission of green

house gases (GHGs) mandated by the Montreal Protocol and Rio summit agreements, states

in the world still released too many of GHGs into the atmosphere, so the atmosphere

remained at risk. This Kyoto protocol provided economic incentive for developing states to

meet their targets through trade and clean development mechanism, and urged for

cooperation between developed and developing states over environmentally clean projects.


10/14



Nevertheless, only seven out of 84 countries who signed the protocol ratified it in 1999 all of

which were small islands or low lying states particularly concerned by global warming and

submerging them; however, the conflict between developing and developed states has

remained and it needs to be sort out through trust cooperation and mutual interests.From these two summits, there are three suggested solutions carbon management,

creating market incentive and alternative energies.

Among GHGs, carbon dioxide is the dangerous chemical substance that is the major

cause of global warming and climate change. Since the industrialization era, the demand of

fossil fuel has increased dramatically, so oil production become inelastic. In order to cope

with the carbon budgets, we do need to face head-on six importance activities, (1) slow or

stop deforestation, (2) reduce emissions from electricity production, (3) reduce emissions

from automobiles, (4) clean up industrial processes in a few major sectors, (5) economize on

electricity use through more efficient motors, appliances, lighting, insulation and other

electrical demands; (6) convert point-source based systems powered by low-emission

electricity. Considering the challenges of reducing emissions from the electricity generation

are complicated, there are three major avenues to reduced emissions from the power sectors:

greater efficiency in the use of electricity, a greater proportion of electricity generation with

non-fossil fuel sources of energy and special engineering processes to capture the carbon

dioxide from fossil fuel electricity plants and to store it by using a technology called carbon

capture and sequestration (CCS) 6.

The Kyoto protocol has accomplished one major advance: the start of a market price

on carbon emissions, in the form of tradable carbon permits, albeit only in Europe. This

strategy more or less provides incentive to the emitters to limit carbon emission from their

factories. Furthermore, there is an urgent need to increase funding for climate science in the

poorest countries to help those countries understand how adapt to the climate change, and

science also needed to enable those countries to participate effectively in global mitigation

efforts by reducing the rate of deforestation and by adoption low-carbon energy strategies in

the course of economic development.

Last but not least, while fossil fuels will predominate for some decades more, in the

longer term non-fossil alternatives are likely to come to preeminence. Wind, hydroelectricity,

ocean waves, bio-fuel, geothermal and nuclear energy will be more favored although each of

these is limited by local condition and not applicable as global solutions. Due to popularity


11/14



and profits, states attempt to gain the nuclear energy, but it can pose threat to the localized

and internationalized because of nuclear radiation and nuclear weapon.

From my perspective, there are two main challenges, implementation and the inequity

between developed and developing states.The problem is not the framework or purpose but implementations. The Kyoto

protocol shows the cooperation of the world on a carbon management trajectory. Even so this

treaty is considered as failure when the U.S did not ratify this protocol in fear of economic

development impacts. The US, far and away the biggest contributor to GHGs, indignantly

telling poor countries bearing the consequences in famines, droughts, increased malaria

transmission and more that the United States will not even start on emissions control, so how

can other states obey and ratify this treaty?

Another important but controversial challenges is the inequity between developed and

developing states. Development and environmental protection are dilemma for decision

makers of individual states; developing countries who try to develop their countries are

inevitable to exploit their natural resources, so when developed states who enjoyed their

economic growth in the past decades tell developing states to stop exploit their natural

resources, it is injustice. For example, when the US and Europe tell Brazil to stop

deforestation business investment, and similarly China was criticized for air pollution.

In conclusion, as long as there is no strong support from super power P5 (security

council); the south and north cannot reach mutual interests (efficiency and equity) plus trust

each other, the global warming and climate change still remain unsure when will it can be

sort out.

Case study

What are the possible solution for Cambodia to overcome global warming and climate

change? There are three potential solutions low carbon economy/enhance economy

efficiency, carbon finance and promote environment awareness.

Cambodias government can improve and examine seven factors:

Energy supply improved supply and distribution efficiency, Renewable sources,security and access

Transport Hybrid vehicles, emission standards, bio fuels, Public transport, non-motorized transport

Buildings passive and active solar integrated buildings, improved insulation Industry Upgrading of factories, processing lines / schemes etc.


12/14


Agriculture improved agricultural practices Waste management landfill methane recovery; waste to energy; composting;

recycling and waste minimization

Forestry Reforestation; forest management; reduced deforestationFor carbon finance Cambodia can enjoy with the extra paid by using clean

development mechanism (CDM). According to UNDP based in Cambodia, a local power

generator, Samrong Thom Methane-fired Power Generation reduce total GHG emission for 7

years 47,544 tCO2e; this generator can get total income at $15/tCO2e: US$ 713,160 from

carbon finance7, so government should encourage this kind of investment in Cambodia.

Invest in Biogas Digester (source: UNDP)

Another solution is to promote environment awareness for Cambodian. The bottom-

up strategy also provides a better option to overcome this issue. The government can work

effectively with other Non-government organizations (NGOs) by providing environment

education in the public school and local communities.

In short, besides protecting environment, Cambodia can enjoy low carbon economy

through carbon finance; furthermore, the bottom-up strategy can promote environment issue

awareness in Cambodia. In the last chapter of this paper, we will wrap up and provide brief

conclusion.



13/14



Conclusion

Global warming and climate change are transnational issues that pose great challenges

to the global governance. Nations has suffered severe disaster such as flood, hurricane,

serious earthquake, drought and so on recently, and it would be great danger in the future ifglobal warming and climate change are not sorted out effectively. Despite of cooperation

between states through earth summit and Kyoto protocol, the issues remain widespread from

day to day. Who will be responsible? Developed states or developing states? The

controversial stances between developed countries and developing countries remain exists

and pose a big challenge for Kyoto protocol. Furthermore, the decision maker, leader, head of

states are inevitable face dilemma between development and environmental protection.

For Cambodia, Cambodia contributes little to climate change but almost all the

provinces in Cambodia are vulnerable to climate change due to their low adaptive capacity

and dependence on climate-sensitive livelihoods. Responding to climate change should start

by linking efforts to reduce vulnerability to present climate-related disasters with those aimed

at building longer-term resilience to climate change. Low carbon economy/enhance economy

efficiency, carbon finance and promote environment awareness are the factors that will be

alleviate and assist Cambodian through bright future in the next generation.

For both international and national level, implementation and commitment from the

government or head of state is compulsory to ensure the sustainable growth with the green

economy policy.


14/14



Reference

1Spannagle, B. D. a. M. (2009). The complete guide to climate change, Routledge.

2 thermal expansion theory, http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansion

3http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floods

4 (Source: First V&A Assessment: with two Global Circulation Models (GCM) : CCSR &

CSIRO, and two emission scenarios: SRESA2 & SRESB1)

5 Lay Khim, E&E Team Leader, UNDP Cambodia Asia Economic Forum 7 April 2009

6 SACHS, J., Ed. COMMON WEALTH, Penguin group

7 Lay Khim, E&E Team Leader, UNDP Cambodia Asia Economic Forum 7 April 2009
http://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansionhttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floodshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floodshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/2010_Pakistan_floodshttp://en.wikipedia.org/wiki/Thermal_expansion

climate change, global warming,and its effects on cambodia as a nation

Documents