climate vulnerability assessment report in kampong chhnang, cambodia

Vulnerability Reduction Assessment (VRA)Study-2012

Five villages in Thlork Vien Commune,Samaky Mean Chhey District, Kampong Chhnang Province,

Promoting Climate Resilient Livelihoods for Small-Scale Farmersin Samaky Meanchey District of Kompong Chhnang Province

February 2012

Table of Contents

ACRONYM 3

I. INTRODUCTION. 4

II. VRA’S GENERAL OBJECTIVE, SPECIFIC OBJECTIVES AND METHODOLOGY 5

2.1. OBJECTIVE OF VRA: 5

2.2. METHODOLOGY: 5

III. RELIABILITY OF RESULTS: 6

3.1. TREND ANALYSIS 6

IV. VULNERABLE RISK OF CLIMATE CHANGE ANALYSIS 9

4.1. WHAT CURRENT EXPERIENCE DO YOU FACE BECAUSE OF CLIMATE CHANGE AND WHAT IS THE EFFECT ON YOUR LIFE? 9

4.2. WHAT HAPPENS IF THE SITUATION GETS WORSE? 13

4.3. WHAT PREVENTS ADAPTATION AT THE MOMENT? 16

4.4. PROJECT ACTIVITY SUSTAINABILITY? 18

V. Conclusion: 20

Vulnerability Reduction Assessment in Thlork Vien Commune, Samaky Meanchey District, Kampong Chhnang Province. PCR-KCP

Acronym

CEDAC Cambodian Center for Study and Development in Agriculture

CC Climate Change

CDP Commune Development Plan

CIP Commune Investment Programme

DCA/CA DanChurchAid/ChristianAid

JCCI Joint Climate Change Initiative

MG Men’s Group

NGO Non-Governmental Organization

SRI System of Rice Intensification

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

VRA Vulnerability Reduction Assessment

WG Women’s Group


I. Introduction.

The Joint Climate Change Initiative (JCCI) is a collaborative effort between the three organizations, Cord, DCA/CA and Forum Syd, and is working to enhance the capacity among Cambodian non-government organizations and communities in order to reduce vulnerability of added threats that climate change poses to development.

JCCI presently reaches out to 22 Cambodian organizations - and the communities they work with - working in a variety of areas, and aims at integrating a climate change lens into existing programme and project activities with a bottom-up rights based approach.

Two CEDAC staff, including Program Director and Program Officer, were invited to participate in the training series on Climate Change Concept that initiated by the three partners mentioned above. After completion of the training (JCCI-Phase I), CEDAC has received grant from the Forum Syd to implement its pilot project in 5 villages in Thlork Vien Commune, Samaky Meanchey District, Kampong Chhnang Province. The project is titled “Promoting Climate Resilient Livelihoods for Small-Scale Farmers in Samaky Meanchey District of Kompong Chhnang Province”, started from 01 February 2011 and will finish on 30 April 2012.

The project goal is to contribute to the eradication of extreme poverty and hunger among small-scale farmer families in dry land areas, enhancing their resilience against climate change, drought, and soil degradation. The Key Project Objectives are presented as follows:

Objective 1: Integrate the climate change lens (mitigation to adaptation) into the sustainable livelihood program of CEDAC

Objective 2: Strengthen the capacity of farmers to reduce greenhouse gas emission through the application of resilient agricultural techniques

Objective 3: Strengthen local multi-stakeholders in the integration of the CC lens within the Commune Development Plans (CIPs) and annual Commune Investment Program (CDP) including integration of agricultural mitigation and DRR adaptation focus

Key Project Deliverables

Climate change lens integrated into CEDAC’s strategic paper of the Sustainable Livelihood Program;

20 CEDAC staff will gain knowledge of climate change and improve their capacity to support the community effectively;

50 local leaders and local stakeholders will increase their knowledge of CC mitigation and adaptation which will enable them to improve capacity in addressing the climate change issues in their local areas;

One feasibility study report and one DRR-SAL baseline will be produced; Two water gates will be established and two water-user groups formed with 60

members; Five village-based natural resource management teams will be established; 250 farmer families will have applied agricultural innovations introduced by the project;


Ten case studies will be produced and disseminated widely to the community farmers, local authorities and other project’s stakeholders.

In addition, to increase the knowledge and skill of the project’s staff and other relevant CEDAC’s staff on Climate Change Assessment, a Vulnerability Reduction Assessment (VRA) was conducted in five villages in Thlork Vien Commune, Samaky Meanchey district, Kampong Chhnang project where is the project’s target villages. The study would enable the project staff, CEDAC’s staff especially community members and local authorities understand well about the historical background of climate, current impact of climate change on livelihood, existing solutions and potential solutions to deal with climate change issues in the past and the future. Specifically, it would help local authorities and community members to be prepared in order to adapt and mitigate climate change in their communities.

It is important to mention that VRA tool is initiated by UNDP. UNDP-Cambodia has provided training on VRA to its grantees, including CEDAC.

II. VRA’s general objective, specific objectives and methodology

2.1. Objective of VRA:

To assess the climate change problems happened in five villages of the project’s target commune (Thlork Vien) and identify possible interventions to mitigate climate change impacts on community livelihood.

2.2. Methodology:

1. A meeting was conducted at the CEDAC’s field office in Kampong Tralach district, Kampong Chhnang province. The purpose of the meeting was to provide refresher training on Climate Change Concept as well as to train the study team members on VRA Tool. Miss Pheng Chandy Program Assistant who used to attend the VRA training with UNDP and also experienced in conducting VRA study in Mondulkiri presented and shared her experience to the study team member. It is important to note that activity plan for the study was also discussed and prepared during the meeting. Then, key questions were written on the flipchart to be used for group discussion with key informants in the studied villages.

2. The whole study team members were divided into groups, 2 to 3 members were responsible for facilitating a group discussion meeting with the key informant in the studied village, on average there were around 10 to 15 participants per group discussion.

3. Five project’s target villages in Thlork Vien Commune, Samaky Meanchey District, Kampong Chhnang Province were selected for the study. One group discussion was conducted in each studied village. Furthermore, the study team also conducted another group discussion with 9 commune councilors (local authority group). In total, 101 participants, including 64 women, participated in group discussion meetings.

4. Our strategy is to follow the method of focus group discussion by use H-form and trend analysis as the useful tools for VRA collected information from the target community,


and the expectation of the focus group discussion is to promote self-disclosure among audient which design by our assessment team. Equipments (flip chart, marker, that we use 4 questions which address vulnerability, barrier to adaptation, and adaptive capacity 1. What current experience do you face because of climate change and what is the effect on your life? 2. What happens if the situation gets worse? 3. What prevents adaptation at the moment? 4. What Project activity to be sustainability? In total, 4 women groups, 5 men groups and 1 local authority group were conducted the group discussion meetings.

III. Reliability of Results:

3.1. Trend Analysis

In order to study about the historical background of the climate change in the studied villages, the study team conducted various group discussion meetings with key informants, including the group discussion with men group, women group, and commune councilor group. These three groups have answered the question with remark of each 5 years period (see graph chart bellows).

Women’s Group (WG):

Women prioritized flood is the first priority issue in their village during the last few years. They also emphasized that there was a big flood in 2011 and the flood duration is 3 months, which is a longer time compare to the flood they used to face previously. During the food, they could not conduct farming activities because root of crops were damaged by the flood. The women’s group indicated human disease is the second priority issue. They also mentioned that approximately 80% of total populations in their village are infected with malaria, 30% are infected with TB, 20% with sexual transmitted diseases, 20% diarrhea, 20% with stomachache and hepatitis diseases, and another 50% having the problem with women diseases. Therefore, it is able to know that majority of the populations in the studied village are having the problem with human disease especially women.

In relation to the drought, women specified that the heavy drought occurred in 2005, 2009, and 2010. Many seedlings died, they added. During that time, farmers needed to pump water from natural water bodies or drilled wells in order to survive their seedlings. It is important to note the pumping cost is 5000 riel per hour. Particularly, the women’s group also noticed that the temperature being increased during the last five years – they said it is very hot now.

Regarding livestock husbandry, Food and Mouth disease, Anthrax were mostly happened to cattle, and Newcastle disease is mostly happened to chicken. The women’s group specified that many livestock confronted to diseases in 2010. To address this issue, they also contacted Village Animal Health Worker for help, but it was not really effective. Moreover, the women’s group also indicated that Brown Plant Hopper is a bad insect that destroyed their rice, especially in 2009. According to the women’s group, typhoon does not frequently happen in the village, however a typhoon that happened between 2000 and 2004 destroyed


ten houses, and there was food and materials distribution of the Royal Government of Cambodia.

In addition, the women’s groups also mentioned about the forest fire. Previously, there were some forest fires; it seems no forest fire now because the forest was cut down.

Figure 1: Trend Analysis: Women’s Groups

Men’s Group (MG):

According to the result from men groups, it is able to know that drought was the first priority problem during the last five years, but flood became the first priority problem during this last two to three years. It is important to emphasize that the duration of flood from rainwater has increased if compare to the previous situation, now the flood last long for 15 to 20 days which also can damage rice. In 2011, there was a big flood in the studied village, which damaged at least 15% of total rice production in the studied village.

Generally, drought happens at the beginning of the rainy season result in delay of rice cultivation, specifically 65% of total rice production in the studied village was damaged because of drought in 2006, and many seedlings died in 2009 because of the drought. On the other hand, the men group also indicated that more diseases occurred to both human and livestock. According to the men group, it is able to estimate that approximately 80% of the total populations in the studied village are infected with malaria, and children frequently faced to dengue fever.


In relation to livestock disease, Anthrax & Foot and Mouth Diseases were the main disease that strongly affected to livestock husbandry in their village. In 1992, 20% of total cattle in the studied village died because these kinds of diseases. On the other hand, men’s groups also mentioned that typhoon/storm/ thunder frequently happened during the last five years. It is not really a serious problem but it also damaged houses and fell-down trees.

Figure 2: Trend Analysis: Men’s Groups

It is important to note that Brown Plant Hopper is a kind of insect that strongly affected to rice production in the studied village. In 2009, there were a outbreak of BPH and damaged a lot of rice. Commune Councilors:

According to the result from Commune Councilor’s Group, it is able to know that human disease, livestock disease, and insect are prioritized in the first priority issue in their commune. On the other hand, the commune councilor provided a special notice on the change of temperature in their commune, they mentioned that the change of temperature is an extreme case, sometimes it is very hot, and it is also very cold sometimes. It means that the temperature is not stable in a favorable condition. Then, the commune council also mentioned that drought, flood, and storm/thunder are the first priority issues. Based on the answer from the commune councilor mentioned above, it is able to note that the commune councilor provide more attention to the human health, livestock health, and insect that strongly affected to rice production in their respective commune.


The commune councilor’s groups also specified some important human diseases such as Measles, Varicella, dengue fever, AIDS, Cholera, and malaria.

Figure 3: Trend Analysis: Commune Councilor (CC)

IV. Vulnerable Risk of Climate Change Analysis

4.1.What current experience do you face because of climate change and what is the effect on your life?

Women’s Group

According to the women’s group, it is able to know that the dry season is now longer than before. There is no sufficient rain water for farming activities, at the same time they lack of water for drinking.

Due to the water shortage, women cannot conduct agricultural practices very well; it means that agricultural production and productivity has decreased. They could not produce enough agricultural products for family consumption and sale for making additional incomes. On contrary, women need to spend more money for food. Some of family members migrated to work as construction workers (men), and garment workers (women) in order to make additional income from off-farm activities.

Women also mentioned that they have lacked of knowledge and technical skill of climate resilient agricultural technique that would help them to apply the agricultural production very well.


In order to cope with these problems, women requested some assistance as follows:

Improve water storage system & irrigation system (e.g water gate, pond, canal…) in the village in order to catch & store rain water to be used effective for farming activities.

Capacity building on climate resilient agricultural techniques so that they can use the technique very well to adapt to drought condition. In specific, women are interested to learn how to improve soil fertility, livestock husbandry technique (veterinary), how to produce seed & breed, improve vegetable growing and fruit tree planting.

Raising awareness for villagers, women, men, about advantage of tree. Furthermore, in cooperation with local authorities, we should try to promote tree replanting program.

Provision of agricultural inputs (such as: chick, vegetable seed, agricultural equipment…) to villagers especially women so that they can start their farming activities very well.

Increase collective saving activities in the women saving group, so women would be able to reduce their vulnerability to climate change, they can access to better credit service for agriculture and business investments. Women are also interested to make diversified income sources.

Women also mentioned that they would pay more attention to keep in touch with the update information relating to climate change so that they can prepare themselves beforehand to fight against the climate change.

Last but not least, women also suggest a good market linkage so that they can supply their agricultural product to markets.

Men’s Group

According to the result of men’s group, it is able to know that men have recognized that the climate is changing and unprecedented. It is getting hotter and strongly affect to human and livestock health. They noticed that many diseases are occurring that cost a lot of money for treatment. In some cases, they lost their cattle because of the disease.

On the other hand, because of the hot weather, crops were damaged. Therefore, there is a food shortage for consumption in the village as a result. They could not increase income from agricultural production, but at the same time they need to spend more money for food. Men’s groups also added that the volume of fish catch has decreased because of the climate change. The temperature is getting hot and inadequate water are main factors to decrease natural fishes in the village.

Due to the hot weather, and people have not understood well how to take care of the natural forest/tree and rice straw, forest and rice straw are often burned which is not good for soil fertility.

To deal with the problem mentioned above, men have some vulnerability reduction measures as follows:


Improve water reservoir and small scale irrigation system, for example pond, drilled well, canals, etc. At the same time, they also want to increase more contribution from community members to build these infrastructures.

Natural resource conservation groups should be established in order to rehabilitate and manage the natural resource in the village. Specifically, men are interested to set up natural conservation groups in order to prevent rice straw from burning which is not good for soil fertility, illegal fish catch, illegal tree cutting, etc.

Pay more attention to follow up / keep in touch with the information relating to climate and natural disaster. At the same time, the information sharing and dissemination need to be improved among community members, local authorities, and other stakeholders.

Community people need to aware of good sanitation / hygiene practices so that they can practice in order to reduce and/or avoid diseases affected by the climate change. In the mean time, the public health service should be improved.

The men’s groups also indicated that it is very important to receive more training support from NGOs, government bodies, and other development agencies in relation to the climate resilient agricultural technique, specifically livestock husbandry technique, natural fertilizer making, and disaster risk reduction management.

Commune Council’s Group:

The commune council’s group mentioned that it is very difficult especially in the dry season while farmers do not have enough water for farming activities, even lack of water for feeding livestock. In addition, farmers also lack of climate resilient agricultural techniques that can be adaptive to the drought. Conventional agricultural practice is mostly conducted by farmers which result in low agricultural productivity. Therefore, some farmers lack of food for family consumption and also can get low income from the agricultural activity. While household families in the commune are low-income families so that they are more vulnerable if any risk happen. On the other hand, the commune council’s group also indicated that farmers do not pay highly attention to the information on disasters that is why they are not well-prepared beforehand to deal with disasters. They seem lack of a real commitment to keep in touch with the information on disasters as well as the commitment to find ways for dealing with emerging disasters. More importantly, community members have limited understanding and methods to cope with the climate change or natural disasters if these things happen in their community.

However, the commune council’s group also mentioned that there are some strong points in the commune such as:

The commune council has mentioned that there is existing structure in their commune, for example there is commune council for disaster management, village chief, pagoda management committee, and various farmer groups. This existing structure would be very helpful to work together for responding to disasters.

In case of disaster happened, villagers would have their own resource for example cattle to be sold, so they would get some income from selling cattle to cover their


family’s need. It means that the villager will sell their assets in order to deal with the problem result from the natural disaster.

The commune council’s group added that community members, especially women, who have enough labor will find job to work for the garment factories that located in the district. Men also can also collect palm juice in their village (but it can only be done in the dry season), and migrate to work as construct workers in other places.

On the other hand, there are some existing irrigation systems and water reservoirs in the commune, including dams, water gates, ponds, and drilled wells. It would be good if these irrigation systems and water reservoirs are renovated constructed additionally. It would increase the water storing capacity for farming activities especially during the drought. In the near future, the commune council’s group added that it would be good if villagers do not free their cattle to the field so that villagers would be able to grow vegetables in the rice field during the dry season.

Even forest is being degraded from year to year, but the commune still exist some forest trees that can be used for fuel wood.

The community would be able to access credit service from the existing saving group in their village; however the amount of saving capital is still limited that would not be able to provide enough credit/loan to majority of the community member. According to the commune council’s group, farmers would be able to get lower interest loan if they borrow money from the saving group. More importantly, the interest will benefit to the community itself as it does not flow out to community outsiders. Particularly, the community member also can borrow money from MFIs and Banks in order to meet their needs. Even this is not really a good solution, but it is the possibility of the community member if they faced serious problem with disaster or climate change impact.

The commune council’s group also indicated that they will ask for assistance from the Provincial Department of Agriculture, partner NGOs, Physicians, and Cambodia Red Cross if they do not have capacity to respond the impact of climate change and/or natural disaster.

In order to increase their adaptive capacity to climate change and natural disasters, the commune council’s group provided some potential solutions as follows:

Community members need to frequently keep in touch with weather broadcasting and other relevant information to natural disasters so that they would know and prepare themselves in dealing with those issues beforehand.

Farmers need to increase their understanding and skills in practicing the climate smart agricultural technique as it is very helpful for them to improve their farming practice within the context of new climate, and also enable them to increase the agricultural production and productivity to meet their family consumption and market supply.

Community members should increase their saving capital so that they would have more capital to provide loans.

Vegetable and fruit tree productions are also needed to be strengthened in order to enhance household food security and nutrition.


4.2. What happens if the situation gets worse?

Women’s Group

There would be more and more diseases caused by the climate change, especially children and elders will be the most vulnerable people from the effect of the climate change. The payment for disease treatment will be increased and the target community people would not be able to afford enough money for disease treatment. On the other hand, the family will be poorer and cannot afford to send their children to school.

Currently, drought is a main climate issue that leads to low agricultural production and productivity (crops are damaged; livestock production is not well operated). So, if the drought gets worse, women would not be able to conduct agricultural production, at the same time their income would be reduced while their main income source is mainly rely on agriculture. Moreover, the food insecurity problem would be increased; people would not have food to eat which result in hunger and malnutrition. To mitigate this problem, majority of community people would sell their assets (e.g. land, cattle…) in order to get some income to cover their family’s daily needs.

On the other hand, there will be more and more community people migrate to find jobs in other places. It is a big problem if it is the unsafe migration, people would work as construction workers or garment workers in other places. Security in the village would not be good, because there would be more thefts and/or robbers in the village that disturb to the happiness of the community people.

To mitigate these problems, women expressed some solutions as follows:

Improve the agricultural practice such as the application of System of Rice Intensification (SRI), improved livestock raising technique, vegetable growing technique, mulching1 etc. those agricultural techniques need to be resilient to new climate change especially drought. In relation to the agricultural practice, women are interested to reduce / stop using chemical fertilizer and pesticide; this would reduce expense on production cost and also improve the soil fertility.

Women mentioned that the improvement of irrigation system and water catchment is very important. The community should construct more dams, water gates, canals, and wells so that it would reduce vulnerability and increase adaptive capacity of community people to deal a worsening climate condition.

Women also mentioned above increasing in amount of saving money in the farmer saving group. By doing so, they would have more capital so that they can borrow money from the group to invest in agriculture and business activities—it would increase more income alternatives.

People need to pay high attention to their health; they need clean eating, clean drinking, and clean living. It means that sanitation and hygiene need to be enhanced.

1 Mulching would enable to save water, reduce water evaporation and at the same time, produce organic matter to soil


Lastly, women also recommended conducting tree planting in the village. The tree planting would also contribute to improve climate condition in their village, provide shade, fuel wood, timber food etc and also provide leaves for improving the soil fertility.

Men’s Group

According to the men’s group, if the situation gets worse there would be:

It would strongly affect to the livelihood activities of the community people. More people in the community will be poorer (live below poverty line) because they would not be able to apply agricultural production. Water shortage is the main root cause that reduces the agricultural production, and farmers would lose their income source from the agriculture activity.

Food shortage and famine will be a serious problem if the situation gets worse. It is important to note that because of the climate change, farmer would not be able to conduct agricultural production very well, for instance crops cannot be planted, fish cannot be raised etc.

Men see that lack of water for family consumption, especially the shortage of drinking water would be a critical issue, this strongly affect to the health status of human and animals in the village. There would be more diseases happen to children and elder people, at the same time also more diseases occur to livestock.

Due to the extreme poverty, there will be more and more people migrate to find jobs outsider the village. Therefore, it means that people will also be difficult to find job as more people stop doing agricultural activities. Poorest families would not be able afford their money for sending children to school. On the other hand, the natural resource, for example soil fertility and natural forest, will be degraded.

To deal with the above problem, men suggested the following possible solution:

Men would like to have a better irrigation system including the construction & rehabilitation of pond, water reservoir, canals, water gates and dams etc. At the same time, they have willingness to contribute their resource (money and labor).

Men also indicated that it is important to conserve and manage the natural resource very well. They recommended that the natural resource conservation group should be established in order to prevent natural resources from exploitation, for instance illegal fish catch by using electricity shock, narrow fishing net, to prevent rice straw from burning etc. furthermore, men also consider to conduct tree replanting program as it would help to improve the micro climate condition, improve soil fertility, fuel wood and so on. The men’s group also pointed out that the chemical fertilizer needs to be reduced and/or stopped. Therefore, it means that they will try to collect natural manure.


The men’s groups added that the agricultural practice needs to be improved. They actually cannot apply the conventional agricultural practice within the context of climate change. They want climate resilient agricultural technique that enables them to adapt to new climate condition. On the other hand, they are interested to learn about livestock disease treatment meanwhile they do not have appropriate technique for livestock husbandry and disease treatment. Particularly, they also pay attention to vegetable growing which is good for family consumption –the vegetable seed should be distributed. They also requested Non Governmental Organization (NGOs) and government institutions to provide training assistance.

The alternative income source that they think of is working as migrant workers outsider the village. They would not be able to stay in the village because they could not conduct agricultural production, so they need to migrate to do off-farm activities in order to generate income to support their family need.

Men also mentioned about the increase in money saving (in the farmer saving group) because they would be able to have more capital for investments (e.g. agricultural investment & other business activities)

In some cases, the community face serious natural disaster, food aid is requested.

Commune Council’s Group

According to the discussion with the commune council’s group, if the situation gets worse, there would more and more people face to famine, some people would die because of starvation. Lack of drinking water and food shortage lead to disease to human and livestock, therefore the family would need to pay more money for disease treatment. On the other hand, more people would migrate to find another work outside the village. Because of these circumstances, the people will deep into extreme poverty and would not be able to afford money for sending children to school—children would lose their study opportunity. On the other hand, the security in the village would not be guaranteed, due to the poverty some people might become robbers and thefts.

To deal with the problem mentioned above, the commune council’s group presented some possible solutions as follows:

Building dam in order to store water to be used in farming activities Family pond so that the water could be used for vegetable growing, fishing, and

animal husbandry Increase jars at household in order to collect and store rain water to be used mainly

for drinking Increase in money saving in order to mobilize local resources, community people

would be able to borrow money from the saving group to invest in agriculture and doing other business activities.

Community people especially women need to learn food processing methods, so they would produce food for consumption with more productive way.

Improve information sharing and communication tool among the community people, local authorities, and stakeholders. The accessibility to information in the right time


would be able the community people to prepare beforehand to deal with the climate change issue.

Tree planting program should be conducted.

4.3.What prevents adaptation at the moment?

Women’s Group

Currently, women are using early rice varieties for planting. The planting of early rice varieties enable them to harvest their rice in a shorter time compare to medium and late rice varieties. By doing this way, women can reduce their vulnerability affected by the drought at the end of the rainy season. In short, they can harvest their rice soon before the drought occurs at the end of the rainy season.

It is important to note that women have also learned some climate resilient agricultural technique from development project implementing by development agencies within their village. Some women have been applying the climate resilient agricultural technique that they have learned, including the application of home gardening, circle gardening technique, mulching, System of Rice Intensification, soil nutrition improvement through the use of natural manner & organic matter etc.

Remarkably, some women have tried to dig family pond in cooperation with their family’s members. They can get water for farming activities such as fish culture, vegetable growing etc. At the same time, they have also increased the number of water jars for harvesting and storing rain water.

At the same time, they have also increased the amount of saving money in the collective money saving group. The idea is to increase the capital within the saving group sot that group members can access better to saving and credit services. The members can borrow money from the group with appropriate interest rate to invest in agriculture and small business activities. Furthermore, they suggest that the number of collective saving group in the village should be expanded and they also think that other farmers who have not participated in saving should join.

Men’s Group

Men are involving in the rehabilitation of irrigation system in their village; they contribute to dig canal, family pond, canal, and water reservoir etc. Men are also participating in farming activities such as vegetable growing, livestock husbandry etc. Even they have applied agricultural techniques. However, these agricultural techniques are not climate resilient agricultural techniques. Currently, men have also understood that natural manure and organic matter are very important to improve the soil fertility. At the same time, they have tried to reduce the amount of chemical fertilizer in farming practices.

On the other hand, men are also participating actively in the natural resource conservation group. They would like to prevent the natural resource such as natural fishes, preventing rice straw from burning etc. The establishment of the natural conservation group would also


enable the community people and local authorities to work and cooperate with each other very well, and also provide an effective measure to deal with the climate change issue.

The men also have the same idea with women. They also want to increase the amount of money saving in the collective saving group. The saving group is a money source for them to borrow in order to invest in agriculture and other business activities. The men’s group also mentioned that they are difficult to ask for loan from MFI and Banks as the procedure is complex and they also need to put their assets (e.g land) as guarantee.

The men’s groups recognized that forest is being degraded and there would be no more forest remaining in the near future. To contribute in addressing this issue, they plant tree in their homestead and rice field.


According to the commune council’s group, it is able to know that the preventive adaptations at the moment are:

There are some money saving groups are being operated in the village. The money saving group is helpful for the community members to save and borrow money for the investment in agriculture and other business activities. It means that the community members are able to access money source for doing their business. Through establishing and participating in collective money saving group, it would help to reduce vulnerability of the community. The knowledge and capacity of the management committee of the saving group need to be strong in order to ensure that they could manage their groups effectively in long term sustainability.

Currently, the local authorities especially the commune’s council in cooperation with other development agencies is raising awareness on climate change impact to the community member especially the impact of climate change on livelihood activities of the community people.

The commune council tries to promote tree planting in the community. They are encouraging farmers to plant multi-purpose trees and fruit trees within their homestead and/or rice field.

The commune council has established the natural conservation groups in order to protect the natural resource. The commune council in cooperation with village based farmer associations, farmer groups to set up by-law for allowing cattle to go everywhere in the dry season. Through this prevention measure, it would help some farmers to grow vegetables in the dry season.

The commune council allocated some amount of its commune fund to rehabilitate / construct water gate / spire way in order to keep and store water in the rainy season to be wisely used in the dry season.


4.4. Project activity sustainability?

Women’s Group

According to the group discussion meeting with the women’s groups, it is able to find out some ideas for ensuring a long-term sustainability.

Women have strongly concentrated on the capacity building for management committee members of the collective saving group, village based farmer association, water user groups etc. They indicated that the long term sustainability of the farmer group is highly depending on the management committee.

Group members and other community members need to understand well about the pros and cons of community-led saving group, village-based farmer association, water user groups so that they are voluntarily participate in the group in an active & proactive way.

Furthermore, all key stakeholders in the community, including farmers, men, women, local authorities, and other local government institutions need to have a good cooperation with each other so that it would improve the effectiveness of work and ensure a sustainability.

Women also stated that transparency and accountability is very important to increase confidence among group members.

Women also added that they need to make sure that women can generate incomes either from on-farm or off-farm activities, especially they can access to saving and credit services which is an important factor to stimulate their income generation activities.

Men’s Group

Based on the result of group discussion meetings with the men’s groups, to ensure a good long-term sustainability, some ideas were raised as follows:

Key resource persons are very important to ensure a good long-term sustainability. Farmers who have applied the agricultural technique successfully would be able to disseminate their good practices to other farmers. The men’s groups added that strong management committee to take care of the irrigation system would guarantee the long term use of the irrigation system. Without management, the irrigation system would be destroyed easily.


Farmers / community members need to have capacities and skills of generating incomes, especially the income generation activities from agricultural production. Farmers need to have good understanding and technical skills to increase the agricultural productivity so that they produce sufficient agricultural products for their family consumption and market supply. Furthermore, the agricultural experimentation / new participatory action research need to be conducted in order to find new technical innovations that are appropriate to new climate condition.

The men’s groups also mentioned about reducing / stop using of chemical fertilizer and pesticide which is harmful to the soil fertility and ecological system. To make sure that the soil fertility can be sustained, the men’s groups recommended that natural manure & organic matters should be used for instead of the chemical fertilizer. At the same time, they also would like the community people to plant multi-purpose trees and fruit trees as much as possible.


To ensure a long-term sustainability, the commune council’s group also has similar ideas to the men’s groups and women’s groups:

Tree planting would contribute to make a better micro climate condition; at the same time it provides organic matters to improve soil fertility. In addition, the commune council’s group also mentioned about the deduction of chemical fertilizer in agricultural production is a good starting point. To eliminate the use of chemical fertilizer, farmers need to collect more natural manure and organic matters as much as possible, and the tree planting is also contribute to produce more organic matters.

Capacity building for the management committee members of water user groups would be helpful to make sure that the irrigation infrastructure such as water gate, dam, canal etc can be used productively in a sustainable way.

Increase in knowledge, capacity, and technical skills of climate resilient agricultural techniques that enable farmers to adapt to new climate condition (especially drought and flood). If farmers can also conduct agricultural production very well in the new climate condition, they would produce enough food for family consumption and also distribute their agricultural products to other people inside and outside their respective communities.

The commune council’s group also recommended farmers to increase their saving capital in order to mobilize local resource for doing alternative business activities. They also added that it is good to establish farmer cooperative for operating the agri-business activities in the commune.


V. Conclusion

According to the result of the vulnerability reduction assessment, it is able to know that drought and flood are the main climate-related problems happen in the studied village. At the same time, due to the climate change impact, it also affects to the livelihood activities of the community people. Low agricultural production and degradation of natural resources result in food shortage and low income. It is important to note that if the climate gets worse, women, children, and elders are the most vulnerable people in the community.

In relation to the current adaptive capacity, the community people still have limited understanding and skills to deal with the climate change. For instance, they do not know well about the climate resilient agricultural technique, preventive methods and other tools to be used for mitigating the climate change impact. According to the result of the group discussion, the community people provide priority to the construction and rehabilitation of irrigation system & water storage system that can harvest the water in the rainy season so that they can use it in the dry season. Improvement of alternative income generation activities is also an important adaptive measure to mitigate the vulnerability, but increase their adaptive capacity of the community people to deal with the climate change.

To sustain a long-term sustainability, the community people would like to make sure that the knowledge and capacity of the management committee members of different farmer groups are strong enough to manage the functional activities of those groups. Coordination and communication among key stakeholders in the community is also very necessary important to ensure good information sharing and dissemination which lead to good planning to deal with the climate change issues.


climate vulnerability assessment report in kampong chhnang, cambodia

Environment