EU Projects Tackling Climate Change

Tin Sokhavuth

EU supports PLAN international and CEDAC to build the capacity of Cambodian farmers and local governments in Siem Reap and Kampong Cham to respond to climate change. Photo supplied.

Last week, it was the European Climate Change Diplomacy Week. To celebrate the week, the EU has revealed a series of projects funded by them with millions of euro in order to help Cambodian people tackle climate change issue.

According to the EU, a project with EUR 1.85 million is currently supported by the EU, for the two NGOs, PLAN International and CEDAC, to help Cambodian farmers and local government in Siem Reap and Kampong Cham provinces to build their capacity in response to climate change, drought and soil degradation.

This project is targeting 325 villages in 31 communes of 6 districts in the two provinces. The beneficiaries will be 15,000 households from the target area.

Moreover, the project aims also at increasing and diversifying agricultural production through sustainable innovations.

The EU also supports another one million-euro project run by the NGO Mlup Baitong, in a view to help thousands of households living in Kampong Speu, Kampong Thom, Siem Reap, and Stung Treng provinces to improve their livelihoods, and to tackle climate change issue too.

“A one million-euro EU-funded project … is empowering thousands of community members … to not only be able to assert their land rights and improve their livelihoods, but also to strengthen their capacity to preserve their community forests and contribute to the reduction of carbon emissions …,” wrote EU on their Facebook page.

On the other hand, to support the initiative of the Cambodian government to solve climate change problems in the country, the EU and other international development partners have been creating the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA) in 2010.

To date, the CCCA has received about $9.2 million from the EU for their works to address climate change and disaster issues in the country.

EU is the biggest donor in the world and in Cambodia in term development. The annual amount of EU aid to Cambodia is about 34 million euros ($45 million). “All the European Commission financial assistance is given in non-refundable (grant) donation.”

The biggest EU financial assistance for Cambodia is channeled through bilateral cooperation with the Cambodian government. From 2007 to 2013, the amount of EU aids to the kingdom, reached more than $191 million.

The aids were concentrated on agriculture, education, governance and human rights, children’s rights, judiciary system, the Extraordinary Chambers in the Courts of Cambodia (ECCC), promotion of local government, and trade etc.

Besides bilateral cooperation the government, the EU also provides funding through specific NGO’s projects in a variety of areas such as agriculture, forestry, fisheries, food security, education, vocational training, climate change, environment etc.

“There are currently more than 70 ongoing projects for more than 62 million euros (around $83 million) throughout all the 23 provinces in Cambodia and Phnom Penh, each covering either one, several or all the provinces,” read the EU website.