Environment and climate protection:Perspectives and solutions

Heng Monychenda, Cambodia

Asian-German Dialoguefor KAS scholarship alumni and participants of visitor programmes

to GermanySingapore

June 22 to June 24, 2011Hotel “Parkroyal” Singapore

Climate Change

• The UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), in its Article 1, defines climate change as: ‘a change of climate which is attributed directly or indirectly to human activity that alters the composition of the global atmosphere and which is in addition to natural climate variability observed over comparable time periods’.

• The UNFCCC thus makes a distinction between climate change attributable to human activities altering the atmospheric composition, and climate variability attributable to natural causes

key Solutions

1. Adaptation:2. Maladaptation3. Mitigation4. Preparedness5. Prevention6. Resilience:

Adaptation

1. Adaptation:2. Maladaptation3. Mitigation4. Preparedness5. Prevention6. Resilience:

• Adjustment in natural or human systems in response to actual or expected climatic stimuli or their effects, which moderates harm or exploits beneficial opportunities (UNFCCC).

Maladaptation

1. Adaptation:2. Maladaptation3. Mitigation4. Preparedness5. Prevention6. Resilience:

• Those responses that address immediate risks in a manner that increases future risks because they create conditions that ultimately raise vulnerability (FAO, 2008).

Mitigation

1. Adaptation:2. Maladaptation3. Mitigation4. Preparedness5. Prevention6. Resilience:

• In the context of climate change, a human intervention to reduce the sources or enhance the sinks of greenhouse gases. Examples include using fossil fuels more efficiently for industrial processes or electricity generation, switching to solar energy or wind power, improving the insulation of buildings, and expanding forests and other "sinks" to remove greater amounts of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere (UNFCCC).

Preparedness1. Adaptation:2. Maladaptation3. Mitigation4. Preparedness5. Prevention6. Resilience:

• The knowledge and capacities developed by governments, professional response and recovery organizations, communities and individuals to effectively anticipate, respond to, and recover from, the impacts of likely, imminent or current hazard events or conditions (ISDR, 2009).

Prevention

1. Adaptation:2. Maladaptation3. Mitigation4. Preparedness5. Prevention6. Resilience:

• The outright avoidance of adverse impacts of hazards and related disasters (ISDR, 2009).

Resilience1. Adaptation:2. Maladaptation3. Mitigation4. Preparedness5. Prevention6. Resilience

• The ability of a system, community or society exposed to hazards to resist, absorb, accommodate to and recover from the effects of a hazard in a timely and efficient manner, including through the preservation and restoration of its essential basic structures and functions.(ISDR, 2009).

Global Climate Change Alliance• In 2007, the European Union agreed to build a Global Climate

Change Alliance between the EU and the developing countries that are likely to be hardest hit by climate change. Cambodia was selected to be a pilot country.

• UNDP supported an expansion of this vision by facilitating the participation of other donors, initially Sweden and Denmark. The Cambodia Climate Change Alliance (CCCA) was announced in 2009 by the EU and UNDP and formally launched in February 2010.

• The Cambodia Climate Change Alliance has two main aims: 1. To support capacity development and institutional strengthening to

prepare for and mitigate climate change risks; 2. To directly help vulnerable communities by enhancing their

resilience to climate change and other natural hazards. The implementing partner is the NCCD.

First National Climate Change Forum

• In October 2009 Cambodia organized the First National Climate Change Forum which was opened by Prime Minister Samdech Hun Sen who also accepted a new role as the Honorary Chair of the NCCC, a strong sign of the country leadership acknowledgement of the seriousness of climate change problem

Pilot Program for Climate Resilience

• Cambodia has also been selected as one of nine pilot countries for participation in the Pilot Program for Climate Resilience (PPCR), the first active Program under the Strategic Climate Fund (SCF) of the Climate Investment Funds (CIF).

• The program aims:– to provide incentives for scaled-up action and

transformational change in integrating climate resilience considerations in the country’s development strategies and programs and on other ongoing initiatives;

– to enable learning-by-doing and sharing of lessons and good practice at country, regional and global levels.

Statement of the Kingdom of Cambodia United Nations Climate Change Conference, 29 November-10 December 2010,

Cancun, Mexico

• In Cambodia, adaptation to climate change is the most priority. Therefore, we would like to see:– adaptation and mitigation action be equally treated for the future

climate regime.– Assistance for implementing climate change adaptation measures in

Least Developed Countries should be unconditional, country-driven and should not lead to increase debt of these countries.

– Cambodia reiterates that implementation of the NAPAs remains a real challenge due to insufficient funding and very slow processes that do not respond to our urgent and immediate nature of the NAPAs.

– In this context, Cambodia would like to call upon the developed country Parties to directly contribute to the LDCF in order to meet adaptation demands.

– Cambodia, along with other LDCs, propose to update our NAPAs.

InternationalAdaptation and Mitigation(IAM)

• Does I A M serve who?– Serve I am?– Serve You are?– Serve us(US)?

• Does International Adaptation and Mitigation Enough for world?– Is it enough for who I am– is it enough for who you are– Is it enough for us

Buddhist Perspective

• At such time, monks, as rajahs are unrighteous, the minister of rajahs also are unrighteous. When ministers are unrighteous, brahmins and householders also are unrighteous. Thus townsfolk and villagers are unrighteous.

• This being so, moon and sun go wrong in their courses. This being so, constellations and stars do likewise; days and nights, months and fortnights, seasons and years are out of joint; the wind blow wrong, out of season. Thus the devas are annoyed. This being so, the sky-deva bestows not sufficient rain. Rains not falling seasonably, the crops ripen in wrong season.

• Monks, when crops ripen in wrong season, men who live on such crops are short-lived, ill-favoured, weak and sickly.

• But, monks, when rajahs are righteous, the minister of rajahs also are righteous. When ministers are righteous, brahmins and householders also are righteous. Thus townsfolk and villagers are righteous.

• This being so, moon and sun go right in their courses. This being so, constellations and stars do likewise; days and nights, months and fortnights, seasons and years go on their courses regularly; wind blow regularly in due season. Thus the devas are not annoyed and the sky-deva bestows sufficient rain. Rains falling seasonably, the crops ripen in due season.

• Monks, when crops ripen in due season, men who live on those crops are long-lived, well-favoured, strong and free from sickness.

SOCIOECONOMIC DEPENDENT ORIGINATION

ACCORDING TO BUDDHISM

Unrighteous Leader

Not GOOD SCHOLAR & BUSINESS

Not GOOD PEOPLE

ABNORMAL MOON & SUN

ABNORMAL STAR & CONSTELLATIONS

ABNORMAL DAY AND NIGHT

ABNORMAL FORTHNIGHT

&MONTH

ABNORMAL SEASON & YEAR

ABNORMAL RAIN

ABNORMAL WIND

UNHAPPY GODS/NATURE

NOT GOOD FARMING

POVERTY

WAR? Not GOOD GOVERNMENT

SOCIOECONOMIC DEPENDENT ORIGINATION

ACCORDING TO BUDDHISM

Righteous Leader

GOOD SCHOLAR & BUSINESS

GOOD PEOPLE

NORMAL MOON & SUN

NORMAL STAR & CONSTELLATIONS

NORMAL DAY AND NIGHT

NORMAL FORTHNIGHT

&MONTH

NORMAL SEASON & YEAR

NORMAL RAIN

NORMAL WIND

HAPPY GODS/NATURE

GOOD FARMING

WEALTHY

PEACE GOOD GOVERNMENT

INTER-RELATION BETWEEN HUMAN AND NATURE

HUMAN KARMA

ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACTBAD

SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES

SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES

INTER-RELATION BETWEEN HUMAN AND NATURE

GOOD/BAD HUMAN KARMA

GOOD/BAD ENVIRONMENTAL

IMPACT

GOOD/BAD SOCIOECONOMIC CONSEQUENCES

Individual

Nature Society

woe/happiness

When kin are crossing, if the old bull swerve, they all go swerving, following this lead. So among men, if he who’s reckoned best live not aright, much more do other folk.If the rajah be unrighteous, the whole realm dwells in woe.

When kin are crossing, if the old bull go straight, they all go straight, because his course is straight.So among men, if he who’s reckoned best live righteously, the other do so too.The whole realm dwells in happiness If the rajah lives aright.