Impact of climate change, climate variability and adaptation in the coastal area of Cambodia

Abstract

Cambodia's coastal zones are highly dependent on climate and weather, making them susceptible to climate change and causing farmers’ livelihoods to be more vulnerable compared to urban residents. Since climate issues already impact the agricultural sector in Cambodia, this paper aims to assess the impact of disasters in the context of climate change, which impacts household agricultural production, and to identify the existing community's capacity to respond and adapt to climate change and climate variability in the coastal zones of Cambodia. A survey was conducted in the agricultural coastal zone provinces of Cambodia. Data was analysed using SPSS software. The survey data demonstrates that disasters and climate change, particularly drought and floods, significantly impact the economic status of the interviewed households. The proportion of households experiencing disasters and climate change impacts has increased gradually. Regarding household capacity to respond and adapt to disasters and climate change, households in the target area mainly focused on resilient farming techniques for rice crop production rather than other farming activities, and most of the practices were targeted to adaptation in the occurrence of droughts. The issue of receiving Early Warning Signs (EWS) information was addressed and 37% of the respondents reported “no source of climate information”. Therefore, it is recommended to strengthen the capacity of local people in the coastal areas of Cambodia in responding to climate change.