Climate Change and Water Governance in Cambodia

1. Climate Change and Water Governance in Cambodia Scholarship Orientation Meeting Phnom Penh, RUA 23 July 2013 CHEM Phalla, PhD • Research Fellow • Team Leader • Coordinator for NRE Programme, CDRI

2. Overview • Cambodia is affected by climate change (MRC 2010; Yusuf & Francisco 2009) • Infrastructure development will have negative impacts on the Tonle Sap flood pulse area (Keskinenet al. 2011). If combine: • Reduction of flood pulse area about 23% • Reduction in sediment flows up to 70% • Reduction in ecosystem product (fish about 50%) • Livelihoodsare highly vulnerable • Approach – makes use of secondary and global data, • Focus – more focuses on vulnerability to hazard and less on long-term vulnerability in relation to water security, • Stakeholder – involves with stakeholders in a less consultative manner and less attention on capacity building

3. Objectives • This new study looks at how change in natural and human systems determine vulnerability and adaptive capacityof rural population and government responses • Assess the gaps in existing research on the water-related impacts of climate change in Cambodia and explore the existing methods and generate recommend to improve consistency in measurement of indicators across future studies undertaken in Cambodia; • Undertake hydrological change and livelihood analyses - understanding the livelihood implications of the interplay between climate change and human impacts;

4. Objectives • Assess the effectiveness of existing policies and institutional arrangements for water governance and formulate operational solutions to bridge the identified gaps; • Build research and practical capacity in Vulnerability and adaptation (V&A) assessment; • Synthesize results and make recommendations for adaptation initiatives at various levels of government.

5. Research questions • Objective 1, • Q-1 What are the different methods for analyzing vulnerability/adaptation measures at community level? • Q-2 What household and community level indicators will usefully monitor different levels of vulnerability (exposure, sensitivity, adaptive capacity)? • Q-3 How can existing methods be harmonised to improve the robustness/validity of vulnerability study?

6. Research questions • Objective 2, Q-4 Using new methods developed from Qs 1-3, how and what extent have natural and human system changes impacted on water security at catchment scale? • What are the impacts on water resources? Which of these changes have the strongest effects across different space and time? How do these impacts differ across time and topographical zones? • What are the impacts on water users and social groups in catchment communities (including men, women, ethnic groups)?

7. Research questions • Objective 3 Research Questions • Q-5 How can existing institutional arrangement/interactions be improved to cope with impacts of natural and human system changes on water security? • What are the governance responses (institutional arrangement, policy responses, capacity development) to changes in water resources and resulting vulnerability/adaptive capacity? • What conditions will characterize an efficient, equitable, and sustainable water resources governance system and resultant vulnerability/adaptive capacity across time and levels of water management?

8. Research questions • Objective 4 Research Questions • Q-6 How can this project build best develop the capacity of researchers, government agents, and other partners, students, local communities to analyze water resources and climate change and usefully contribute to environmental policy?

9. Conceptual Framework

10. Study sites

11. Thanks

12. Some important literature for reading: the concept of water security • Cook & Bakker (2012): water security is defined as access and affordability of water for human needs and ecological health sustainability. This brings to three school of thoughts. • First, the research on water security often focuses on the availability of water. This research often focuses on assessing of water quantity measuring water stress and water shortage. • The water stress (demand driven) evaluates ratio of water use to availability, i.e., how much water is withdrawn. • The water shortage (population driven) evaluates based on the number of population who share the water. • This perspective emphasizes water security as a sufficiency of safe water supply for human daily needs: drinking, hygiene, washing and livelihoods.

13. Water security Concept in IWRM • Second, water security relates to hazards such as flood, drought, infrastructure development. This perspective emphasizes safeguarding access to water functions and services. This evaluates water security in relation to prevention and protection against contamination. • Third, water security relates to sustainability. This viewpoint combines the two perspectives and it assesses water security at all levels: household to global needs. This perspective argues that every person should have access to adequate safe water at affordable cost while ensuring that the natural environment is protected and enhanced (Global Water Partnership 2000) • The concept of water security brings to the fore an Integrated Water Resources Management (IWRM) approach.

14. Climate Change Vulnerability and Adaptation • Vulnerability to climate change is the degree to which a system is susceptible to damage from climate change. It is shapes by a combination of the extent of exposure, sensitivity, and adaptive capacity to climate change (IPPC 2000; Warrick 2000). • Adaptive capacity to climate change is the ability of a system to prepare for stress and change in advance or respond to the effects caused by the stress. It also refers to the ability of those impacted people to manage and influence their resilience to the change (Engle 2011). • The conceptual framework adopted to achieve the objective of this study is built on an understanding of the interaction between climate change and water security.

15. Methods • Question 1-3 • Examining the methods for analyzing vulnerability and adaptive capacity: reviews existing knowledge base and methods to examine how a strategic impact assessment for vulnerability and adaptive capacity can be improved and implemented. • Question 4, 4a, 4b • Understanding the impacts of natural and human system changes on water security: examines the link between climate change and water security analyzed against natural and human system variables at catchment scale and how these links determine vulnerability and adaptive capacity needs.

16. Methods • Question 5, 5a, and 5b • Understanding the key institutional arrangements for water security: multi-scale stakeholder analysis. • Question 6 • Undertaking the research programme’s capacity building efforts: academic training, special training, and community training. • Defining impact pathways and factors towards the interface of knowledge generation, policy, and practice on climate change and water security: dissemination and policy influence can be best achieve through participatory process by working with stakeholders at national and sub-national levels on (i) identifying adaptation options (ii) characterizing adaptation options and (iii) ranking adaptation options