Mechanism toward Resilience Building in the Face of Climate Change: A Review for Cambodian Rural Communities

Abstract

The article discusses the current climatic situations in Cambodia and existing mechanisms of the country to address climate change (CC) and the level of rural communities being able to adapt to CC. Reviews of various CC related documents indicate that structures and mechanisms at national level to address CC are adequate but limited at community level. The existence of the structures is beneficial to local people unless the adaptive capacity is enhanced with sufficient technological alternatives, implications and applications with wider sector involvement and a decentralization system. An emerging barrier to resilient building of community and the country is limited of fiscal decentralization as the current financial sources for CC resilient building are solely dependent on external funds for decades while these sources are declining. Additionally, informational, technical and managerial inputs are still strongly required for local communities in order to ensure that the least consequences of any occurred climatic hazards can be obtained. Involving private sector would, therefore, be a good option for local communities in the future provided that private investors have skills to effectively manage rural infrastructures, for example irrigation systems.