| Sumario: | The climate crisis is fundamentally a water crisis. It is marked by rising temperatures, floods, droughts, unpredictable rainfall, declining water quality, and worsening water scarcity. These disruptions deeply affect agriculture by altering both the quantity and timing of irrigation water. For countries like Cambodia, where agriculture underpins food security and livelihoods, these shifts pose a serious threat. They also undermine progress toward the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), especially SDG 6 on Clean Water and SDG 2 on Zero Hunger. According to the Climate Risk Index 2024, Cambodia ranked among the top 20 countries most affected by climate-related disasters from 1993 to 2022 (Adil et al., 2025). Projections indicate that climate risks will intensify in the coming decades (WBG, 2024).
In response, the Cambodian government has made numerous efforts to promote climate resilience over the past thirty years and is increasing its investment in climate-resilient agriculture. Strengthening rice- based systems is critical for Cambodia, considering the importance of rice systems, which occupy 82% of the country’s cultivated land and employ 36% of the agricultural labor population. Policies and research studies have focused on identifying adequate climate adaptation approaches. These underscore that improved irrigation, cropping calendar shifts, and crop diversification are the most important strategies for building farmers’ resilience to climate change. Amongst these, sustainable irrigation expansion and alternate wetting and drying (AWD) emerged as critical adaptation and mitigation practices. However, translating from recommendations to practical action is not straightforward. All climate-smart recommendations rely on water availability, including reliable irrigation, effective scheduling, and predictable flooding and rainfall patterns, and require a transition from current water use practices. Therefore, better insights are needed on local water use, irrigation reliability, and the practices or decisions of farmers. Despite their importance, current water-use patterns remain insufficiently understood and incorporated in climate action plans. This policy brief presents findings from research to build a water-based framework to inform Cambodia’s adaptation and mitigation efforts. Our goal is to support policy and investment decisions that enhance the impact of climate action. The study focused on Takeo province, in the Cambodian Mekong floodplains. We used existing climate-risk and adaptation maps to guide a landscape analysis across nested scales. This was combined with a household survey, stratified by key climate vulnerability zones.
|
|---|