CONCLUSION
Changing climate and climate variability may prevent Cambodia from reaching its development
goals, particularly those related to reducing poverty. As indicated by the Ministry of the Environment
(MoE), flash flooding and drought are responsible for the reduction in rice production in
Cambodia (MoE, 2001, MoE, 2005). At the provincial level, Yusuf and Francisco (2010) indicated
that the KPS province is the third most vulnerable province to climate change in the country.
The study aims to identify the impact of environmental shocks (flash floods, windstorms and
drought) and household characteristics on per capital income and to create vulnerability indexes to
predict future poverty incidence in the communities of the KPS province. Drought is found to be
the most common environmental hazard experienced by people in these communities. The study
found that, among the three indicators of environmental shocks, only drought resulted in a decrease
in the per capita income of households between 2008 and 2010. Drought can be more devastating
than either windstorms or flash flood, as it can easily destroy an entire season of crop.
Two of the household characteristics that negatively affected household per capita income are
a household size and agricultural dependency. This suggests that households that have many children
and do not have other sources of income are likely to be poor and continue to be poor (vulnerable)
in the future. In contrast, the education of respondents and households’ possession of motor
vehicles are positively related to per capita income.
Some policy recommendations resulting from this study include building irrigation systems to
mitigate the impacts of droughts, ensuring secondary income generation opportunities for poor
households so that they do not depend exclusively on agriculture, and increasing the education level
of villagers.
In conclusion, drought is the most severe natural hazard in KPS and farmers reported that they
regularly experience a late onset of rainfall. There is a widespread problem of water scarcity and
most farmers do not have access to irrigation systems or other technology that can supply water,
such as water pumps. Based on the VEP, the study shows that many people are unable to cope with
environmental shocks, especially drought. As a result, farmers are not able to fully cultivate their
paddy fields and therefore experience reduced crop yields. It is imperative to increase the adaption
capacity of farmers who have livelihoods that are highly sensitive to natural hazards. Diversifying
livelihoods is also recommended, but it is beyond the scope of this paper. While enhancing adaptive
capacity is very critical, there is currently limited intervention from the local government and
sub-national government. Whereas NGOs are working to enhance the livelihoods of communities
through community risk management, there has only been limited cases of direct resource and
knowledge transfers. Farmers have limited access to credit at their locality when they need it most
to save their livestock and paddy fields during natural hazards.