CITIES AND CLIMATE CHANGE INITIATIVESIHANOUKVILLE CAMBODIA

CITY OVERVIEWSihanoukville is a coastal city located in the Southwest of Cambodia on the Gulf of Thailand, around 230km from the capital, Phnom Penh. It is the administra-tive capital of Preah Sihanouk Province. The total land area of mainland Siha-noukville is 7,466ha.

Sihanoukville is a key economic hub for Cambodia, being home to the country’s only deep-water sea port. Fishing is an important livelihood source, support-ing many of the poorest people. Siha-noukville is also a popular tourist desti-nation, having some of Cambodia’s only sandy beaches. Growth in tourism and traffic through the port has resulted in high population growth of around three per cent on average in the last ten years.

CLIMATE CHANGE RISKS AND VULNERABILITYSihanoukville is vulnerable to the effects of sea-level rise and coastal erosion. Homes in low elevation coastal areas are especially vulnerable, and this is exacer-bated by poor quality of house construc-tion and a lack of basic urban services and infrastructure.

Coastal erosion is affecting beaches, posing a serious threat to the tourism sector. Loss of life among fishermen and damage to housing is common due to increasingly severe storms and a lack of reliable meteorological information. Increased wet season rainfall is likely to add to existing flood problems and is ex-acerbated by pre-existing serious issues regarding sewage and solid waste man-agement.

ACTIVITIES ALREADY UNDERTAKENThe Provincial Government of Preah Si-hanouk Province invited UN-HABITAT to conduct a vulnerability and adaptation assessment (VAA) of Sihanoukville in 2010. Based on this, the Provincial Gov-ernment successfully applied for funding from the Ministry of Environment to con-duct a pilot project to address vulnerabil-ity to climate change in Sihanoukville.

Sangkat Muoy ©UN-Habitat/Liam Fee

Overview

Population: 89,846 (2009)

Economy: Tourism, fisheries, activities associated with the deep water sea port

Temperature: Daily average maximum of 31-33 C; daily average minimum of 21-24 C

Rainfall: 3154mm annually (1985-2010 average)

Climate: Tropical, with a dry season from November to May and rainy season from June to October; September is typically the wettest month, April the hottest and January the driest

Sihanoukville

Location

ABOUT USHeadquarted at UN-Habitat in Nairobi, the Cities and Climate Change Initiative (CCCI) involves the participation of more than 20 cities worldwide. It targets medium-sized cities in developing and least-developed countries and emphasizes good gover-nance and practical initiatives for the mu-nicipalities and their citizens. The CCCI team has adapted participatory processes

developed previously by UN-Habitat so as to specifically address climate change is-sues within the city. A complementary set of tools is being developed to support cit-ies in raising awareness on the impact of climate change and undertaking mitiga-tion and adaptation activities. Since 2008, CCCI has been generously supported by the Government of Norway, the United

Nations Development Account, the Cities Alliance, the Government of Sweden and other sources of global, regional, national and local funding. Newsletters of the Cit-ies and Climate Change Initiative are peri-odically published electronically. For more information, or to be added to our mailing list, contact uepb@unhabitat.org or visit www.unhabitat.org/ccci.

Esmeraldas

Maputo

Hoi An

Walvis Bay

Kigali

Bobo Dioulasso

Saint Louis

Sorsogon

Pekalongan

Kathmandu

Ulaanbaatar

KampalaBatticaloa

Mombasa Port Moresby

ApiaPort Vila Lami

CCCI Participating Cities as of October 2010.

Jiangyin

SihanoukvilleNegombo

Banjarmasin

Tuguegarao Cauayan Santiago Olangapo Rodriguez

CCCI CITIES AND COUNTRIES

KEY ACTIVITIES PLANNEDDisaster risk reduction through provision of improved weather and storm warning information to fishermen.

Piloting natural coastal defences by in-creasing mangrove areas.

Capacity building of Provincial Govern-ment officials, and raising awareness in the community.

Incorporating climate change considerations into Sihanoukville’s draft urban masterplan.

Reduced flood damage by providing better solid waste management and sanitation.

Mainstreaming activities into sub-national planning processes for sustainability.

THE NATIONAL CONTEXT: CAMBODIAIn a regional mapping assessment con-ducted by the Economy and Environment Programme for South East Asia (EEPSEA), Cambodia was rated as the most vulner-able country in Southeast Asia to climate change. It has 435km of coastline, most of which is vulnerable to sea-level rise, salination and storms. Other areas are affected by drought and seasonal flood-

ing of the Tonle Sap and Mekong Rivers. However, the government has responded by mobilising considerable resources, through the Pilot Programme for Climate Resilience and the Cambodia Climate Change Alliance, which is funding the pilots that resulted from the assessment. In 2006, the Ministry of Environment launched its National Adaptation Pro-

gramme of Action and the government also has a National Strategic Develop-ment Plan, which acknowledges climate change challenges.

Sangkat Buon ©PEMSEA