Cambodia is
\nhighly susceptible to natural disasters due to the frequency and intensity of extreme
\nclimatic events, primarily floods, droughts and windstorms, but also in
\nparticular to increased climate variability.These disasters and climate-related
\nhazardshave exacted huge socioeconomic costs on the country\u2019s economy and
\npeople\u2019s livelihoods, especially in the last decade. It isimportant, therefore,
\nto understand not only the level of impactbut also the vulnerability and the
\ncapacity of people to adapt to these hazards. This emphasises the needfor vulnerability
\nand adaptation assessmentsthat are tailored to site-specific local scale. This paper reviews existing methods and tools used for
\nunderstanding the impacts of climate change, the vulnerability and the adaptive
\ncapacity of local people, with a particular focus on water use and governance
\nin three project target areas in the Tonle Sap Basin, under the project
\n\u201cClimate Change and Water Governance in Cambodia\u201d. The objectives of this
\nreview are twofold: to understand how different organisations have approached
\nthe evaluation of vulnerability and adaptive capacity in relation to climate
\nchange and water governance; and toanalyse the strengths and gaps in existing
\ntools and methods based on how they address vulnerability and adaptation as a
\nfunction of exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity. The tools and methods that have been applied by various
\norganisations in different institutional settings and at different geographical
\nscales and locationscan be broadly grouped under three categories: climate,
\nhydrologicaland socioeconomic modelling and downscaling; participatory approaches
\nthat engage local communities; and decision support tools to evaluate
\nalternative adaptation strategies. To detect trends and understand the implications of climate change
\nat the local level, the regional climate modelling system Providing REgional
\nClimates for Impacts Studies (PRECIS) can be used to downscale the outputs of
\ngeneral circulation models (GCMs) from the national scale (Cambodia) to
\ncatchment (Tonle Sap) scale.Hydrological models, the Soil and Water Assessment
\nTool (SWAT) and Integrated Water Quantity and Quality Model (IQQM) have been
\napplied at the catchment level to generate new understandingabout river basin
\nand human controls on the spatial and temporal distribution of water flow and
\nto deepen understanding of supply-demand relationships. Also, ISIS\u2014a software
\npackage that can simulate water flow, hydrology, water quality changes and
\nsediment transport in rivers, floodplains, lakes, canals and coastal areas\u2014has
\nbeen used as a flood forecasting tool in the Tonle Sap Basin. Participatory tools including climate vulnerability and capacity
\nanalysis (CVCA), communitybased adaptation toolkits and participatory capacity
\nand vulnerability assessment (PCVA) have been used to assess the impacts of
\nclimate variability and change on local livelihoods, especiallythose of
\nvulnerable groups. This approach tries to understand how people directly experience
\nthe effects of climate change. Cost benefit analysis (CBA) and multi-criteria analysis (MCA) are
\npopularly used as decision support tools for selecting and prioritising
\ninterventions and\/or projects as well as relevant policy areas relatedto
\nclimate change. The review concludes that testing the extent of climate change
\nvulnerability and adaptive capacity requires an integrated approach combining
\ncomprehensive vulnerability and adaptation assessment frameworks. Whether these
\nvulnerability assessment frameworks should be applied simultaneously or one at
\na time dependson the specific context,data availabilityand resource requirements.
\nIndicators and indices that measure climate change exposure,
\nsensitivity and adaptive capacity could be used to produce maps showing the
\nspatial distribution of these three components of vulnerability. In the Tonle
\nSap, the indicators should be used for monitoring the extent of adaptation,
\nmitigation and vulnerability at the community and local levels. <\/p>\n
The selection, application and cost-effective use of appropriate
\ndatabases,tools and methods, and the conduct ofcommunity and catchment-level
\nvulnerability and adaptation assessments will eventually lead to
\nrecommendations for improved and locally-appropriate site- and contextspecific vulnerability
\nadaptation measures in the Tonle Sap Basin catchments. <\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
Cambodia is highly susceptible to natural disasters due to the frequency and intensity of extreme climatic events, primarily floods, droughts and windstorms, but also in particular to increased climate variability.These disasters and climate-related hazardshave exacted huge socioeconomic costs on the country\u2019s economy and people\u2019s livelihoods, especially in the last decade. It isimportant, therefore, to understand not only the level of impactbut also the vulnerability and the capacity of people to adapt to these hazards. This emphasises the needfor vulnerability and […]<\/p>\n","protected":false},"featured_media":0,"template":"","meta":{"_acf_changed":false,"_kad_blocks_custom_css":"","_kad_blocks_head_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_body_custom_js":"","_kad_blocks_footer_custom_js":"","site-sidebar-layout":"default","site-content-layout":"","ast-site-content-layout":"default","site-content-style":"default","site-sidebar-style":"default","ast-global-header-display":"","ast-banner-title-visibility":"","ast-main-header-display":"","ast-hfb-above-header-display":"","ast-hfb-below-header-display":"","ast-hfb-mobile-header-display":"","site-post-title":"","ast-breadcrumbs-content":"","ast-featured-img":"","footer-sml-layout":"","ast-disable-related-posts":"","theme-transparent-header-meta":"","adv-header-id-meta":"","stick-header-meta":"","header-above-stick-meta":"","header-main-stick-meta":"","header-below-stick-meta":"","astra-migrate-meta-layouts":"default","ast-page-background-enabled":"default","ast-page-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"ast-content-background-meta":{"desktop":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"tablet":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""},"mobile":{"background-color":"var(--ast-global-color-5)","background-image":"","background-repeat":"repeat","background-position":"center center","background-size":"auto","background-attachment":"scroll","background-type":"","background-media":"","overlay-type":"","overlay-color":"","overlay-opacity":"","overlay-gradient":""}},"footnotes":""},"categories":[5],"tags":[],"class_list":["post-33062","publications","type-publications","status-publish","hentry","category-uncategorized"],"acf":[],"yoast_head":"\n