With the successful completion of the National Forum on Cambodia’s National Action Plan (NAP) to Combat Desertification and its Integrated Financing Strategy (IFS), on 31 January 2012 in Siem Reap, the stakeholders can now look forward to moving into the implementation phase.
Well attended by a broad range of Government stakeholders, including the Ministries of Trade; Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry; Environment; Water; several non-governmental organizations (NGOs), research institutes; the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and AUSAID, the workshop reviewed the NAP and IFS formulation process, led by the Ministry of Agriculture, Fisheries and Forestry (MAFF), and the outcomes of the extensive stakeholder consultations that have taken place with government, donors, private sector and NGOs over the course of 2011, and presented the main priorities of the NAP.
The GM, for its part, summarized the development of the IFS and the draft integrated investment framework (IIF), which will be finalized on the basis of input from potential donors.
Following the stakeholders’ validation, the NAP and IFS will be submitted to Cambodia’s Council of Ministers, for formal approval.
For the GM, the next step will be to support implementation of the IFS and the IIF. This will take the form of technical backstopping of two projects to fill some of the gaps in the investment framework and to assist the Ministry of Agriculture in donor negotiations. The projects will focus sustainable land management, climate change and trade.
The GM is pleased with the positive outcomes of its support to Cambodia, and looks forward to moving from supporting strategy development into supporting project design and implementation.
For more information:
Ms Camilla Nordheim-Larsen, Programme Coordinator, Asia and Pacific
Tel. +39 06 5459 2061
c.nordheim-larsen (at) global-mechanism.org
