Co-organizers
Overview of the symposium
‘Resilience’ has been an international buzz-word for a while and has lately become an emerging global topic. Cambodia is one of the most vulnerable countries to climate change in Southeast Asia and highly affected by the climatic variability. In this framework, European Union Aid Volunteers from Finn Church Aid (FCA), Life with Dignity and Dan Church Aid (DCA) have organized this event to share knowledge and experiences bringing innovative solutions to enhance climate change resilience in Cambodia. The topics of the speakers cover sustainable and resilient agriculture, resilience-based programming, agroecology approach and migration as a coping strategy for climate change. In addition, new green office standards and ‘Plastic use awareness’ will be showcased.
As resilience has become increasingly trendy as a term, it has been applied to various contexts. Because of this over-use we have ended up in a situation where everything contributes to resilience and thus the term has become vague. As the term is used increasingly to justify programs, there is a need to discuss and define what fits under this broad term – what additional value does it bring to the table.
Alongside with resilience, the term ‘sustainable’ has also become inflated due to the use in various different contexts. However, in the context of livelihoods in Cambodia it captures concerns about agriculture and the future of the food systems. Within the framework of ‘sustainable agriculture’ there are different methodologies and approaches: climate-smart agriculture, conservation agriculture, organic, permaculture and agroecology.
Did you know that on average Cambodian’s use up to 50 plastic bags every week? When these bags, together with plastic bottles, single-use straws and other plastic waste, end up in the environment they don’t only look bad but also cause harm to the environment and eventually also harm human health. As the organizers are highly committed to environmental sustainability we are searching for alternatives. In your conference bags (which also act as shopping bags) we have provided you with a reusable water bottle and a bamboo straw which can be cleaned with the brush and used over and over again. These three items- bags, straws and bottles, make up a majority of the plastic entering the oceans. We have opted for environmentally friendly food, removed the plastic bottles and tried to take action where we could to run the conference all in all in a more environmental way. Of course, this does not solve the entire problem of plastic or climate change but we believe that it is a start. It is also our contribution to the talk on green office standards and plastic awareness.
Main themes of the symposium
- Sustainable agriculture – with speakers and panel discussions from academia, various NGO’s and international businesses
- Resilience based programming, agroecology and migration as a coping strategy for climate change.
- New green office standards and plastic use awareness.
Participants:
- Representatives from local and international NGOs
- Representatives from local universities and research centers
- Private sectors
All presentations are available for download hereafter:
- Resilience Based Programming
- Building social-ecological resilience to Climate Change of peasants through agroecological approach
- Migration as a coping mechanism to climate change
- Agroecological initiatives: empowering youth, building local knowledge
- Vegetable home gardens: soil improvement and grafting tomatoes for production in rainy season in Cambodia
- Introducing Cambodia specific Green Office Standards
- Plastic Free July Challenge
