3 April 2024, Kep and Preah Sihanouk Provinces, Cambodia – The 1948 Universal Declaration of Human Rights and the 1966 International Covenant on Economic, Social and Cultural Rights recognize adequate housing as a fundamental human right. They state that everyone has the right to live somewhere in security, peace, and dignity.
The Royal Government of Cambodia aims to enhance the adaptive capacity of low-income and vulnerable households by providing climate-proofed shelters in Cambodia’s updated Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC).
In vulnerable communities in Kep and Preah Sihanouk Provinces, up to 80 percent of housing is damaged by strong winds annually in some communes. Women are more likely to be injured or affected by damaged houses due to poor construction quality and materials.
Vulnerable households and local authorities in these two Provinces requested the support of UN-Habitat to design climate-resilient housing and build the capacity of local workers to construct resilient housing.
To enhance climate change adaptation and resilience of the most vulnerable coastal human settlements of Cambodia through concrete climate change adaptation actions, UN-Habitat has been implementing the project for Climate Change Adaptation through Small-Scale and Protective Infrastructure Interventions in Coastal Settlements of Cambodia (CCA4CS) with financial support from the Adaptation Fund since August 2021. UN-Habitat is the implementing entity, and the Ministry of Environment is the executing entity.
One of the project activities involved developing resilient housing designs and constructing eight demonstration houses. The project created housing designs through participatory and inclusive consultations with stakeholders to incorporate local knowledge, cultural aspects, and the communities’ climate vulnerability.
The project implemented a people-centered approach and provided training to a total of 370 people, including 80 women, on resilient house construction techniques through initial and refresher training. Many trained people were involved in constructing eight demo resilient houses in Kep and Preah Sihanouk Provinces. This approach empowered the trained people to apply the skills acquired during the training and project implementation to pursue new job opportunities and earn additional income.
On 3 April 2024, eight demo resilient houses were handed over to the selected vulnerable households based on land tenure and the Identification of Poor Households Programme (IDPoor) Levels 1 and 2 which refer to households living below the national poverty line. The handover ceremony was presided over by His Excellency Pheav Sovuthy, Under Secretary of State of the Ministry of Environment. It was attended by Mr. Vanna Sok, Habitat Programme Manager of UN-Habitat Cambodia, Mrs. Tit Sokha, Deputy Governor of Kep Province, Mr. Prak Visal, Director of Public Administration of Preah Sihanouk Province, as well as local authorities and communities.
His Excellency Pheav Sovuthy, speaking on behalf of His Excellency Eang Sophallet, Minister of Environment, emphasized that climate change is occurred more frequently and causing impacts such as strong winds, storms, increasing temperature, variability of rainwater and saltwater instruction into agricultural land. The construction of demo resilient houses to climate change is unique in its ability to withstand strong winds, increasing temperatures, and provide good ventilation. His Excellency suggested that beneficiaries of these resilient houses pay attention to maintenance to ensure their long-lasting durability. In addition, beneficiaries should maintain hygiene and plant some trees around the house, in line with the priority actions stated in the Circular Strategy on Environment.
One of the beneficiaries expressed appreciation to the Ministry of Environment and UN-Habitat Cambodia for providing a resilient house, which protects her family from strong winds.
Mr. Vanna Sok, Habitat Programme Manager of UN-Habitat, also shared that “the project intended to facilitate the construction of safe and resilient housing and provide training with community members’ participation as UN-Habitat mainstreams the People’s Process. I hope that local people who participated in demo resilient house constructions’ training and construction activities will support other vulnerable households to replicate resilient houses to enhance climate change adaptation in the vulnerable communes”.
