Climate change poses a variety of threats to Asia given its many low-lying countries, rapid urbanisation and high reliance on agriculture. Moreover, the continent's share of global greenhouse gas emissions could rise significantly. Increasing dominance of fossil fuels in Southeast Asia's energy mix is driving energy-related CO2 emissions. Southeast Asia's share of global emissions in 2013 was 4% but it is expected to almost double by 2040.
Cambodia currently has only 10 Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) registered projects and project developers face numerous challenges while developing their projects and during monitoring of emission reductions. It is against this backdrop that the Asian Development Bank (ADB) organised the Capacity Building Workshop on Managing CDM projects in Phnom Penh as part of its overall strategy to offer least developed countries (LDCs) adequate technical support in carrying out emission reduction projects. The workshop was held on the 20th of November and focused on mapping out challenges that LDCs are facing during the monitoring and verification of CDM projects. The event was attended by more than 15 representatives from CDM projects in Cambodia, among them South Pole Group's Regional Director Southeast Asia, Santosh Kumar Singh.
"We welcome ADB's work in building the capacities of project owners in least developed countries and are happy to share our long-standing knowledge on CDM project management," said Santosh Kumar Singh, who gave a presentation on changes in project design and on handling issues during the monitoring and verification phase of a project.
South Pole Group currently has over 150 projects in the region, among them a project on water purification in Cambodia under the company's registered International Water Purification Program (PoA). The project aims to provide clean drinking water to local communities in Cambodia and in the process reducing dependence on traditional water boiling methods thereby reducing GHG emissions. The water purification projects help to drastically improve the lives of some of the most vulnerable people in the region.
