Cambodia to Benefit from FAO-led Projects on Unsustainable Fishing and Climate Change

Cambodia is among the beneficiaries of the Global Environment Facility (GEF) funded US$46.6 million projects led by the Food and Agriculture Organisation of the United Nations (FAO).

The funding was endorsed during the recent 60th GEF Council Meeting and the 30th Least Development Countries Fund Council Meeting.

According to FAO Director-General Qu Dongyu, the projects will assist countries and communities to adopt more sustainable and climate-resilient practices, foster regional cooperation, and enact stronger policies to conserve biodiversity and deter illegal, unreported and unregulated (IUU) fishing.

Aside from Cambodia, Central African Republic, Eritrea, Lesotho, Malaysia, Senegal, Thailand, and Viet Nam will also beneficiaries of the projects.

The director general added that "It is vital that we take action now to restore the natural systems on land and water that we rely on to achieve better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life."

The project will directly benefit 441,500 people and restore over 27,000 hectares of degraded landscapes, and create 30,000 hectares of new protected areas on land and sea.

It will also improve the management of over 765,000 hectares of landscapes and 4 million hectares of marine habitats.

Since December 2018, FAO has mobilised more than US$550 million in GEF grant funding for member countries, including the latest projects, making FAO one of the top four GEF agencies globally.

Source: Agency Kampuchea Press