Increasing Climate Change Resilience

CARE is committed to strengthening poor people’s capacities to deal with shocks and stresses, manage risks, and transform their lives in response to new hazards and opportunities. Simultaneously, CARE seeks to address their underlying causes of vulnerability, and improve the systems and structures that support people in the face of shocks and stresses.

 

Climate change poses a fundamental threat to sustainable economic development and, therefore, is a critical threat to CARE’s mission to tackle global poverty. In Cambodia, enhancing communities’ resilience has become increasingly important as Cambodians feel the impacts of a changing climate.

CARE aims to support those who are most vulnerable, particularly women and girls, to learn and adapt so they can withstand shocks and stresses resulting from changes in the climate.

 

CARE’S approach to increasing climate change resilience globally

The three core elements of CARE’s global approach to addressing the underlying causes of poverty and social injustice are strengthening gender equality and women’s voice, promoting inclusive governance and increasing resilience.

CARE aims to primarily build resilience to the impacts of climate change by implementing community-based adaptation projects and by integrating climate risks and adaptation into our core development programs, with a focus on improving food and nutrition security, disaster risk reduction, and preventing environmental degradation.

 

CARE’S focus in Cambodia

In Cambodia, CARE’s approach is to work both with small-scale producers and farmers and with local government in remote rural areas to improve community resilience to climate change. 

 

CARE has a strong focus on women farmers, as we believe that the full inclusion of women in development processes is essential in overcoming poverty and vulnerabilities. CARE has extensive experience in engaging with women farmers to improve yields and develop climate-resilient agricultural practices in their communities. CARE prioritises promoting women’s leadership as an effective way to develop community-based expertise and increase overall resilience.

 

CARE also works closely with local government to support planning processes, promoting early warning and linkingto existing legislation at the national level. CARE Cambodia measures the effectiveness of climate change resilience programming through a range of global indicators.