Cambodia

BIOFIN Cambodia begun in 2019 as the 31st member country funded the Government of Norway. UNDP Cambodia implements the BIOFIN in partnership with the Cambodian Department of Biodiversity, the Secretarial General of the National Council for Sustainable Development, Ministry of Environment.

Cambodia is one of the BIOFIN methodology countries, developing its biodiversity financing plan, and transiting to implementing the selected finance solutions in the next phase. In the analyses of developing Cambodia’s biodiversity finance plan, the project works collaboratively with key local environmental and economic experts, NGOs, academia, line government agencies and private sector.

Situated within the tropics, Cambodia is a hub of biodiversity with a diverse range of plants, mammals, birds, fish and reptile species. The recent inventory indicates that Cambodia has a diversity of 163 mammal species, 647 bird species with 7 on the new global Evolutionally Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) list, 1,357 fish species across both fresh and salt water systems, 183 reptile species, 74 amphibian species, 671 invertebrates, and 3,113 plant species. Cambodia’s forests are home to many endemic fauna and flora, ecosystems as well as to several endangered species, accounting for 1.6% of all globally endangered species on the IUCN Red List. Biodiversity is not only a source of food and livelihoods for the people of Cambodia, it also represents significant social and cultural values deeply imbedded in their way of life and traditions.

The Government of Cambodia recognises the social, economic and environmental value of biodiversity and ecosystems, and has undertaken a significant step in important environmental policy reforms for sustainable natural resource management.  This resulted in a dramatic increase in Cambodia’s Protected Areas territory from 18 % to 41 % of the total land area, representing the country as one of the highest countries in the global biodiversity target; however, habitat loss and deforestation remain important challenges.  

Key Results

In 2019, BIOFIN Cambodia has completed key assessments listed in methodology country. Those include 1) Policy and Intuitional Review, 2) Biodiversity Expenditure Review (BER), 3) the Finance Need Assessment (FNA), the Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP) and Finance Proposals for the prioritized finance solutions. Under BFP, there are nine finance solutions that generate revenues,  three are solutions that avoid future biodiversity expenditures and two are solutions that avoid future biodiversity expenditures.

Finance Solutions
Key Documents
Publications
SEE ALL