Cambodia

Cambodia GEO Statement for GEO Week 2022 31st October 2022 to 4th November 2022

In Accra, Ghana

Statement of

High Excellency Kitti Setha Pandita CHHAY THAN,

Senior Minister, Minister of Planning, Royal Government of Cambodia

The Chairpersons,

Excellency, Ladies and Gentleman, Honored and Distinguished Guests,

Today, on behalf of the Ministry of Planning, Royal Government of Cambodia, I am very pleased and honored to share Cambodia GEO participation with you in the GEO Week 2022.

Cambodia, known as Pearl of Asia in the 1960's, unfortunately fell into war and become known to the world as a Killing Field and genocidal country in the 1970's. More than 2.5 million people were killed by the ultra-leftist Khmer Rouge. Its social economic infrastructures were almost completely destroyed. But since 1999, It has been rebuilt and has since become a peaceful country and gradually developed---thanks to the «Win Win» policy under the clear­ signed and realistic leadership of its Prime Minister Samdech Akak Moha Sena Padei Decho Hun Sen together with the valuable moral and material assistance from the international community.

Peace, stability and development of the country has been highly appreciated and acknowledged by people inside and outside of the country. Besides the flourishing development in all fields, the poverty rate sharply dropped from 53.5% in 2004 to 13.5% in 2014 and it has increased to 17.8% in 2020 affected by COYID 19 pandemic and in the future, it will decline gradually after COYID 19 finishing. The reduction in prevalence of infectious diseases including malaria and the spread of HIV/AID has also been achieved. The GDP per Capita was around US$ 1,694 and the economic growth was around 7.1% in 2019. Unfortunately, the GDP per Capita was declined to US$ 1,468 and the economic growth has declined 3.0% in 2021 because of the outbreak of COVID-19 pandemic. The total population in 2019 was about 15.6 million and it is projected to increase to about 16.8 million in 2022. The number of tourists visiting Cambodia is increasing with about 5 million people every year, a great contribution to job creation as well as added income to the national population which attracts the national and multi-national investment of more than 10 billion per year. Cambodia which needed help in the past is now helping other countries in Africa and Arab world by providing more than 3000 personnel made up of its engineers and demining military specialists under UNPKF to rebuild and clear mines in those countries.

The communal election was successfully organized in June 2017 and was considered by international observers as free, fair and peaceful. The inclusion of the Zone Sambo Prey Kuh Cambodian patrimony as a world heritage site and the acceptance of Cambodia as a member number I 04^th of Group on Earth Observations (GEO) in 2017 have demonstrated the new success of the Royal Government of Cambodia in cooperation efforts with the international community and other partners. I wish to take this opportunity to extend our gratitude to the Secretariat of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO) which has done so much until Cambodia became a member of the Group on Earth Observation (GEO).

With such a rapid population growth and fast urbanization, lots of pressure have been put into the surrounding environment and threats to national food security. So, the Cambodia GEO has a vital role in building up the data management system and Data Cube development to support disaster risk management and mitigation as well as environmental impacts and climate change issue.

The digital economy permeates all aspects of society, including the way people interact, the economic landscape, the skills needed to get a good job, and even political decision-making. The internet and its accessory activities including information and communication technologies have given birth to new products, services, jobs, enterprises and even markets.

Cambodia's digital economy remains at a nascent stage and will need at least l O years to growth and aim for a technology-driven economy. It has been gradually taking sharp and creating new business activities in digital payment, online entertainment and e-commerce while increasing the number of users who adapt themselves to such technologies.

In Cambodia, the number of mobile phones has rapidly increased since 2003 when there were only 526,698 mobile phones and 2016 there were 20,142,764 mobile phones. The number of internet subscribers has increased dramatically compared to 2007. There were 8,099,132 subscribers in 2016, whereas in 2007 the number of internet subscribers were only 11,779. The optical fiber is installed in Cambodia to improve the bandwidth and enable more internet subscribers. In 2010 the length of optical fiber was 22,380 km.

Cambodia GEO is willing to develop the Cambodia GEO Data System for monitoring and data sharing on disaster risks, environmental impacts, and climate change in Cambodia. The main

\'ision for Cambodia GEO is develop Data Cube when Cambodia has enough satellite data through data sharing from GEO member countries for participation SDGs implementation. To achieve this result, the Group on Earth Observations (GEO) unit has been created by declaration letter under the National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning. The function of this unit is coordination on data collection relating to disaster, environment and climate change from relevant institutions and also cooperation with international organization. It ha_s many constraints to implement this activity because Cambodia has no satellite and low capacity bL1ilding while other countries have more experience and high capacity building. Cambodia needs assistance for technical support and advisors as many as possible. For Cambodia GEO Data System development, Cambodia GEO Unit has collected data for 5 provinces around Tonie Sap lake in 2019 and 2 provinces in Coastal region in 2022 by using limited government budget through annual budget plan step by step. The method used for data collection is using questionnaire for face to face interview with head of household affected by environment, disaster and climate change relate to daily living for them and using existing data produced by relevant institutions to combine with thematic maps instead of insufficient satellite data for the time being.

Excellency, Ladies and Gentleman,

I would like to remind you that the National Institute of Statistics under the Ministry of Planning has collected primary and secondary data from censuses and surveys and other institutions follow the statistical law.

All indicators have been collected through the primary data and secondary data which are essential for monitoring the Millennium Development Goals (MDG) and Sustainable Development Goals (SDG) in the framework as Cambodia is a member of United Nations. However, the National Institute of Statistics, Ministry of Planning is an institution that collects data. make compilation, and statistical analysis of the nation; but it has never collected data from satellite yet for monitoring disaster risks, environment, and climate change which supports the implement of the Sustainable Development Goals. In this connection, 1 hope that Cambodia will get good benefits and receive more data and information through data sharing and best practices from other GEO Member Countries. The expected benefits include:

1. Strengthening capacity building of staff, who involved in information management, through experience sharing from other countries as members of GEO
2. Sharing of data and information from other Member Countries as satellite, while Cambodia has no satellite yet
3. Cambodia will receive satellite data to support the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) including:

Goal 1: No poverty Goal 2: Zero hunger

Goal 11: Sustainable cities and communities Goal I 3: Climate Action

Goal 15: Life on Land

With regards to the success of our National Statistics, I would like to extend our appreciation to GEO Secretariat that has accepted Cambodia as a member of GEO in 2017. On behalf of Cambodia GEO, Ministry of Planning, Royal Government of Cambodia, I can say that Cambodia will work out our best to follow the guidelines of GEO's vision and mission as much as possible and cooperate closely with member of GEO countries and GEO Secretariat for data sharing that GEO Secretariat needs.

Finally, I would like to wish excellency, ladies and gentlemen continued healthy and success in your work.

Thank you