Public-Social-Private Partnerships for Ecologically-Sound Agriculture and Resilient Livelihood in Northern Tonle Sap Basin (PEARL) Cambodia

The PEARL project seeks USD 36.23 million from the Green Climate Fund to support 450,000 farmers in Cambodia's Northern Tonle Sap Basin. The initiative focuses on transitioning smallholders to high-value, climate-resilient crops—specifically cashew, mango, organic rice, and leafy vegetables—by improving agrometeorological services, providing access to technology via a new asset acquisition mechanism (FARM), and strengthening regulatory frameworks for agricultural certification.

• The Northern Tonle Sap Basin (NTSB) is a critical agricultural region producing a fifth of Cambodia's cereal and grain production, but it faces high poverty rates and severe environmental degradation.
• Climate change impacts in the NTSB include increasing temperatures, erratic rainfall patterns, and a higher frequency of extreme flooding and droughts, which threaten traditional rainfed rice production.
• The project targets four priority crops for sustainable expansion into premium markets: organic rice in Preah Vihear, mango in Oddar Meanchey, cashew in Kampong Thom and Preah Vihear, and leafy vegetables in Siem Reap.
• A primary goal is to overcome the 'last mile' barrier in climate services by developing crop-specific agrometeorological forecasting and advisory services delivered via mobile apps, social media, and community bulletins.
• The project will implement the Farmer-led Agricultural Resilience Mechanism (FARM), a three-stage graduation program to help 124 agricultural unions and cooperatives acquire climate-resilient technologies and infrastructure.
• Example technologies to be procured through FARM include solar-powered cold storage, drip irrigation systems, solar water pumps, and energy-efficient juice processing machines.
• The project aims to restore and protect 7,600 hectares of critical catchment forests and riparian zones in upper watersheds through integrated watershed management (IWM) and agroforestry.
• A gender-responsive landscape-level agroecology monitoring system (LAMS) will be created as a decision-support tool for public and private investors to identify investment gaps and track climate resilience progress.
• The project expects to directly benefit 450,000 smallholder farmers and indirectly reach 1 million farmers and value chain actors, with a target of 50% female beneficiaries.
• Total financing for the project is USD 42,850,231, consisting of a USD 36,231,981 grant from the GCF and USD 6,618,250 in in-kind co-financing from the Royal Government of Cambodia and FAO.

APA

Green Climate Fund (2023). Public-Social-Private Partnerships for Ecologically-Sound Agriculture and Resilient Livelihood in Northern Tonle Sap Basin (PEARL) Cambodia. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp199-fao-cambodia_0.pdf

Chicago

Green Climate Fund. Public-Social-Private Partnerships for Ecologically-Sound Agriculture and Resilient Livelihood in Northern Tonle Sap Basin (PEARL) Cambodia. 2023. https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp199-fao-cambodia_0.pdf.

Wikipedia

{{cite report |author=Green Climate Fund |title=Public-Social-Private Partnerships for Ecologically-Sound Agriculture and Resilient Livelihood in Northern Tonle Sap Basin (PEARL) Cambodia |date=11 April 2023 |url=https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp199-fao-cambodia_0.pdf |access-date=23 October 2026 |via=Climate Insights Directory}}

BibTeX

@techreport{greenclimatefund2023publicsocialprivate, author = {{Green Climate Fund}}, title = {{Public-Social-Private Partnerships for Ecologically-Sound Agriculture and Resilient Livelihood in Northern Tonle Sap Basin (PEARL) Cambodia}}, institution = {Green Climate Fund}, year = {2023}, month = apr, url = {https://www.greenclimate.fund/sites/default/files/document/fp199-fao-cambodia_0.pdf}, urldate = {2026-10-23}, note = {Indexed by Climate Insights Directory} }