Dispositif de partenariat avec les Suds

JEAI : Global Change in Coastal Catchments of Cambodia and Water Resource Vulnerability Research Team (4C-Water)

Département Dynamiques internes et de surface des continents (DEPARTEMENT DISCO)

Pays : Cambodge

Région : Asie

Année de création : 2020

Fin de soutien IRD : 2022

Objectifs scientifiques et projet de recherche

Cambodia’s coastal shoreline is in a strategic location in South East Asia, often referred to as the “Southern Economic Corridor”. The resulting strong economic growth experienced over the past decades in this region, recently boosted by massive Chinese investments, has severely put a burden on the freshwater continental resources in addition to the regional changes in climate. Groundwater is particularly stressed by household increasingly relying on individual tube wells to counter balance the undersized distribution network. New national strategic plans are successively implemented developing industrial activities, water infrastructures and expansion of the cities. This without taking into account the combined effects on the water resources and population, taking the risk of promoting a development model highly unsustainable by breaking the delicate balance of the coastal environments. No environmental observation networks exist in these areas and barely no data are available preventing any assessment of the situation and its potential evolution, especially for groundwater. The lack of knowledge and studies on the topic pushed a group of researchers from the Institute of Technology of Cambodia to tackle this question, as it becomes an expressed concern by the Ministry of Environment and the Ministry of Water Resources and Meteorology. The so called 4C-Water research team chose to specifically focus on the understanding of the functioning of the hydrosystems in coastal catchments and on developing innovative participatory monitoring network of the water resources to produce the first set of accessible data related to the water resource evolution usable by the concerned water community. The team proposes to focus on the area of Sihanoukville in the Preah Sihanouk province. The pilot sites will be the contrasted two major coastal sub-catchments facing respectively city and agriculture development.

Unités IRD impliquées

1R18300 : G-EAU

Institutions membres

ITC : Institute of Technology of Cambodia

Responsable(s)

M. x

Correspondant

M. X

Thématiques de recherche

The project will 1 - Provide a comprehensive assessment of the surface and groundwater resources, 2 - Identify the groundwater resource vulnerability to seawater intrusion, 3 - Develop a participatory monitoring network of groundwater salinity,4 4 - Develop innovative way of collecting the measurements (e.g. android API). The realisation of the project will rely on outputs from different disciplines such as hydrology, hydrogeology, geophysics, geochemistry and computing sciences. To ensure the long term success of this project, the team will be annually evaluated and steered by the international consortium at the Institute of Technology of Cambodia.

Objectif(s) du développement durable ciblé(s)

ODD06 - EAU PROPRE ET ASSAINISSEMENT

ODD11 - VILLES ET COMMUNAUTES DURABLES

ODD13 - MESURES RELATIVES A LA LUTTE CONTRE LES CHANGEMENTS CLIMATIQUES

Code IRD Sigle Implication
1R18300 G-EAU Porteuses principales