Urban Climate Vulnerability in Cambodia: A Case Study in Koh Kong Province

Abstract

This study investigates an urban climate vulnerability in Cambodia by constructing an index to compare three different communes, Smach Meanchey, Daun Tong, and Steong Veng, located in the Khemarak Phoumin district, Koh Kong province. It is found that Daun Tong commune is the most vulnerable location among the three communes, followed by Steong Veng. Besides, vulnerability as Expected Poverty (VEP) is used to measure the vulnerability to poverty, that is, the probability of a household income to fall below the poverty line, as it captures the impact of shocks can be conducted in the cross-sectional study. It applies two poverty thresholds: the national poverty line after taking into account the inflation rate and the international poverty line defined by the World Bank, to look into its sensitivity. By using the national poverty line, the study reveals that more than one-fourth of households are vulnerable to poverty, while the international poverty threshold shows that approximately one-third of households are in peril. With low levels of income inequality, households are not highly sensitive to poverty; however, both poverty thresholds point out that the current urban poor households are more vulnerable than non-poor families.