Cambodia and international communities on 12 December 2015 agreed to limit global warming to well below 2, preferably to 1.5 degrees Celsius, as part of the Paris Climate Agreement 2015.

Cambodia submitted its latest Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) figures –  a climate action plan to cut emissions and adapt to climate impacts – on 31st December 2020, which set the Kingdom’s target for emissions reductions of 41.7 percent by 2030.

The roadmap to this target was then laid out in the government’s Long Term Strategy for Carbon Neutrality (LTS4CN), which outlined a $1.4 billion annual budget that is predominately concentrated on energy, transportation and forestry, but seldom mentioned the utilisation of Regenerative Agriculture methods within its agricultural plans.

Regenerative Agriculture refers to a practice of farming and land use that aims to improve or restore the overall health of the soil, in turn, restoring land, promoting soil health and rejuvenating the affected ecosystems. This differs from Sustainable Agriculture, which seeks only to maintain the environment and stop land degradation.

Nuna Teal, Programme-Director at One Earth, created an editorial explaining how Regenerative Farming not only reduces, but actually reverses the effects of high Carbon emissions:

“Much of this (carbon) loss has occurred since the 19th century due to deforestation, overgrazing, plough-out of prairies, and drainage of wetlands in order to grow crops, as well as degradative practices such as intensive soil tillage, monoculture cropping, bare fallowing, and heavy reliance on the use of chemical fertilizers and biocides.

Rather than functioning as a source of carbon emissions, croplands can become a carbon sink. At both the regional and global levels, a growing body of scientific literature is identifying the potential that regenerative agricultural practices can play in sequestering carbon, helping to mitigate climate change, therefore accelerating Cambodia’s path to its 2030 and 2050 climate commitments.”

“Carbon mitigation can also be quantified and sold back to countries/businesses that cannot avoid emissions as ‘Carbon Credits’. The Carbon market was conceived as part of the Kyoto Protocol, an international treaty founded by the United Nations, and created a huge opportunity for countries like Cambodia to capitalise on their carbon mitigation efforts. From 2016 to 2020, Cambodia sold $11.6 million worth of carbon credits from three locations: Keo Seima Wildlife Sanctuary, Southern Cardamom National Park and Tatai Wildlife Sanctuary – The possibilities of a nationwide adoption of regenerative practices could yield a hearty sum for investors.

Nestle, the world’s largest foods and beverage company, are currently one of Regenerative Agriculture’s biggest advocates, pledging to source “twenty percent of our key ingredients through Regenerative Agriculture by 2025, and 50 percent by 2030. That’s more than 14 million tonnes of ingredients that will support regenerative practices and will contribute to achieving our ambition to halve our greenhouse gas emissions by 2030 and reach net zero by 2050”.

This huge reform to Nestle’s procurement method could present an excellent opportunity for Cambodia to absorb a wider share of the vertical supply chain. With big names like these setting the precedent for future procurement, and with Cambodia still at a versatile stage of agricultural development, the adoption of Regenerative Farming practices could align well with the future global investment opportunity.