The Population of the Kingdom of Cambodia was estimated to be around 11.5 million in 1998, with a growth at an average rate of 2.5 percent, second highest growth rate among the Asian Countries. The total population is projected to increase by 1.7 million over 2001-2006 period.

The Royal Government of Cambodia is committed to the maintenance of peace, stability and security, and to the reduction of poverty as the primary development goal, under the second Socio-economic Development Plan (2001 – 2005). Poverty is expected to be reduced by (a) promoting broad -based, sustainable economic growth with equity, (b) promoting social and cultural development, (c) ensuring sustainable management and use of natural resources and the environment, and also (d) improving the governance environment as an enabling objective. As the majority of the population is rural, poverty reduction strategies must of necessity give particular attention to rural development, assistance to vulnerable groups, land tenure, military demobilisation, and effective decentralisation and transparent consultation and decision-making processes.

In this regard the project’s Development Objective, to be delivered through a nationally-led holistic mine action strategy that is subordinate to the second Socio-economic Development Plan, is to continue to reduce land mine/UXO contamination in Cambodia in a transparently prioritised, cost-effective and safe manner, so that the maximum number of people – predominantly rural but also urban - can go about their lives free from the threat of landmines/UXO, thus permitting reconstruction, re-integration and development activities to take place in a safe environment, making further significant progress towards the target of zero landmine victims by 2020.

With an estimated 36 per cent of the overall population and 40 per cent of the rural population living below the poverty line and with a per capita gross domestic product of about $280, addressing poverty constitutes a critical challenge in Cambodia. Poverty in Cambodia has many determinants. Major among them are the lack of opportunity for sustainable sources of income, the lack of access to productive assets such as land and the low return on these assets because of the difficulty in accessing credit, the depleted rural infrastructure, etc. Furthermore, low purchasing power, remoteness and weather conditions have an adverse impact on food security. The very large number of mines and unexploded ordnance in Cambodia is also a major hurdle to food security and the economic reintegration of returning and landless populations.

The national mine action programme significantly and concretely contributes to the reduction of poverty in the Kingdom of Cambodia by:

A new development cooperation partnership paradigm was presented to the donor community at the Consultative Group meeting held in May 2000. The Government is determined to strengthen its leadership role further in the implementation of the development agenda and to ensure that this agenda is nationally owned. Since late 1999, the Royal Government’s approach to the mine action sector has been in full accordance with the new partnership paradigm as indicated by:

Furthermore, the reforms implemented in the mine action sector since 1999, guided by the principles of accountability, sustainability, transparency and participation, are reflective of the reform programme adopted by the Royal Government since the restoration of political stability in 1998. Moreover, partnerships in the mine action sector, and the exigencies of the need for safeguarding the rights of those in receipt of demined land, have constituted a major impetus in encouraging the development of more formalised land ownership rights in Cambodia, a process that is currently under way through the legislature.