On Thursday, September 26, 2024, the Japan International Research Center for Agricultural Sciences (JIRCAS) held a ceremony in Phnom Penh, the capital of Cambodia, to launch the "Paddy Methane Emission Reduction Project" under the SATREPS framework. The initiative aims to develop sustainable water management practices to control methane emissions in paddy fields while maintaining crop yields. The project will focus on the Damnak Ampil Irrigation Area in Pursat Province, a region where Japan has previously supported the development of irrigation and drainage infrastructure through Official Development Assistance (ODA). By establishing a large-area water management system, the project intends to monitor, evaluate, and reduce greenhouse gas emissions from paddy fields, contributing to Cambodia's Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC) for climate change mitigation. The results of the project aims to be used in the Joint Crediting Mechanism (JCM) to help achieve Cambodia’s NDC greenhouse gas emission reduction target.

The ceremony was attended by high-level officials from both Cambodia and Japan, including:
•    Secretary-General of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries of Cambodia
•    Rector of the Royal University of Agriculture
•    Deputy Director General of the Institute of Technology of Cambodia
•    Second Secretary of the Embassy of Japan in Cambodia
•    Senior Representative of the JICA Cambodia Office
•    Director of the Overseas Land Improvement Cooperation Office, Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries, Japan
•    Vice President of JIRCAS
•    Deputy Director/Manager of the Department of Research Promotion, Institute for Rural Engineering, NARO
During the event, participants reaffirmed their commitment to collaborative research and the social implementation of the project's results, emphasizing the shared goal of reducing methane emissions in Cambodia’s agricultural sector.