Co-producing climate service protocols for agricultural resilience: Lessons from Cambodia’s PEARL Project

Abstract

The operationalization of climate services in developing countries often falters due to fragmented mandates, weak data-sharing, and limited user engagement. Under FAO-Cambodia’s Green Climate Fund-supported PEARL Project, we co-produced Standard Operating Procedures (SOPs) to institutionalize agrometeorological advisory delivery in the Northern Tonle Sap Basin. Between November 2024 and February 2025, 381 participants, including government agencies, extension officers, private actors, and farmers, jointly identified 15 actions across data generation, processing, dissemination, and feedback. Using a participatory framework adapted from Climate-Smart Agriculture prioritization and weighted through Principal Component Analysis, we show that farmer-interactive and institutionally embedded mechanisms yield greater inclusivity and resilience than digital-only channels. The SOP process also produced national data-sharing agreements and a public-private partnership. These outcomes demonstrate how participatory SOPs can transform climate services from project-based initiatives into sustained, system-level practices, offering a replicable model for other countries pursuing climate-resilient agriculture.