ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK LIVELIHOOD ENHANCEMENT ASSOCIATION OF THE POOR IN SIEM REAP PROJECT (LEAP) December 2010

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1 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK LIVELIHOOD ENHANCEMENT & ASSOCIATION OF THE POOR IN SIEM REAP PROJECT (LEAP) December

2 1 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT FRAME WORK (EMF) 1.1 Overview of Project Location The LEAP Project has been developed to enhance poverty alleviation through rural livelihoods interventions and works towards social and economic empowerment, e.g., by improving livelihoods through enhanced access to financial resources that can be invested into productive assets. To this end LEAP will facilitate the formation of Self Help Group (SHG) and/or Producer Group (PG) and foundation of federations by and for the poor in Siem Reap. The LEAP project covers 9 districts (Angkor Thum, Chi Kraeng, Kralanh, Prasat Bakong, Puok, Svay Leu, Siem Reap, Srei Snam and Sotr Nikum) and 50 rural communes (see map of project location) within the Siem Reap province. These communes have the following characteristics - (a) high poverty density and/or incidence, (b) opportunity to link to key markets and value chains, (c) presence of existing SHGs and PGs, and (d) no overlap with the ADB-IFAD project. The map below gives the project location as well as the density of poverty in target communes. Figure 1.1: Map of project location 2

3 1.2 Project components The project development objective (PDO) of the LEAP Project is to improve livelihoods of the rural poor in select communes of Siem Reap province by (a) creating and strengthening selfsustaining institutions of the poor; (b) providing them access to finance; (c) linking them to markets and key value chains. Project components are summarized as: 1.3 Purpose of EMF Component 1: Building and strengthening institutions for the poor: The objective if this component is to mobilize and build institutions for the poor through a participatory process in order to create voice, space and power to the poor. Component 2: Access to finance: This component aims to transfer financial and technical resources to the institutions for the poor in order to support basic livelihoods investment activities. Component 3: Supporting linkage of the poor to key value chains: This component aims to support activities in order to help poor producers to link to the market through skills development, productivity improvement, local level value addition, aggregation of production/marketing, and value chain linkage. A combination of two approaches, a demand driven and a market led approach will be adopted. This component addresses livelihood support through improved value chain linkages. Component 4: Project management, coordination, and monitoring and evaluation: This component aims to facilitate overall coordination, implementation, and financial management, monitoring and learning of the project. The purpose of the Environmental Management Framework (EMF) is to ensure that LEAP s sub-project investments are screened for any negative environmental impacts and mitigating measures are taken into account in the sub-project design and implementation. In particular, the EMF attempts to lay out the screening process and environmental guidelines aiming at: Preventing and/or mitigating any negative environmental impact that may be resulting from the proposed sub-projects, Ensuring the long term sustainability of benefits from proposed sub-projects by securing the natural resource base on which they depend, and Facilitating, in a pro-active manner, sub-projects that can be expected to lead to increased efficiency in the use and improved management of natural resources resulting in the stabilization and/or improvements in local environmental quality and human well-being as well. The EMF is meant to be a dynamic document, which means it will be reviewed and modified as required from lessons learnt, during each annual review of the project planning and implementation, to ensure that the project can continually improve and maintain its relevance. 1.4 Two-Step Procedures to be followed: The concerned implementing agencies are expected to carry out two-step procedures in implementing the EMF. They are described in more detailed below. 3

4 1.4.1 Procedures for screening environmental issues of Sub-Projects Micro Investment Projects Planning stage: The micro-investment plans will be generated at individual household levels. During this stage, the community professionals and the NGOs assisting the households will screen the micro-investment plan for possible environmental impacts and ensure that the environmental guidelines are followed at the various phases of the sub-project (design, preparation and implementation). Design and preparation stage: The individual household, with support of community professionals, will ensure the environmental guidelines are followed during proposal preparation to ensure that the proposed measures are taken into account in the subproject design and preparation. As part of the process of technical clearance of project proposals the SHG, community professionals, the NGOs and the Project Management Team (PMT) staff will ensure that the guidelines and the EMF are followed. Implementation stage: During this phase the field facilitation staff will follow up on the compliance with environmental guidelines by the households. Economic Infrastructure Projects Planning stage: SHGs and PGs will have the opportunity to develop investment subproject that aim at improving their economic infrastructure, thus their capacity to deliver services. During the planning stage community professionals, skills extension workers, supported by PMT and advisors as necessary, will assist PGs and/or SHG to ensure that the proposed measures are in line with the environmental guidelines. Design and preparation stage: The PG and/or SHG will ensure that the environmental guidelines are followed during proposal design and preparation. Field facilitation staff will provide guidance and support to this end. Implementation stage: During this phase the field facilitation staff will follow up on the compliance with environmental guidelines by the SHGs and/or PGs Procedures for environmental mitigation measures Potential impacts of sub-projects. The potential types of sub-projects that will be supported include animal raising (pig, chicken, cattle), backyard fish culture, vegetable, crop and rice farming and fruit tree planting all done at the individual household level. Their environmental impacts are not expected to be adverse and significant. The impacts, if any, are expected to be benign, temporary and self-contained. These may include mild pollution of surface and ground water from animal wastes and agricultural farm inputs, loss of soil fertility, and odor/smell from animal wastes. Introduction of exotic species for backyard culture of fish may also cause biological contamination of endemic and/or local aquatic species. Technical Environmental Guidelines. The technical environmental guidelines (TEGs) list the key design and implementation measures that need to be taken into account at all phases of each sub-project. The guidelines are based on the typical sub-project that were proposed by the local community and by the poor and vulnerable during the project preparation. 4

5 Guidelines for the animal raising sub-projects (cow and pig farming, poultry raising) The design of any animal raising sub-project should ensure proper management of animal wastes to ensure no contamination of nearby surface water bodies, ground water sources and to avoid complaints from communities from foul smell. Use of bio-digesters may be an option to transform animal wastes to biogas for household cooking and slurry as high quality fertilizer and feed. This can increase household income and mitigate negative environmental impact such as reduction of methane emission and disease transmission from animals to animals and zoonosis, and upgrade household welfare. For pig raising, the construction of septic tank may be considered. For chicken raising, chicken dung may be collected and used as natural fertilizer in vegetable gardens and farms or used in compost as enhancer to speed up the composting/decomposition process, For cattle raising, wastes may also be used as organic fertilizer or as compost enhancer, Generally, pigs should be raised in a pig pen and not allowed to roam freely and adequate sanitation should be maintained at all times, If possible, the pig pen should be located at some distance from houses/settlements There should be a measure to manage drug wastes and other veterinary biological/pharmacological hazards. Guidelines for fish farming sub-project The use of local/endemic species should be favored in lieu of introducing exotic species, Should exotic species be introduced, the design should ensure proper containment of introduced species through the use of safe enclosures so as to not allow the exotic species to escape into open water bodies that may cause biological contamination, Supplemental feeding using formulated feeds should ensure that enrichment/eutrophication of water bodies will be minimized, if not avoided. This can be done by maximizing primary production (phytoplankton and zooplankton) as the natural source of food for the cultured fish and limiting the use of formulated fish, Guidelines for vegetable cultivation Use of organic fertilizers such as compost should be encouraged over the use of chemical fertilizers, Use of chemical pesticides should also be discouraged and only resorted to in combination with other means such as cultural, environmental, biological, etc., The use of integrated pest management, which is already adopted in some areas in Cambodia, should be promoted and supported, Multiple and intercropping are encouraged over mono-cultural practices, In case the use of pesticides is imminent, properly labeled and legal brands of pesticides should be used, Farmers should be taught on proper handling and application of pesticides as well as proper storage and disposal of chemical containers, 5

6 Guidelines for rice farming Promote and encourage the adoption of integrated pest management to manage pest problems, In case the use of pesticides is imminent, properly labeled and legal brands of pesticides should be used, Farmers should be taught on proper handling and application of pesticides as well as proper storage and disposal of chemical containers, 1.5 Institutional arrangements and responsibilities The proposed administrative responsibilities are established in accordance with the LEAP project. For the implementation of the EMF there will be involvement at the National, Provincial, Commune, PG, SHG and Household levels. Household level: The households with the assistance from community professionals and NGOs will ensure that micro-investment planning and project design and preparation will address environmental impacts, if any, by adhering to the specific sub-project guidelines outlined in the EMF. SHG level: Micro Investment Project proposals, developed at household level, will be presented, as part of the Technical Clearance process, to the SHG for sharing and screening. The SHG will assert the compliance with the environmental guidelines outlined in the EMF. Producer Group level: The PG will provide advice to its members with regards to Micro Investment Project development, including compliance with EMF. For their own Economic Infrastructure sub-projects the PG will also follow the EMF. Commune level: Commune Councils will be closely informed about sub-project initiatives supported by LEAP. SHG and PG will participate in the yearly Commune Investment Planning process and register their sub-projects with the Commune Councils. The SHGs or higher level institutions of the poor, with assistance from community professionals and NGOs will ensure that all communal sub-projects and/or the cumulative impacts of the individual sub-projects at the household, PG and/or SHG levels are properly addressed. Provincial level: The project manager or a designated technical or safeguard officer shall ensure that the EMF is adhered to and complied with by the households and SHG/PG and enforced by the NGOs and community professionals. The project manager or a designated safeguard officer will also monitor and report on progress on the EMF implementation. The PMT shall inform or involve the Department of Environment on the project s status in monitoring environmental mitigation measures (e.g. through its annual review report). National level: The project director in collaboration with his/her designated project technical advisor will be ultimately responsible for ensuring the PMT modify or revise the EMF and Technical Environmental Guidelines during each annual review of the project implementation. The revisions will address the lessons learnt during sub-project design and implementation and reflect the spread and variety of sub-projects as they emerge. 6

7 1.6 Training Training on environmental mitigation measures will be provided to the households as part of the micro-investment planning and sub-project preparation processes. In this regard, the project director and project manager should ensure that the designated technical officer or safeguard officer (in collaboration with the project technical advisor, if any) will train community professionals and NGOs to ensure that the knowledge they gained are imparted to the households. 1.7 Monitoring and Reporting Proposals for livelihood interventions made by relevant stakeholders should have incorporated environmental mitigation measures. During the implementation of sub-projects, the project director or designated officer/advisor will monitor compliance of the environmental mitigation measures at households. The monitoring will focus on how well the environmental mitigation measures are being adhered to and followed by the households during the microinvestment planning, preparation and implementation. This means checking on whether, for example, animal raising activities/sub-projects have properly addressed waste issues in the design as well as during implementation and whether households involved in vegetable farming have adopted good pest management practices (e.g. integrated pest management guidelines). The World Bank s Environmental Specialist will separately review adherence to the EMF and environmental mitigation measures. All records related to the EMF application including the technical environmental guidelines/environmental mitigation measures shall be kept by the implementing agencies (i.e. Project Implementation Unit and NGOs) for review during the Bank supervision missions. 7