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Albania Assisted Natural Regeneration
Biodiversity
The regeneration of degraded forest areas and the reforestation will provide much needed and valuable habitat for a wide range of native flora (including medicinal plants) and fauna (including game species). The first step of the method that will be followed during the natural regeneration process is to protect the areas from grazing through fencing or setting aside. Then, depending on the site, the natural regeneration may be supplemented using mainly native broadleaf species, and thereby enriching the species mix and adding to the multi-functionality and biodiversity of the resulting forest.
The only non-native species proposed by the communes was Robinia (R. Pseudoaccacia). Communes proposed Robinia because they know it is a good species for firewood, poles, and a source of honey production and fodder. Although some may regard it as an invasive species, it has been present in Europe since the early seventeenth century. Its silviculture is also well known and it has long been used in the afforestation of degraded lands in Albania, but was usually planted as a monoculture. It is also worth mentioning that it will only be used to enrich existing species and not be planted in this project in monoculture. Robinia will only represent 30% of the mix, with 70% of the supplemental planting being native broadleaf species, mainly oak, chestnut, birch and walnut.
The seedlings for the supplemental planting will be obtained from private small scale local nurseries distributed throughout the country, which use local and identified seed sources. As identified seed sources will be used, there will be no harm done to native populations and there will be adequate genetic diversity.
Other Environmental Benefits and Risks
The reforestation will halt the ongoing degradation of forest lands, loss of vegetative cover and soil erosion. It will also result in improved water quality, watershed capacity and lessening of siltation of watercourses and reservoirs, mainly through diminished runoffs and rehabilitation of the natural filtration process.
The forest will also substitute for material, which has currently to be bought from unsustainable sources or harvested in an unsustainable fashion, especially raw material for fencing, poles, firewood and general construction timber.
The environmental impacts of the project will be monitored as part of the Natural Resource Development Project activities, and the same indicators will be used.
Socio-economic benefits and risks
More than 80% of the estimated project budget (net of any grants) will be spent directly in the project area over the 20-year life of the project. The project will provide employment over a twenty-year period, mainly at village level. The greater portion of this employment will be focused in the first five years of the project for establishment activities. Employment opportunities include planting of seedlings, fencing, digging holes for planting, vegetative cutting, weeding and silvicultural operations. In the longer term, as the forest matures, there will be additional opportunities in operations such as cleaning, pre-commercial thinning, harvesting and transport, and collection of medicinal plants.
The preparation and design of the project will also include the development of a training plan directed toward new and existing Forest and Pasture User Associations (FPUAs), which are the central entities in implementing the communal forest and pasture management plans including carbon sequestration activities. The training will aim to improve the technical effectiveness, governance, financial and social sustainability, and management competencies of the FPUAs (increased female participation in FPUAs and village commissions is an explicit objective of the NRDP). The project will also advise communities on their obligations regarding monitoring and verification of the project activities. Part of the Japanese PHRD grant used for preparation has been allocated for the development of this plan.
The newly established forests will provide local communities with an asset, which, if managed sustainably, will act as a source of raw material for local businesses and non timber products. Given the nature of the processing industry in Albania, this new source of roundwood will serve as the basis for retention and/or expansion of existing processing capacity, thereby assisting in curbing rural exodus. These different benefits will contribute to provide a more steady and reliable income stream for communities which to date have tended to have a stop go approach to budgeting and planning.
With the start up of the project, communities will have to alter their grazing practices, by readjusting their flock numbers (combination of reducing the goat to sheep ratio with less goats and reducing the overall number of livestock units) and using other grazing areas available to them, however likely to be more remote from villages. The net impact would likely be slightly detrimental in the short term where they have to reduce numbers of livestock units. The project, however, will use a participatory approach, and will not imply any resettlement issues, as land ownership will not be altered. Finally, the development of the forest will provide multiple benefits to villagers. As noted above, these benefits will likely facilitate the stabilization of the rural population. Furthermore, the experience of the recently completed Albania Forestry Project, in which areas covered were regenerated in a similar fashion, has shown negligible impacts on population.
Communities have been considerably involved in the overall design process, together with local and district forest offices. Specifically, the project areas have been identified in a consultative fashion by the communes and heads of villages themselves and with their full co-operation and agreement. They have also voluntarily agreed to adapt their grazing practices to facilitate regeneration and provide for enhancement of project areas.
The monitoring of the socio-economic impacts of the project will be monitored as part of the activities of the Natural Resource Development Project activities, and the same indicators will be used.
Leakage
The displacement of grazing from herds of goats and sheep due to the protection of project areas either through fencing or being set aside represents the main potential source of leakage identified so far. This displacement could increase pressure on other areas and, over time, lead to their degradation and a loss of carbon in the soil. This risk will be mitigated through several actions. Communes and villages that have proposed lands under the project will formally commit themselves to either adjust the size of the herds (combination of reducing the goat to sheep ratio with less goats and reducing the overall number of livestock units), or to alter the pattern of grazing across all areas, also using other grazing areas available to them. These actions will be prioritized through a participatory process. Furthermore, a menu of interventions will be proposed to the communes as part of the project, including pasture development and management, which will improve the carrying capacity of existing pastures. Confidence in these measures is based on the experience gained under the recently completed Albania Forestry Project, under which some 1,248 ha were afforested while other areas were set aside for regeneration re-growth or for silvicultural intervention. To date, there has been no evidence to suggest that protection in one place has resulted in overgrazing or erosion in other areas. It seems reasonable to expect that the same will apply to the areas proposed under the planned pilot carbon project.
Risk of Non Permanence
Permanence of the credits produced by the project will mainly depend on the forest management carried out by local communities. The implementation of the sustainable forest management and enhanced pasture management practices brought by the project would ensure the necessary management. There are several reasons to think that communities will be willing to and successfully switch to sustainable practices. The lands to be regenerated have been proposed by the communities themselves. They also benefited from the previous experience of the recently completed Albania Forestry Project, the completion report of which specifically states that "[…] project investments to support implementation of forest and pasture management plans were welcomed, protected, and augmented by the participating communes. As a consequence, the quality and productivity of forest and pasture land managed under the new plans by the newly created resource user associations improved to such an extent that commune families are already deriving income from forest and pastures (including fuel wood, fodder, NTFPs and some grazing, etc) that had been seriously degraded bush prior to project supported investments. […] Significantly, there is evidence that some commune and family investments in resource management […] are continuing even after project support has ceased, indicating that the shift to sustainable land use practice brought about by the project is likely to be sustainable." By the end of the project the communities will have ownership/property rights on the new forests and will as such be subject to the full regulatory and legal framework. At this stage also, the institutional arrangements are expected to have moved closer to the European regulations and the state regulatory authority will have the remit in Albania to ensure that forests are managed in accordance with the legal and regulatory framework. Specific support to communities for the enhancement of these services will also be included in the project.
Fire is traditionally used by shepherds as a means to promote new shoot growth. These fires can get out of control and enter adjoining forest areas, and represent a risk for the permanence of the sequestration. However, based on discussions with communes, fire appears to be only a risk in areas where there is some dispute over ownership or user rights. Furthermore, with the transfer of user rights for forests to communes, the risk due to fire has decreased as forest areas are now essentially viewed as owned property. The risk level is expected to decrease further with the transfer of property rights due to begin before the end of the current decade. Notwithstanding this, fire caused by carelessness (discarding of lighted cigarette, etc.) or freak weather conditions will remain a risk, albeit one impossible to estimate. The project areas are spread over a wide geographic area and as such represent less of a risk than large areas of artificial afforestation. Overgrazing, identified as a potential source of leakage, could also potentially impact permanence if practiced on the new reforested lands. Such a practice, however, is unlikely, since the developed forests will provide benefits to the populations that will therefore have an incentive to their sustainable management, and the project will support communities switch to sustainable practices. In addition, the mitigating measures to be implemented for leakage will also help mitigate any potential impact on permanence.
Additionality
Although facing degradation of their land, local communities do not have the financial capacity to undertake the necessary rehabilitation works on their own. Furthermore, under the current setup, communities use forest and pasture land under 10-year usufruct arrangements governed by management plans approved by the forest administration. De facto they are not authorized to sell timber or non timber forest products, and therefore also lack incentive to invest in the rehabilitation of the lands. The degraded lands are not suited for the growing of crops or horticultural production, and artificial regeneration would not be justifiable from an economical and biological point of view. The only likely alternative to the project is the continuation of the land use as grazing for sheep, goats and cattle, with accompanying degradation.
The NRPD will support implementation of forest and pasture management plans in 138 communes supported under the previous Albania Forestry Project (AFP) and in 80 additional communes, thereby covering most of the communes in upland Albania with significant erosion prone forest and pasture lands. It will use grants to fund approved small-scale investments to be selected by the communities, including (i) land stabilization, which entails construction of check dams, maintenance or protection of existing infrastructure, and planting of trees and shrubs in order to reduce flooding, landslides and sedimentation, (ii) resource rehabilitation, which entails controlling grazing, and assisted natural regeneration of forests and pastures, (iii) sustainable resource use, which entails pre-commercial thinning and coppicing and pasture development and management. The BioCF contribution will add another sub-component in the NRDP and allocate additional resources to 24 communes among the 218, specifically to implement assisted natural regeneration in about 5,729 additional hectares. This subcomponent will help increase the importance of reforestation activities, which may in most cases not be the first identified priority of communities.
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