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Moldova Soil Conservation
Biodiversity
Most project's lands are severely degraded and possess limited biodiversity. Natural ecosystems have been degraded along with the destruction of the forest cover, and the low vegetative cover has turned into resistant and weedy species as a consequence of severe overgrazing. The positive biodiversity impacts of the projects are therefore expected to be significant locally. The afforestation will reconstruct natural habitats suitable for wild fauna and flora species and therefore favor their return on these lands.
The species for afforestation have been selected based on their suitability to soil and climate conditions, and their adaptability to degraded lands. The afforestation activities are implemented with the long-term objective of re-establishing native species. However, these species can not be established directly through cost-effective means on severely degraded lands. The project will therefore in a first time use naturalized species such as Robinia pseudoacacia (other species include Gleditschia triachantos, Sophora japonica, Quercus rubra, Fraxinus viridis, Elaeagnus angustifolia) in mixtures with native species. The experience over 50 years of forest management in Moldova has shown that Robinia is widely adapted to grow on poor soils. Native species such as Oak and Poplar (Populus alba, Populus nigra, Salix alba, Quercus robur, Fraxinus excelsior) are proposed to be planted as the site conditions improve under one or two rotations of naturalized species.
The use of Oaks, managed over 100 year rotation periods, will improve the vegetation cover over time and will reduce disturbances to ecosystems. Finally, other broadleaf species and shrubs (e.g. Cotinus coggygria, Crataegus monogyna, Rosa canina, Corylus avellana) are also planted to improve floral diversity. These species have been selected on the basis of their effectiveness to restore the degraded lands, meet the socioeconomic needs of communities, and improve local biodiversity. The final species composition will be remarkably diverse and will contribute to several project objectives that are central to the restoration of productivity.
Other Environmental Benefits and Risks
Due to lack of investments in the restoration of degraded lands over a long-period, public and community lands have shown significant declines in productivity and have increasingly become susceptible to soil erosion, land slides, and other physiographic limitations.
The main environmental benefits from the project will therefore stem from the rehabilitation and stabilization of the degraded barren lands. Specifically, project activities will regenerate the soil profile and improve soil organic accumulation, mitigate the landslide occurrence and impacts, reduce run off and increase the moisture holding capacity of plots. The planted areas are expected to act as shelterbelts and will therefore also mitigate the existing adverse impacts of degraded lands on adjoining lands, particularly from landslides and run offs. In particular, the productivity of adjoining agricultural lands is expected to increase over medium to long term.
Past forest management experience of the state forestry agency has shown that afforestation activities with naturalized and adaptive species planted in mixtures with native species is a cost-effective option that offers the best chance for the first stage land reclamation and soil stabilization before the establishment of native species that require better soil conditions. In order to maximize benefits and increase the chances of survival of the planted trees, sites will be prepared using anti-erosion, landslide prevention and run-off reduction measures. In addition planting activities will be mostly done manually, to minimize disturbance to soil. The inclusion of shrub species will also favor soil conservation and erosion control.
Socio-economic benefits and risks
The project will bring direct local benefits through the generation of local employment for planting, management, and harvesting of the trees. The project will provide employment opportunities for both men and women, with men finding employment for site preparation, planting and timber harvesting activities, and women for nursery management and collection of non-timber forest products. In addition, the project will improve the management of communal lands and promote sustainable rural livelihoods. It will include capacity and technical assistance, build local capacities in forest management and soil conservation, and develop integrated and participatory land-use planning. The project design has incorporated several measures to improve the socioeconomic status of the communities, such as the harmonization of the afforestation activities with agricultural operations to generate temporary employment opportunities to rural communities.
On a longer term, the recreated forest will provide several products, services, and additional income from the sale of fuelwood, timber and non-timber products (such as medicinal plants and fruits, beekeeping). This supply will improve the revenues of the local councils. The timber supplies from the project will also contribute to more stable timber prices and therefore revenue streams. Indirect benefits to local communities will stem from the improved productivity of communal lands, and potentially from increased tourism and recreation.
Stakeholder consultations were undertaken at the beginning of the project and were continued during project preparation. The stakeholder consultations were in the form of meetings and workshops. The local communities are expected to participate in the forest inventory, protection, and management. The project activity is only possible with the active cooperation of the local councils, who own about half of the land under the project, and are expected to manage the afforested lands after those lands have been transferred from the state forestry agency. Their large-scale participation limits the protection costs and has positive impacts on the flow of Carbon benefits to the local communities, which justifies the higher transaction costs to the state forestry agency.
Finally, the project design has incorporated several measures to ensure that communities' livelihoods are not affected due to project implementation and to prevent the displacement of economic activities.
Leakage
The lands, chosen in coordination with the local councils, are in a highly degraded state and are only used for sparse grazing and fodder collection. The degraded lands are expected to provide pre-project products and services and shift in the fodder production/grazing will be supervised and is not expected to result in the loss of carbon in areas outside the project. In addition, the major objectives of the project, soil conservation, site stabilization and restoration of the degraded lands, will not lead to an increase in the demand for forest products. Finally, all emissions attributed to project activities within and outside the project area boundaries will be accounted for.
Risk of Non Permanence
The lands afforested are expected to be under vegetative cover on a permanent basis. The local councils will be in charge of managing the afforested sites on the long term. These councils have been associated to all project steps and sensitized to sustainable management practices. The many benefits local communities will derive from the recreated forests will also serve as an incentive for their sustainable management.
In addition, afforestation will be undertaken with a combination of long rotation and short-rotation species. The long rotation species included in the project, such as Oak, have a rotation period of 100 years, which is significantly longer than the total crediting period. This long rotation period will practically ensure that the vegetation cover under the afforestation activity will result in permanent vegetation cover. The short rotation species will serve to satisfy the demand in forest products, and will be replanted at the end of the rotation.
Disturbances from encroachments are unlikely given the involvement of the local councils and sensitization and support of the local populations. Consultations have been conducted at several levels with many actors including local councils, mayoralties, forest enterprises, judet, and national government representatives as part of the project preparation. Several measures have been consequently adopted, among which economic incentives, legal and institutional mechanisms, and capacity building initiatives. These measures will ensure the continuous support of the local communities. Fire is not a major threat in the region.
Additionality
The lands considered under the project are either degraded barren lands or lands covered by sparse non-woody vegetation. They have not witnessed any natural forest regeneration so far.
The average annual rate of pre-project investments in cost effective ameliorative measures such as afforestation/reforestation to restore the degraded lands and to meet the growing demands of forest product supplies has been low, mainly due to the financial and capacity constraints faced by the state forestry agency and local councils. This lack of investment also continuously increased the fragility of neighboring lands to landslides and erosion.
In this context, the revenues stemming from the inscription into the CDM helped reduce the existing financial constraints and served as a catalyst to establish institutional arrangements and stakeholder relationships between the state forestry agency and the local councils that represent the rural communities to restore the degraded lands spread out throughout the country.
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