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Philippines Watershed Rehabilitation
Biodiversity
It is difficult to predict the exact benefits to biodiversity as the subprojects will be chosen based on the demand from population. These benefits are likely to be limited as the subprojects will cover relatively small areas. However, project activities, especially reforestation and streambank rehabilitation, will provide new habitat for biodiversity, which is rich but particularly threatened in the region. Additionally, where possible tree species will be chosen that can be used as food source for wildlife species (for example the red-listed fruit bats).
As part of the environmental assessment undertaken for each subproject, habitat and biodiversity impacts will be assessed. If the site compromises significant areas of habitat of threatened species, an alternative site would be chosen.
For implementation, general precautions will be taken to minimize vegetation clearing during site preparation, and seedlings will come from a local nursery or the LLDA nursery, therefore not harming existing forests. Species will be chosen on a subproject by subproject basis, and will include only native species from the watershed or species introduced in the watershed at least 20 years ago and that have not since their introduction posed an ecological threat.
Other Environmental Benefits and Risks
Only the general benefits, risks and mitigation measures for subprojects are known upfront. The detailed impacts and management plans will, however, not be developed until the subprojects have been identified based on the demand and the planning and project development process is completed for each of them. The main environmental benefit will be the reduction in erosion in the microwatersheds in which the subprojects will be located. Other watershed benefits include increased groundwater recharge, and decreased flooding and landslides. These benefits will be concentrated in areas of the river near the subproject sites, although an aggregate incremental effect may eventually be sensible in the entire length of the rivers draining the microwatersheds as well as in the area of Laguna de Bay.
The exact species, methods and approach to reforestation will be tailored to each of the subprojects based on a participatory process and a systematic technical assessment. These assessments will be prepared in accordance with the World Bank safeguard policies and the Philippine law and will undergo review by LLDA and the World Bank Manila office. The framework for these environmental assessments has already been developed.
Additionally, the project will also include activities to increase local awareness and participation in forestry and erosion issues in the Laguna de Bay watershed through the participatory LEAP process, the River Councils and public education programs.
To better ensure planting success, fertilizer application will likely be undertaken. However, this application would only occur at the beginning of the tree growth, an Environmental Assessment will be done for each subproject and any potential impact would be monitored and mitigated. The project doesn't anticipate using herbicides, and only footpaths will be established when necessary.
Monitoring will be mainstreamed into the World Bank project monitoring arrangements, which take advantage of local communities and river councils for on-the-ground monitoring and use LLDA as the entity to bundle the results for verification purposes. In addition, specific training will be provided through the Japan PHRD grant to actors involved in the process. LLDA will particularly provide technical assistance and follow up on potential problems, in coordination with World Bank staff when needed. Finally, each subproject will develop an operation and maintenance plan, under the responsibility of the local government. The plans' implementation will also be monitored by LLDA, which will impose penalties to the local government in case of weak or no implementation. For example, grant portions of the financings would be converted to loan.
Socio-economic benefits and risks
Socio-economic benefits of the subprojects will accrue to the communities living near the location of the subprojects. The benefits of the entire project, however, will be larger, because it will cover between 5 and 15 microwatersheds out of the 24 found in the Laguna de Bay watershed.
The project's long term social development outcomes are those related to the watershed-wide benefits of reduced sedimentation in the rivers and lake (e.g., improved fisheries and reduced costs of treating water for domestic use); reduced flooding and landslides (e.g., damage to assets and lost time from work); increased groundwater recharge (e.g., improved the sustainability of the water resource) and reduced topsoil erosion (e.g., improved agricultural production in the long term). The main short term benefits will be brought by the agroforestry activities that will provide direct income for people in upland areas, the sale of carbon credits and employment opportunities from the project. Local labor will be used each time possible, and labor practices will be consistent with Philippines government guidelines as the projects will fall under the municipal government responsibility. For example, in one of the subprojects identified thus far, an indigenous community involved in the agroforestry component will develop its own nursery and provide labor for upland reforestation and streambank rehabilitation activities undertaken by the local government.
The subprojects will be identified, planned and designed through a structured participatory process known as the "LEAP process". It will be done through multistakeholder River Councils that are open to all groups and typically include communities, local governments, NGOs, fisherfolk, farmers groups and private sector. The first step of this process is a stakeholder assessment to ensure that all stakeholder groups in the microwatershed are represented.
The project will also build the capacity of local governments, River Councils and communities to implement reforestation, streambank rehabilitation and agroforestry activities. Specific capacity building needs will be identified as part of the LEAP process, and LLDA will provide the necessary administrative and technical training for project implementation.
Clear land ownership and absence of land tenure conflicts will be required for clearance of the subproject.
Each subproject will have a monitoring plan that includes social impacts and benefits. The monitoring will be done by the River Councils and reported to LLDA periodically. The results will be communicated to the public via the River Councils and a public education program.
Leakage
The project is not expected to lead to any leakage. Activities will be implemented on deforested lands which are not used for agriculture and have historically not been in areas of land scarcity. There will therefore be few competing uses of the land. This criterion will be confirmed for each potential subproject during the planning process, through the assessment of historical land use.
The project's activities will be funded by funds earmarked for the LISCOP project and will therefore not divert any resources from other LULUCF activities.
Risk of Non Permanence
The risk that trees would be cut by communities to be sold for fuelwood seems unlikely in the case of agroforestry activities. Once grown, the fruit bearing trees to be planted will have more value as fruit trees than as firewood, and benefits will accrue directly to communities. For the reforestation and streambank rehabilitation activities, local governments will have an incentive to keep the trees standing in order to achieve the associated public benefits (erosion reduction…). They will be responsible for subprojects implementation and monitoring, even in case of implementation on private land. In addition, subproject agreements between the local government and private landowners will explicitly specify the use of the land and prohibit the cutting of trees, and will comprise penalties in case of non-compliance. Finally, a strict monitoring program will be put in place and executed by the River Council and LLDA. Its process will be transparent and its results will be publicly disclosed, which will provide further public and institutional pressure on the local government and communities involved.
Additionality
The project will be implemented on deforested lands which are not used for agriculture and with few competing uses. Agroforestry is limited by investment barriers as communities do not have financing to establish agroforestry systems. Local governments have not historically financed such activities without the incentives and planning process of an external project. Their development is also limited because communities lack familiarity with this type of systems and often also capacity to implement them. Under scarce resources, they are reluctant to take risks in developing them.
In general, activities to increase forest cover in the region have a significant long term economic internal rate of return (20-30 percent) coming from public benefits, i.e. reduction of erosion, reduction of the risk of landslides and floods and aesthetic improvement. However, compared to other project types, reforestation and agroforestry projects produce little to no revenue, involve more risk, and their results are not really visible. And local governments still have to bear the maintenance and operation costs. This type of project therefore tends to take lower precedence in municipal investment decisions. With limited resources, local governments tend to invest them on projects that have more short term benefits, or provide a lower risk of revenue generation (e.g., ecotourism, public markets and bus terminals), or on projects with higher visibility such as infrastructure projects.
Carbon credits will add a significant incentive for local governments to choose this type of projects as it will cover the maintenance and operation costs and also provide additional revenues.
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