Madagascar - Rural Development Support Project : environmental assessment (Vol. 1 of 5) : Executive Summary

E436 Volume I ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT OF THE RURAL DEVELOPMENT ACTION PLAN IN MADAGASCAR (PADR) EXECUTIVE SUMMARY NATIONAL CENTER FOR ENVIRONMENTAL RESEARCH DECEMBER 2000 FIlE COPY 1  (i) Status of the Environmental Assessment of the Rural Development Action Plan (PADR) The report on the Environmental Assessment of the Rural Development Action Plan ("Plan d'Action pour le Developpement Rural" - PADR) provides an overview of the rural sector and the impact of development on the environment. It analyzes the environmental impacts of the current situation in each sector as well as the major and potential impact of the different options of the PADR; finally, it suggests some tools for environmental management. This report constitutes a permanent work document available to the PADR projects managers at different levels. It will allow managers to better understand the situation for program implementation, to consider the social, bio-ecological and physical dimensions of the project and to determine what actions to take considering the sustainable development tools from the Environmental Program. The report is really a tool to help in project design, in impact study and environmental monitoring of investments and especially in the decision making process related to environmental preservation in the rural sector. This report presents the measures to be considered by the Government during the implementation of the PADR and it involves the different entities at the institutional, legal and operational level to undertake the rural development programs in the priority action zones. These measures should be consistent with other environmental policies already recommended in other sectors, such as mining, industry, transportation and privatization. This report has taken into consideration the laws on environmental impact in the following sectors: Fishing and Aquaculture, Agricultural Research, Agriculture, Livestock, Forests and also the World Bank Directives for Environmental and Social Safeguard Policies (ii) Environmental, political, socio-economic, legal and institutional context of the PADR Madagascar is considered by the international community as one of the countries with the most bio- d iversity. Despite important natural resources, the island has become in less than half a century one of the poorest countries in the world. Its economy is based on agriculture, livestock, fishing and forestry but its exploitation system threatens soil fertility and sustainable management of natural resources. Agriculture is the main economic activity: it employs more than 70% of the active population and provides about 31% of the GNP and 60% of its export income. However, about 75% of the population is very poor and 86% of them live in rural areas. To address this issue, a Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) was prepared. The PRSP recommends actions in three directions: (i) a significant and sustainable growth increase; (ii) institutional reforrn and good governance and (iii) an improvement in basic social services such as education and health. The Government has adopted a "Charte de l'Environnement Malgache" (Law No. 90-033 of December 21, 1990 modified by Law No. 97.012 of June 6, 1997) that sets the main orientations of the National Environment Policy for Madagascar. The National Environmental Plan includes all the dispositions related to the implementation of this environmental policy. The texts administrating this Charter include: - Decree # 99 954 of 12/15/99, amending decree # 95 377, that provides guidelines for incorporating environmental impact assessment into investments ("Mise en Comptabilite des Investissements avec l'Environnement - MECIE). This decree controls the regulations and procedures regarding Environmental Impact Studies. It ensures the relation between the production sectors and environmental protection. 2  - Decree # 96 025 of 09/10/96, relative to Secured Local Management of Natural Resources (GELOSE), which recommends the recognition of the legitimacy of customary practices of the community as regards the management of natural resources via a land management transfer and a relatively safe land ownership situation. - the Forestry Policy (POLFOR) which translates the ideas of the Environment Charter into concrete directives for the development of the forestry sector. Because of the pressure on resources, these last two texts favor the participatory approach. On the international side, taking into consideration political declarations and the major principles slated in the "soft laws" such as the Declaration of Rio on Environment and Development; the Agenda 21 and others, in the elaboration of sector policies as well as the recent ratification of international conventions regarding the environment translate the willingness of the Government to contribute to environment protection (ratification of the Convention on Biological Diversity; ratification of the Bale Convention on the cross-border movement of hazardous waste, the RAMSAR Convention on wetland zones, the United Nations Convention on the Sea Rights...) On the institutional side, the implication of the Ministry of the Environment in the rural development structures as well as in those of the Environmental Action Plan (PAE) such as CNE, CIME, ONE and the agencies for the execution of PNAE have been taken into account. The Ministries' Environmental teams are associated to the structures of the environmental evaluation as defined in the MECIE decree. Finally, the environmental evaluation of the Ministries of Agriculture, Livestock, Fishing and Aquaculture resources, Water and Forests as well as Scientific Research has highlighted inconsistencies between the sectoral policies and the implementation of actions. (iii) Generic Evaluation of Environmental Impacts The PADR was developed with a participatory approach and the contributions of 20 regional working Groups ("Groupe de travail pour le Developpement Rural - GTDR). It responded to the requests of the population to actively participate in the development process. The analysis of the rural situation highlighted the following problems: At the socio-economic level: - land ownership situation which is worsened by the demographic pressure; - geographical isolation that reduces access to new technologies, inputs and markets, etc...; - lack of water control (and water is also a limited resource); - lack of encouragement to develop private initiatives which limits the modernization of production factors and thus production increases. IThese factors have increased the demand for natural resources and the situation has become alarming. At the natural resources level: - degradation of habitat and bio-diversity (fauna and flora); - balance and integrity of ecosystems (land and sea); - degradation and depletion of resources (water, soil); - air, soil and water pollution. 3  Furthermore, this analysis concluded that some activities and works of the different sub-sectors of the PADR may have some negative impact on the environment but that the irrational exploitation of natural resources remains the main reason contributing to environmental degradation in general, and particularly to bio-diversity loss. This evaluation should lead to a consistency between investments in the rural sector and environment protection and therefore to an integration of the environmental dimension in the sectoral policies. The environmental impacts have been evaluated by analyzing the activities and/or the sub-sectors that are considered to have a potential impact. An analysis of the environmental impacts of the actions planned in the PADR has been made and some measures have been proposed to reduce the negative impacts. For all the activities and works included in the PADR, the direct impacts on the natural environment could be felt in the following categories: - Soil due to problems of erosion, silting, fertility and availability of land. - Surface water, groundwater, seawater which may be polluted by chemical, hydrocarbures and telluric pollution), drying out of wells, changes in water levels .... - Air due to problems of pollution caused by chemicals and fertilizers. -Weather in terms of changes in weather patterns. - Fauna and flora in terms of loss of bio-diversity and habitat linked to overexploitation of forests, mangroves and coral reefs, deforestation, and infrastructures implantation. - Natural resources (pasture land, marine resources) degradation caused by irrational management - Landscape that is partially or totally modified. And the direct risks in the social categories could be the following: - Land tenure: appearance of conflicts related to land ownership, water use and use of the area within 2 rniles of coasts, expropriation for public utility reasons; appropriation of traditional properties by new owners who have title to land. - Socio-cultural: degradation of social situation due to migration, lessening of influence of traditional customs, depravity of manners linked to outside influences. - Economic: inequality in the repartition of the economic and social benefits between the different participants and inequality of access to resources; insufficient economic benefits from exploitation of local natural resources; loss of income resulting from insecticides use (in the case of bee-keeping for example) or from use of new products; lack of motivation of producers resulting from insecurity; introduction of new species (fauna and flora). - Health: public health risks resulting from low hygiene and poor quality of the food products; food poisoning if seafood or animal products are not properly handled; risk of poisoning if pesticides are not used according to instructions (during spreading, storing, transformation, transportation); risks of respiratory diseases if chemical products are not stored in appropriate facilities, risks of contamination of water wells by infiltration of chemical and petrochemical products; risks of malaria and bilharziose in the irrigated schemes through dissemination of intermediaries hosts and larvaes. The main recommendations from the environmental assessment are summarized below: 4  - For resources and natural space: Protection against erosion, lavaka phenomenon and pollution in general; promotion of reforestation; rational management of space and resources; setting-up or improvement of protection systems; protection of the sea and coastal area and of the hydrologic network (rivers and streams, lakes and marshes) against pollution and also against silting and sand deposits; protection of the groundwater against pollution and also from a lowering of the reserves. - Legal measures: Compensation of victims of expropriation; increased use of "dina" for land management conflicts; promotion of a better land security; strengthening of Committees.., creation of a compensation system for victims of natural disasters and accidents; full application of the existing laws and review of laws fallen into abeyance, ensure consistency of existing laws with environment questions; elaboration of laws to deal with new technologies (GMOs, radioactivity, etc...), elaboration of an Environment Code, information of the citizens of their rights and duties, consideration of "dina" for conflict management and promotion of land ownership. - Institutional measures: Strengthening of the capacities of existing environmental groups; decentralizing the environmental groups, encouraging and developing cooperation between communes (information networks, long term planning, etc...). = Social, economic and cultural measures: Organization and strengthening of the Water Users Associations; support to integration between agriculture and other activities sectors; Regulation of migration; restoration of traditional authority (dina); return of civic instruction in schools; adults education; extension of adult literacy programs, with priority given to women; improvement of the commercial circuits; improvement in the financing capacities of the rural population; direct payments to the local communities of bonus; strengthening the structures of the National Help Council; information on norms and quality standards; options for an integrated development; promotion of a secured local management system (GELOSE); optimization of the use of fertilizers and chemicals, promotion and development of Information, Education and Communication systems; strict control of food sold at the market; respect of regulations on handling of dangerous products. Considering the specificity of all the above measures and the various degrees of difficulty to implement them, a strategy for Information, Education and Communication needs to be developed. Regarding the sensitive areas, they deserve a special attention within the environmental impact studies because they can be more or less affected by the activities linked to rural development (iv) Integration of the sustainable development concept in the management of the PADR The activities and projects for the rural sector should be developed in line with the principles of sustainable development. This implies that: - The rate of use of renewable resources (forests, water, fishing and agriculture) should not be higher that the capacity of the system to replenish them. - The quantity of waste from a project should not be higher than the local absorption capacity (pesticides, etc....) IThese principles should also apply to the different programs of the PADR, in particular for agriculture modernization, diversification of production and exportations as well as the application of appropriate technologies through the impact evaluation of the different projects that constitute a program. 5  The application of these principles will have to be made in the legal and institutional context described in the above paragraph (iii). According to the MECIE Decree, the projects will be submitted either to a full environmental impact study (EIE), or to a limited study (PREE) depending to which category of the MECIE Decree they belong. The important role of the Environmental Units to implement these principles in the different sub- sectors dealing with rural development should be noted . These units have recently been established in the different Ministries and they will have a legal, technical and communication mission. They will need some help to strengthen their capacity. (v) The Environmental Management Plan of the PADR The implementation of the Environmental Management Plan responds to the following principles: (i) need for a synergy of actions between the different sub-sectors and all the other actors (Government, territorial collectivities, basic communities, NGOs, private sector and other projects); (ii) creation of an information system with data related to rural development based on the PADR structure; (iii) consideration of the local initiatives to design a development plan that respects the environment norms (for the communes and also inter-communal); and (iv) implementation of a monitoring and evaluation system. The full report presents the Environmental Management Plan, which includes: - some general or specific tools. They are the measures to be adopted before or during project implementation, such as: * Preventive measures before the start of the investment or attenuation measures during the public consultation (depending on category of initial impact study); - Measures to lessen the impact of existing infrastructures for which some investments are planned; - Preventive measures taken at the national and regional level (Strategic Impact Study); * Preparation of a guidebook on monitoring indicators (indicators on pressure and answers and monitoring and evaluation methods). - an implementation strategy centered on: * The reinforcement of the existing agencies and of their capacity (at the central and decentralized levels); . The possibility of preparing some development programs at the communal, inter- communal, regional and national level that would ensure a better integration of the environmental dimension; a better use of space; a synergy between the different rural development sectors and the Environmental Program and finally a better efficiency of the available financial resources. - an implementation mechanism which contains some monitoring indicators and actions and indicates who is responsible at each stage. It would also define a plan for capacity strengthening with appropriate training programs at each level. - some standards guidelines for monitoring contracts and procurement contracts (for goods and works) with a description of the environmental norms to follow. 6  - a communication strategy that links the environment to the three following themes (sustainable development, population and poverty, regions and decentralization). It would develop a diagnostic system, the beginning of a training program and their monitoring and evaluation. The sensitization program would encourage the dialogue between the different actors and would create the momentum to launch an efficient communication strategy. In conclusion, some urgent measures are needed to stop the disappearance of some of the natural resources of Madagascar. - The role of the Government should be modified to give more decision making power to the local communities as they are the most affected by environment degradation. - The environmental actions should have some real economic consequences for the population to be long lasting. The Environmental Program will assist in the management of the environment in rural development programs which already include environmental activities. Otherwise, the Environmental Program could provide some services upon request. It should be pointed out that the formulation of development programs provides the opportunity to include the environmental aspects through an environmental assessment. - The role of the "dina" should be considered for conflict resolutions in cases linked to natural resources management if they don't contradict the law. - The fiscal and economic aspects should be integrated in environment management and this point should be developed further in the PADR. 7