Tunisia - Natural Resources Management Project

Report No. PIC3138 Project Name Tunisia-Natural Resources Management... Project Region Middle East & North Africa Sector Natural Resources Management Project ID TNPA5736 Borrower Government of Tunisia Implementing Agency Ministry of Agriculture (MOA) Contact: M. Mohamed Larbi Chakroun Conseiller technique principal du projet Direction gbnbrale des financements et des encouragements, MOA 30 rue Alain Savary Tunis, Tunisia Tel: 216.1.80.26.43 Fax: 216.1.78.44.47 Date initial PID prepared December 1995 Date this PID prepared December 1996 Projected Appraisal Date January 1997 Projected Board Date April 1997 Background 1. Tunisia has a fragile natural resource base which supports an agricultural sector that contributes substantially to economic output (17 percent), trade (14 percent) and to income generation for the rural population. Despite decades of government effort to protect natural resources, climatic and human factors (mainly over-exploitation and inadequate management practices) have led to significant resource base degradation. It is currently estimated that about 47 percent of agricultural land is eroded, that 20 percent of rangelands have disappeared since 1972, that 24 percent of shallow aquifers are over- exploited and that the irrigation efficiency rate in many small perimeters is only 40 percent. The gravity of the situation varies from region to region; however, the arid and semi-arid regions of Southern and Central Tunisia and the mountainous areas of Northern Tunisia are the most threatened. Recognizing that past efforts have failed to achieve their objectives, the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), which has devoted considerable public funds to natural resource management (e.g. since 1970, more than 1 million hectares, or a fifth of all cultivable lands, have been treated; in 1995, the soil and water conservation budget amounted to US$35 million), would now like to reorient its rural development strategy away from a top-down planning and cross the threshold to collaborative efforts with resource user groups. Lessons Learned from Previous Bank Experience 2. In 1994, the Government of Tunisia (GOT) recognized the need to  deepen its understanding of natural resources degradation and began a Natural Resources Management Study financed under a PHRD Grant. The Study consolidated lessons from experience gained to define a new approach to natural resources management and establish priorities for future actions to be included in a Schbma directeur. Findings have shown that: (a) natural resources management is likely to be sustainable ecologically, economically and socially only if practices can be made sufficiently attractive to local populations so that they adopt them over the long term; (b) the approach must rely on systems of local knowledge and natural resources use as well as locally supported decision-making, both formal and informal; (c) the administration must be flexible in defining its contribution under a "social contract" made with communities for resource management; and (d) a more integrated approach to natural resources management is needed. More will be learned from separate participatory initiatives on soil conservation which are being tested under a UNDP-supported project and implemented by a parastatal agency (Office de dbveloppement sylvo-pastoral du Nord- ouest, ODESYPANO) as a component of the Northwest Mountainous Areas Development Project (Ln. 3691-TUN). Rationale for Bank Involvement 3. Bank strategic analysis has concluded that the management of natural resources must be improved to preempt the development of serious constraints to growth in Tunisia's strategic sectors. The GOT, recognizing the strategic importance of natural resources management and the limits to its current programs, is committed to developing cost- effective participative approaches to natural resources management. It has requested Bank assistance and the proposed Natural Resources Management Project is the result of collaboration in this endeavor. The Bank combines attributes that are ideally suited to ensure the successful planning and implementation of such a project -- international experience in participatory approaches, resources adequate to finance a program which aims ultimately at a national scale of implementation, a grasp of sector-level policies that are essential to the reformulation of natural resource management strategies, and the weight to foster administrative choices to decentralize decision-making and diversify the existing skill mix at the MOA. Project Objectives 4. The overall goal would be to intensify sustainable agricultural production and improve the environmental quality of farmlands and rangelands through the participatory management of natural resources by rural populations. This approach has been demonstrated by ODESYPANO in the North-West Region and would be integrated at the Commissariats rbgionaux de dbveloppement agricole (CRDA) level (Regional Agriculture Development Office of the MOA) and tested in the three major agro- climatic zones of Tunisia in an effort to design and implement policies for sustainable natural resources management over the long term. Specifically the project objectives would be to: (a) preserve natural resources at a regional level while striving to reverse resource degradation by developing integrated land management practices and promoting sustainable agricultural development to increase on-farm income; (b) promote partnership between the administration and local - 2-  communities to increase the sense of ownership and responsibility on the part of beneficiaries and administrators which should lead to better- targeted and more durable investments; and (c) support decentralization of institutions and provide tools to enhance policy analysis and improve project planning and implementation. Project Description 5. The project would support the first phase of a long-term national strategy to enhance natural resources management and improve agricultural productivity through a participatory approach. Implemented over five years, the project would test land-based natural resources management interventions and would be supported by institutional development, in particular to strengthen the capacity to analyze the impact of policy options. The project would be implemented in severely degraded areas within three CRDAs, namely: Jendouba in the mountains of the North, Kasserine in the steppes of the Center, and Medenine in the arid South. The project would have the following main components: (a) Natural Resources Management Operations, including Participatory Development Plans (PDPs), prepared by local communities (Unitbs socio-territioriales, UST) to address their priorities for key small-scale rural infrastructural investments, and Protection and Water Recharge Investments in the three selected CRDAs, outside the areas where participatory approach would be tested, as part of the strategy for natural resources management conservation; and (b) Institutional Strengthening, at both the regional and central levels, to support MOA human resources and information systems and develop the incentive framework for sustainable resources management. In particular the project would support the establishment of a comprehensive information system (Systjme d'information et d'bvaluation permanent - SIEP), which would have two major elements: a panel to assist the MOA to assess its policies and a Geographic Information System (GIS) to assess the impact of the project on natural resources management. Project Cost and Financing 6. Total project cost is currently estimated at $54.3 million, with a Bank loan tentatively placed at US$27 million. Co-financing arrangements are being explored for technical assistance and training activities of the project. Implementation 7. Experience has shown that successful natural resource management requires the participation of the local populations. Community participation would be catalyzed by