DCHA TITLE II ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE FACESHEET FOR DRC FFP ADRA IRRIGATION ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM AND ACTIVITY DATA: DCHA Office: Food for Peace (FFP), USAID Development Food Assistance Program Sponsoring US Organization: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Program Name: JENGA II, FFP-A-11-00006 Country/Region: Democratic Republic of Congo / Central Africa Life of Activity: FY2011 – FY2015 Amount of Federal Grant: $59,470,177 Governing IEE: BEO_DCHA_FFP_DRC_ADRA_IEE (2011-2015), Positive Determination per 22 CFR 216.3(2)(a)(iii) SUMMARY OF FINDINGS: The Scoping Statement and ADRA DRC Irrigation Environmental Assessment (EA) was developed by an external consultancy (“the EA Team”) to analyze the potential environmental and social impacts with development of mitigation measures for the proposed development of secondary and tertiary irrigation canals within the South Kivu and Katanga Provinces in the eastern Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) south of Goma in the North Kivu Province, under a Positive Determination classification, per 22 CFR 216.3(2)(a)(iii). Proposed Site Kibungu, S. Kivu Province - Rehabilitation of existing irrigation catchment and canal to restore Nyamutiri plain’s irrigation water supply. Proposed canals will reach an estimated 880 hectares in this plain and are planned to follow topographic contour lines to ensure efficacy of gravity-based irrigation and the primary canal will be integrated with secondary and (potentially) tertiary canals as deemed by a qualified engineer. (Sites located between Uvira City and Bukavu, South Kivu Province.) Proposed Site Katanga Province - Development of both irrigation and drainage canals to both reduce risk in flood prone areas and irrigate high ground to improve Kenya Plain’s agricultural production. The primary irrigation and drainage canals would provide irrigated water supply to an estimated 8750 hectares in the Kenya plain, and would be integrated with a system of secondary and, possibly, lower level canals to irrigate and drain individual plots. (Sites located near Baraka, in South Kivu Province and/or North Katanga.) [Note: The total length of proposed irrigation and drainage canals at Kibungu and Katanga has not been finalized, and will depend on a topographic survey and the final design capacity of the proposed canals based on hydrographic modeling.] As Implementing Partner, ADRA shall ensure implementation of the Kibungu and Katanga projects pursuant to the EMMPs developed in the EA for each of Kibungu (Table 3-13, page 78) and Katanga (Table 4-14, page 140). To accomplish this effectively, each of the project sites will require assessment of technical feasibility by a qualified engineer with topographic mapping at an appropriate scale to gauge full extent of project. The engineer’s review will also include an assessment of the local community’s capacity to manage potential future irrigation and/or drainage needs which will both be used to inform overall project design and level of responsibility appropriate for the given community. What follows is the DCHA BEO Environmental Threshold Decision (ETD). The ETD provides a summary of, and a subsequent discussion and rationale for, the DCHA BEO’s conditions for approval for the DRC FFP ADRA EA. DCHA TITLE II ENVIRONMENTAL COMPLIANCE FACESHEET FOR DRC FFP ADRA IRRIGATION ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT PROGRAM AND ACTIVITY DATA: DCHA Office: Food for Peace (FFP), USAID Development Food Assistance Program Sponsoring US Organization: Adventist Development and Relief Agency (ADRA) Program Name: JENGA II, FFP-A-11-00006 Country/Region: Democratic Republic of Congo / Central Africa Life of Activity: FY2011 – FY2015 Amount of Federal Grant: $59,470,177 Governing IEE: BEO_DCHA_FFP_DRC_ADRA_IEE (2011-2015), Positive Determination per 22 CFR 216.3(2)(a)(iii) This Environmental Threshold Decision (ETD) from the DCHA Bureau Environmental Officer (BEO) is to inform that the subject Environmental Assessment (EA) has received Approval with Conditions on TBD (pending final BEO/DCHA clearance) . Summary: On the whole, the EA satisfactorily identified potential environmental and social impacts while proposing effective mitigation measures for this approximately 4,000 hectare irrigation project under the FFP ADRA JENGA FFP-A-11-00006 grant. The BEO commends ADRA and Sun Mountain International (consultant) for preparing this important body of work which provides new GIS topographic mapping information for insecure regions of the Eastern DRC along Lake Tanganyika that are subject to periodic localized conflict outbreaks, including during the fieldwork which necessitated the EA technical team crossing the border due to avoid militant movements. The EA methodology included an analysis of technical criteria (i.e., hydrology, topography, soil, flora, fauna) and public stakeholder consultations (i.e., project beneficiaries, universities, local municipal managers) that considered gender, age, and community structure. The EA provided important input to the project design process for the ADRA’s irrigation program, by refining technical hydrological feasibility considerations as well as the understanding and incorporation of stakeholder demand for rehabilitated irrigation structures. However, the BEO has identified 3 conditions as part of EA approval by USAID. While these conditions are not required prior to BEO/DCHA approval, they must be reported upon in the Environmental Status Report (ESR) for Year 1 of the program. Summary of BEO Conditions (3): Condition 1: A qualified engineer must be hired, or used, to determine detailed dimensions, siting, and directionality of secondary and, as necessary, tertiary canals. Understanding that the conflict environment present in Eastern DRC may create challenges in procuring qualified staff, it should be emphasized the irrigation and drainage component of project implementation should be delayed until qualified experts are hired and/or available. Condition 2: In support of Kahlim Hanna’s (USAID irrigation engineer FSO) recommendation, ensure that a local conflict specialist is consulted in identifying and prioritizing the risks due to social conflict dynamics and regional management structures. Without both sound engineering and localized conflict sensitivity, the irrigation goods and services delivered by this project will be likely to fail. Condition 3: The recommended, but not required, mitigation measures for Consequence 37 must be included as required actions, and part of the EMMP. Mitigation for Consequence 59 must be required if dike rehabilitation is identified as a component of the irrigation scheme. Additionally, with respect for the recent and ongoing outbreaks of conflict in the project area and any potential risk that being associated with this project may cause for local individuals, the names of those who engaged in the public consultations during the EA have been removed from Appendix B from the publically available version of this document. In their stead, the total number of total public consultations and the regions in which they occurred is listed. Detailed Description of BEO Technical Conditions (3): Issue 1: While EA provides comprehensive analysis at the more coarse 1:50,000 scale, effective program design and implementation will require use of additional detailed topographic and hydrologic assessments at finer scales relevant to secondary and, if applicable, tertiary canals by qualified engineer. Discussion: Scarcity of available information for design specifics of the proposed irrigation schemes -at the finer geographic scale- limited the ability of the EA to fully tailor environmental mitigation and monitoring measures to project design. Finer scaled data is required to safely assess upstream and downstream available and utilization of these shared water resources. Without this information at the appropriate scale, which is relevant for farmer beneficiary decision making, the irrigation schemes can not be accurately developed, and would be guesswork, based upon localized knowledge without a systemic understanding of the regional water flow availability. Numerous global examples demonstrate that conflict-affected regions are typically subject to poor social cohesion and limited historical knowledge of complex water provisioning systems such as aqueducts, canals, etc. As described broadly in the EMMP: “The final system design should be prepared by a qualified irrigation and drainage engineer, supported by a topographer, based on hydrographic model, and should include a clear design that defines the extent of irrigated fields, the layout, geometry, size and placement of all levels of canal necessary for a fully functioning system.” As a project site example, the EA’s discussion of the Kibungu project site ( between Uvira and Bukavu cities) alternatives, recommends the following actions for alternatives 6, 7, and 8 related to up- and downstream effects and hydrographic modelling. “A) The engineering design team should evaluate the feasibility [of canal placement] in a catchment further downstream on the Munyovwe, and B) localized catchment volumes and canal capacity should be determined based on hydrographic modeling, to ensure users downstream of the catchment will not be affected. This study should encompass the Munyovwe River basin.” Alternatives 14, 15, and 16 come with the recommendation to “Identify existing uses of the Makindwe and Kabwiba Rivers, and calculate their discharge through hydrographic modeling.” As another project site example, the EA’s discussion