Report No. PID7971

Project Name Benin-Program for the Management of Forests... and Adjacent Lands (Programme de Gestion des Forets et Terroirs PGFT)

Region Africa

Sector Forestry Public Disclosure Authorized Project ID BJPE65010

Borrower Government of Benin

Implementing Agency Ministry of Rural Development Directorate of Forests and Natural Resources (DFRN) Contact persons: Mr. Theophile Kapko, Project Coordinator Ministry of Rural Development 06 BP 884 Cotonou Tel.: (229) 33-29-21;

Public Disclosure Authorized Fax: (229) 33-04-21

Date Prepared Under preparation

Project Appraisal Date January 2000

Project Board Date July 2000

Country and Sector Background

1. Benin has a population of 6.0 million and covers an area of 112,622 sq. km. It is a long, narrow country, stretching from the Sahelian north to the Atlantic Ocean in the south. The north is dry and arid, whereas the south supports lush tropical vegetation. Poverty in Benin is widespread. GNP per Public Disclosure Authorized capita in 1998 was estimated at US$385 which is considerably below the Sub- Saharan Africa average of US$500. However, improved management and political stability has enabled Benin to maintain a 5 percent annual economic growth rate since 1991.

2. The CFA franc devaluation in 1994 restored competitiveness in regional and international markets and allowed higher CFA franc prices to be offered to producers. The economy of Benin is dependent on production of cotton, maize, yams, cassava, rice, fruits and beans. Cotton accounts for some 80 percent of exports (excluding re-exports). Recent years have seen an increase in exports of cotton and services related to transit trade. Because of relatively sound economic management since the early 1990s, Benin has good economic growth prospects. Recent years have seen an increase in exports, a decrease in the fiscal deficit, and controlled inflation. Public Disclosure Authorized 3. Population pressure is closely associated with environmental degradation, and with poverty. The North of Benin is sparsely populated with 12-15 persons per Km2 and the nature of the soil and climate do not allow intensive cultivation. The South of Benin, in contrast, is more densely populated with 150 persons per Km2 and cultivatable land per person does not exceed 1 ha. Some form of tree cover is found on about 65t of Benin's territory, although most of this vegetation is greatly degraded. Only some 200,000 ha are still covered with species of economic value, while the bulk of the cover (60w of the country) consists of the most open stands, namely woodland and bush savannah. About 2.6 million ha (19t of Benin's land area) are officially classified as gazetted forests (1.3 million ha), national parks (750,000 ha), hunting zones (580,000 ha) and reforestation area (4,000 ha).

4. The Environmental Action Plan (1993) of the government estimates the economic cost of environmental degradation in the country to be between 3 and 5 per cent of GDP. This suggests that the benefits of economic growth could be offset by environmental costs. Some of the major causes of degradation of forests are:

(i) Farming encroachment on the forests. In the coastal area of the South, the original forests have already been destroyed and replaced by grassed fallow through expansion of cultivation zones and poor pastures in the cultivable zones and poor pastures in the uncultivable and overgrazed areas. Further north, farmers nibble away an estimated 100,000 ha of forest cover every year (including part of the classified forests). At this rate the forests will have disappeared within about 30 years. (ii) Brush fires. The causes of this are mainly of human origin and related to the shifting slash and burn cultivation which is still the predominant form of agriculture in Benin. In addition, brush fires are also started for hunting and pasture renewal. The damage done comprises of destruction of plant cover, erosion and water losses. (iii) Firewood and charcoal production. Firewood is lacking in the South, and a large proportion of energy wood is today hauled for distances of well over 100 Km in increasingly dry areas, involving the risk of aggravating the process of desertification. Classical ring deforestation is observable around cities all over the country. (iv) Animal husbandry practices. In order to meet their animal fodder needs, especially during the dry season, herders resort to setting fires, lopping branches, pollarding and even felling trees, particularly in the Center and North.

Project Objectives

5. This proposed project is designed to build upon and deepen the promising experiences of the Natural Resources Management Project (Projet de Gestion des Resources Naturelles - PGRN) which closes in June 1999. The PGRN tested a number of inter-related pilot activities consisting of community- based management of watersheds, wildlife reserves and gazetted forests. The government have asked the World Bank to assist them to scale-up the community-based forest management component of the PGRN.

6. This project aims to sustainably diversify sources of income from forests and adjacent lands through project interventions designed to: (i) reform the institutional configuration of the forestry administration; (ii) support community-based management of forest resources; (iii) stimulate private investment in sustainable forest-based enterprises; and, (iv) improve the efficiency of agricultural production on land that has already been encroached.

These sectoral issues are closely inter-linked. The forestry administration

- 2 - needs to be reorganized and reformed in order to effectively implement the reformulated forestry policy, laws and regulations that provide the framework for community-based forest management. Community-based forest management would both increase the economic returns realized by rural residents and provide for direct involvement of stakeholders with most to gain (or lose) in terms of environmental benefits from improved management. Private capital investment in forest enterprises (by forest inhabitants and external private companies) will only be possible if rights over forest products are adequately guaranteed by the forest law, the administration, and decentralized institutions. Most forest households in Benin continue to derive their primary source of income from agriculture. Unless existing agricultural practices are improved and farming systems intensified, as population density increases, there will be a strong incentive to encroach further into forests and adjacent lands. The project will seek to curtail the incentive to further encroach by improving agricultural productivity and also broadening sources of income by promoting forest-based enterprises.

Project description

7. The project will have the following components: (i) Strengthen the institutional and technical capacity of the forest administration. A key component of the new program will be a reorganization of the forest administration to enable the effective and efficient implementation of the existing forestry policy including the enforcement of the forestry law of 1993 and its implementing regulations. An institutional audit of the forest administration will be conducted during preparation. This will include a review of the relative roles and responsibilities of the Forest Guards and Community Associations; the role of the Regional Rural Development Agencies (CARDER's) in community organization and forest management; existing structure of the DFRN including entities such as the "Cantonnements Forestier"; staffing levels; humans resource capacity of communities and forest staff including training and equipment requirements. This component may also include some minor reviews and amendments of the regulatory aspects of forest policies and laws. (ii) Facilitate sustainable community-based utilization of forest and other renewable natural resources. Seven gazetted forests will be targeted for capital investments: Tchaourou Toui-Kilibo; Oueme Superieur et N'Dali; Dogo Ketou; Dan-Atcherigbe; Oueme-Boukou; Dassa-Logozohe-Savalou. In these forests, NGOs will be used to conduct participatory micro-level planning exercises with local populations to develop management plans. Communities will establish forest associations, identify, prioritize, co-finance, implement, operate and maintain sustainable forest-based enterprises. (iii) Establish concrete fiscal and administrative relationships between Forest Community Associations and decentralized local government entities and other deconcentrated units of forest administration. The new program will develop transparent and accountable mechanisms to enable greater decentralization of fiscal and executive responsibilities to these community institutions. This will reduce the potential for rent-seeking while strengthening the autonomy and managerial capacity of the community institutions. (iv) Establish a sustainable mechanism for community-driven information sharing, awareness-raising and communication. This component will complement the decentralization process of the program. A radio communication strategy will be established for non-literate forest users. Stakeholders will determine the subject matter of communication materials and assist in their

- 3 - production. The radio programs will be used for mass dissemination of information related to sustainable forest use, environmental management and other aspects as identified by stakeholders.

Project financing

8. Total project costs are estimated at about US$21 million. Potential co- financiers are the International Development Association (IDA), the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and the Government of Netherlands.

Project implementation

9. The project would be implemented over a period of 5 years (2000 to 2004). Given that a large part of this project is concerned with the institutional reorganizing of the forestry administration, implementation responsibility would rest squarely with the Directorate of Forests and Natural Resources (DFRN) which falls under the Ministry of Rural Development. There will not be a separate project implementation unit as was the case under PGRN. Instead, the DFRN would be responsible for: developing work plans, budget planning, issuing contracts, coordination between other institutions, and monitoring and evaluation of project activities. DFRN would establish and maintain communication with the Ministry of Rural Development and the Regional Rural Development Agencies (CARDERs). It will also be responsible for ensuring that other donor and government supported projects are in compliance with the reorganized forest administration and that activities are coordinated.

10. At the provincial level, the project would work in collaboration with extension agents and animators from NGOs, private enterprises, and the CARDERS. Intermediary NGOs will be contracted to facilitate micro-level participatory exercises with local communities to develop local management plans and establish Forest Community Associations for the collective implementation of those plans. In addition, NGOs and training institutes will be contracted to train and develop the capacity of local communities, forestry administration staff, and also those staff of the CARDERs who will also be working with forest inhabitants.

Project sustainability

11. Given that the project is seeking to promote participatory and community-based management of forest resources, the sustainability of project activities is of primary concern at the micro-project level. Community groups that are formed through a participatory process will be required to sustainably manage forest resources according to national environmental criteria. In addition, each micro-project that is managed by a Forest Community Association will be required to be financially self-sustaining in order to provide the required incentives for continued collective management by the communities. At the national level, the long term sustainability of the forestry institutions will be the responsibility of government. They will be required to allocate credible budgetary support to the forest administration during implementation of this project and also after it is completed.

Lessons learned from past operations in the country/sector

- 4 - 12. The four most important lessons to be drawn from past sector-wide and project-specific experiences are: (i) the need to have clear and supportive national policies; (ii) the need to change the role of public institutions and to greatly increase the participation of local communities, local professional organizations, NGOs, and local consultants; (iii) the importance of decentralizing control and authority over all resources (natural, forest and financial) to local communities; (iv) the importance of ensuring that sufficient incentives (e.g. matching-grants and long-term lease arrangements over forest resources) are provided to encourage adoption of sustainable micro-level enterprises; (v) the importance of ensuring that participating populations obtain tangible benefits directly, and obviously, linked to project activities; and, (vi) the importance of empowering local populations through the regular provision of information, education and communication about forest policies, institutional arrangements, and sharing of actual experiences of communities involved in participatory forest management.

Poverty category

13. This is a program of targeted interventions. Based upon the 1994 Poverty Alleviation Strategy, the majority of the poor live in rural areas. Populations dependent upon forest resources for their livelihoods also tend to be amongst the most vulnerable. This project will use participatory micro- level planning techniques which will allow the poor to self-target themselves and participate in the program. Specific participatory mechanisms will be employed to ensure that extremely vulnerable groups such as women-headed households and immigrants are not excluded form the decision-making processes.

Environmental aspects

14. The project is provisionally accorded an environmental category B rating because of the limited amount of physical works involved. This is based upon the experiences of pilot activities under PGRN, where no major environmental issues emerged. There will not be any population displacement and no introduction of exotic species into the forests. Nevertheless, in order to ensure that the environmental impact of the approach is indeed positive, a project-specific Environmental Analysis will be conducted prior to appraisal. The EA will ensure that OD 4.04 on Natural Habitats is fully complied with. Furthermore, the EA will also establish environmental safeguard measures to avoid negative environmental impacts of infrastructure works (large or small) that may be identified by forest communities during the participatory planning process.

15. The project will result in environmental benefits at multiple levels - from local to global. At the level of the forest, there will be decreases in soil erosion and associated loss in fertility. There will also be benefits in terms of increased opportunities for economic exploitation of non-timber forest products as a result of maintaining the biodiversity of forests. At a regional level, the sustainable management of forests will result in reduced soil erosion and therefore reduced downstream sedimentation which would otherwise negatively impact agricultural production and general water availability in rivers and wells for urban and rural populations. At the global level, the project will have important benefits because of the ability of forests to sequester carbon and its mitigating effects on climate change. Finally, through sustainable forest management, the project will ensure that

- 5 - Benin has a future importance because of the biological diversity of its forests.

Program Objective Categories

16. The project would contribute to the following Program Objective Categories: (i) improve environmental protection; (ii) poverty alleviation; (iii) capacity building (forest dependent communities, forestry administration, and NGOs).

Contact Points:

The Infoshop The World Bank 1818 H Street, N.W. Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone No. (202) 458 5454 Fax No. (202) 522 1500

Giuseppe Topa Task Manager (202) 473-4532 Processed by the InfoShop week ending July 23, 1999.

Note: This is information on an evolving project. Certain components may not be necessarily included in the final project.

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