E718 March 1, 2003
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E718 March 1, 2003 REPUBLIC OF AZERBAIJAN STATE AMELIORATION AND IRRIGATION COMMITTEE Public Disclosure Authorized Attached to the Cabinet of Ministers INTERNATIONAL DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION Public Disclosure Authorized IRRIGATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT Public Disclosure Authorized ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING PLAN United Nations Food and Agriculture Organisation FINAL DRAFT March 1, 2003 Public Disclosure Authorized 01/03/03 IRRIGATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING PLAN 1. INTRODUCTION 1.1 Background 1.2 Objective 1.3 World Bank Safeguard Policies 1.4 Methodology 1.5 Consultation Process 2. ENVIRONMENTAL POLICY, LEGAL & INSTITUTIONAL FRAMEWORK 2.1 Policy Context 2.2 Legal/Regulatory Framework for Environmental Management/Assessment 2.3 Institutional Framework for Environmental Management and Assessment 3. KEY NATURAL AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC PARAMETERS OF AZERBAIJAN 3.1 Natural Setting 3.2 Socio-Economic Factors Associated with Water Management and Irrigation 4. ANALYSIS OF BASELINE CONDITIONS 4.1 Description of Project 4.2 Analysis of Project Alternatives 4.3 Description of the Physical/Biological Environment 4.4 Description of Socio-Economic Context 4.5 Description of Stakeholders and Beneficiaries 5. ASSESSMENT OF PRINCIPAL ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL IMPACTS AND PROPOSED PREVENTIVE ACTIONS AND MITIGATION MEASURES 5.1 Anticipated Positive Social and Environmental Impacts 5.2 Anticipated Negative Environmental and Social Impacts 5.3 Global Impacts of Amelioration and Irrigation Sector Policy 6. ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT AND MONITORING PLAN 6.1 Objective of the EMMP 6.2 Environmental Screening and Review of Sub-Projects 6.3 Environmental Monitoring Program 6.4 Environmental Capacity Building and Training Program 6.5 Implementation Arrangements 6.6 Implementation Schedule 6.7 Proposed Budget and Funding Sources for EMMP Implementation 2 01/03/03 IRRIGATION DISTRIBUTION SYSTEM AND MANAGEMENT IMPROVEMENT PROJECT ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT Executive Summary 1. PROJECT DESCRIPTION. At the request of the Government of Azerbaijan, the World Bank is prepanng an Irrigation Distribution System and Management Improvement Project (IDSMIP) to follow the Rehabilitation and Completion of Irrigation and Drainage Infrastructure Project (RIDIP). The IDSMIP would support development of Azerbaijan's water user associations (WUAs) and finance rehabilitation of associated small-scale on-farm imgation and dramage infrastructure. The infrastructure improvements will be made on a demand-driven basis on the farms of WUAs that meet certain eligibility criteria in the project area raions in Azerbaijan (Khachmaz, Aghjabedi, limshli, Sabirabad, Saatli, Zardab, Geranboy) and in the Autonomous Republic of Nakhchivan (Babek, Sharur). Some associated off-farm infrastructure improvements (including the rehabilitation of Bahramtepe headworks) will be made to ensure effective delivery of water to the rehabilitated on-farm systems. 2. ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT (EA). The EA has been prepared for the proposed project in order to ensure that it incorporates sound environmental management principles and practices and complies with World Bank environmental safeguards as well as with Azerbaijani environmental requirements. The EA examines proposed project activities, the environmental policy, legal and institutional framework in Azerbaijan, and the existing situation in the project area to identify the environmental and social impacts of the proposed project, both positive and negative, and specify appropnate preventive actions and mitigation measures to prevent, eliminate or minimise anticipated adverse impacts and to ensure the project's compliance with Azerbaijani legislation. Furthermore, the EA proposes certain institutional 'arrangements, capacity-building and monitoring activities to ensure that the prevention and mntigation measures are implemented. The EA has been prepared by a team of international environmental experts from the UN Food and Agriculture Orgamsation (FAO), working together with the Environmental Specialist of the RIDIP Project Implementation Unit (PIU) and national environmental experts. Main Anticipated Positive Impacts: * Improved Agricultural Productivity. Infrastructure rehabilitation should enhance productivity by both improving irrigation water delivery and bringing fallow lands back into production. Strengthened WUAs should improve water resources/soil fertility management and promote consistent operation and maintenance of irrigation and drainage structures. * Increased Farm Income, Alleviation of Poverty. Assuming improvements in agncultural marketing and agro-industries as well as access to credit and extension services over time, increased agricultural productivity and return to cash crops should lead to increases in farm family incomes, improved employment, and a reduction in rural poverty. * Improvements in Health. Drainage system improvements will reduce the areas of standing water where disease vectors multiply and improved operation and maintenance of these systems should encourage farmers to improve health conditions in the rural areas. * Reduction in Water Losses, Soil Salinity, and Waterlogging. The rehabilitation of imgation and drainage systems would reduce water losses, improve control of groundwater levels, and prevent soil salinisation and waterlogging. * Improved Water Resources Management. By strengthening WUAs, encouraging better water measurement, enhancing imgation service fee collection, and eliminating illegal abstractions, the IDSMIP will promote better control on water use and contribute to more rational water management. Potential Negative Impacts and Recommended Preventive and Mitigation Measures: 29/01/03 Draft • Construction impacts. Mostly on-site, small-scale impacts on access and movement; agricultural activities; and vegetation and wildlife. Bahramtepe headworks rehabilitation may involve additional construction impacts: water and soil pollution; disruption of the hydrological system, imgation water supply and fisheries; damage to the river ecosystem or the surrounding landscape. Recommended measures: environmental, health and safety covenants in the bidding documents of construction contracts; environmental management guidelines for construction contractors; site-specific environmental management plans and related staff training; restrictions on the use of heavy machinery at ecologically sensitive sites. * Management of dredged sediment and concrete debris. Indiscriminate dumping of sediments may cause loss of agricultural land, erosion and resilting of the canals. Contaminated sediments may adversely affect the natural environment and accumulate in crops. Concrete debris and metal scrap, if dumped indiscriminately, would damage landscape and cause pollution. Recommended measures: sediment sampling prior to canal dredging; proper disposal of contaminated matenal; use of non-contaminated sediments for field levelling or as fill matenal; a waste management plan for concrete/metal waste to identify proper reuse and disposal opportunities. * Decreased downstream water quality. Main risks are increased drainage from saline soils and inadequate management of pumping station waste and, in the long-term, increases in agro-chemical use induced, indirectly and gradually, by productivity improvements and return to cash crops that the IDSMIP is expected to bring: over-application by farmers unaware of risks and subsequent water pollution.. Recommended measures: Expose farmers through agricultural extension services to proper irrigation and other agricultural practices, Integrated Pest and Production Management (IPPM), proper agro-chemical application and storage methods, as well as awareness raising on the risks of obsolete/banned chemicals use. Guidance on proper pumping station management to pump operators. * Reduction in downstream river flows: Although the project will not significantly increase irrigation water withdrawals, it will be based on present abstraction levels which, in dry years, may conflict with ecological minimum flows. Recommended measures: Installing river flow measuring equipment at headworks, promotion of water-conserving irrigation techniques, a review of ecological minimum flow requirements to be initiated at the national level. * Impacts on agricultural soils: Topsoil erosion due to inappropriate irrigation methods; canal erosion due to poor design/construction; waterlogging and soil salinisation caused by over- watering and poor subsurface drainage; leaching of nutnents and reduction in soil fertility caused by irrigation return flows. Recommended measures: level land and field drainage; reline canals susceptible to erosion and rehabilitate associated hydraulic structures; remove unauthorised connections to canals/drains; improve water distribution, management and irrigation practices; clear field drainage before each irrigation season; and introduce crop rotation cycles. Sub-surface water level and quality monitoring. * Reduction of water levels in sensitive wetlands. Project sites located close to sensitive wetland habitats (Lakes Ag-gel, Boz-Gobu, Mehman and Sansu) might adversely affect the wetland ecosystems if they reduce the amount of water flowing or draining into them. Recommended measures: continue the RIDIP ecological wetland monitoring program; phase IDSMIP activities so that infrastructure on WUAs adjacent to sensitive wetlands