Romania Forestry Development Program
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FINAL REPORT E493 Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests, Public Disclosure Authorized Romania Forestry Development Program: Environmental Assessmentfor Project Preparation October 2001 Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized Environmental Resources Management 8 Cavendish Square, London WlM OER Telephone 020 7465 7200 Facsimile 020 7465 7272 Public Disclosure Authorized Email post(ermuk.com http://www.ermuk.com K, FILECOPY ERM FINAL REPORT Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests Forestry Development Program: Environmental Assessmentfor Project Preparaton October 2001 Reference 7866 For and on behalf of Environmental Resources Management Approved by: P IC kIM/14if4I Signed: (J4- Position: ______ ___ Date: I ° Thisreport has been prepared by Environmental Resources Managementthetrading name of Environmental Resources ManagementLimited, with all reasonableskill, care and diligence withinthe terms of the Contract with the client, incorporating our GeneralTerms and Conditions of Business and taking account of the resourcesdevoted to it by agreementwith the client. Wedisclaim any responsibility to the client and others in respectof anymatters outside the scope of theabove. Thisreport is confidentialto the client and we accept no responsibility ofwhatsoever nature to third parties to whomthis report, or anypart thereof,is madeknown. Any such party relies on the report at their ownrisk. Inline with our company environmental policy we purchase paper for ourdocuments only from ISO 14001 certified or EMASverified manufacturers.This includes paper with the Nordic Environmental Label. LIST OF ACRONYMS AAC Annual Allowable Cut APPR Association of Private Forest Owners DoF Department of Forests DSPL Directorate for Strategy, Policy and Legislation, Dept. of Forests EA Environmental Assessment (equivalent to EIA) EIA Environmental Impact Assessment (equivalent to EA) EMP Environmental Management Plan EU European Union ERM Environmental Resources Management (consultancy) FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FDP World Bank Forestry Development Program for Romania Fl Forestry Inspectorate FMIMS Forest Management Information and Monitoring System FMP Forest Management Plan(s) FORTECH FORTECH - FDP project preparation consultancy FSC Forest Stewardship Council GDF General Directorate of Forests GEF Global Environment Facility GIS Geographic InformnationSystem GM General Manager GOR Goverrunent of Romania HRD Human Resource Development IC Institutional Change I+C Indicators and Critera for Sustainable Forest Management ICAS Forest Management and Research Institute (Institutul de Cercetari si Amenajari Silvice) INL Wood Institute (Institutu National al Leminuliu) IT Information Technology MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests MIS Management Information System Mol Ministry for Industry MWEP Ministry of Waters and Environmental Protection MWFEP Ministry of Waters, Forests and Environmental Protection (now the MWEP) NFA National Forest Administration NFPS National Forest Policy and Strategy (process) PM Project Management Group Ltd. (consultancy) SAPARD Special Accession Programme for Rural Development SFM Sustainable Forest Management TOR Terms of Reference WB World Bank 1 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY 1.1 IrTRODUCTIONAND BACKGROUND This report,commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Foodand Forests(MAFF) in Romania,presents an EnvironmentalAssessment (EA) of the World Bank- financed Forest DevelopmentProjectfor the country. It has been preparedby Environmental ResourcesManagement (ERM) with valuablecontributionsfrom Intergroup Engineeringof Romania. Romania'sforests are internationallyimportant in terms of their biologicaldiversity and constitute an extremely valuable resourcefor the country being amongst the most productiveforests in Europe.To maintain this important asset, Romania has developedworld class technicalcompetence in forest mnnagement;howvever, the transition from a centrally planned to afree marketeconomy presents substantial risks which must be well managedin order to avoid potential irreversiblelosses. The Government of Romania (GoR) has requestedthe assistanceof the World Bank in preparingand financing a national Forestry DevelopmentProject (FDP) to be implementedby MAFF over a six-year period.The project's objectiveis "to maintain and improveenvironmentally sustainablemanagement of state and privateforests so as to increasethe contribution to the nationaland rural economiesthat is derived from Romanianforest resources"(Romanian FDP ProjecfAppraisal Document, World Bank 2001). The projecthas been developedprimarily to manage and mitigate potential risks and enhancebeneficial effects relatedto reintigorating the forestny sector in Romania. One of the jeyareas of potential risk identifiedearly in the projectdevelopment processwas the Governmentof Romania's ongoingprogram of restitution of state land to former owners. Under this program,wvhich has yet to befully implemented,a significant portion of the state managedforest lands will be returned to theformer owners. Early experiencewithforest land restitution in Romania has illustrated the potentialfor unsustainableexploitation offorest resourcesand resultant environmental damage.Hence, a key aspectof the FDP is to strengthen public and private sector capacityto manageand mitigate potential adverseimpacts and to enhancepositive effectsassociated wvith both private and public sectorexploitation of forest resources.The programis also anticipatedto attract a considerabledegree of public interest in theforest sector in Romania.Hence, the World Bank screening procedureshave classifiedthis projectas an environmental CategoryA project. 1.2 SCOPEOF EA As a CategoryA project, the Terms of Reference(TOR) for this EA study requireda comprehensiveevaluation of the impacts and environmental costs associatedwith the project. This EA assessedthe environmentalimplications of the activities proposed under the FDP and providedrecommendations to minimize any potential negative effectsand to optimize positiveoutcomes. This was achievedthrough thefollowing tasks: ENVIRONMENTALRESOURCES MANAGEMENT MINISTRYOF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND FORESTS 1 1. Examinationof the status, trends and institutional capacityforforest managementin Romania together with the key issues andfindings of the National ForestPolicy and Strategy (NFPS); 2. Closeinteraction with MAFF and consultants preparing the overalZprogram; 3. Assessment of the environmental impactsof the proposedFDP activities and proposalof mitigation measureswhich can be incorporatedinto the design of the FDP; 4. Public disclosureand consultationwith relevantstakeholders; and 5. Preparationof a draft andfinal EA report including an Environmental Management Plan (EMP). 1.3 METHODOLOGY To meet the objectivesof the study ERM staff visited Ronania in May and June 2001 and undertook thefollowing activities: * Scopingof the EA, which included extensive liaison with MAFF, FORTECH (the consultants preparing the FDP) and the government agenciesresponsible for forest road design (Institutul National al Lemnuliu - INL) andforest managementplanning and operations(NFA) of severalroads to be included in the FDP; • Developmentof an environmental screeningsystem forforest roads,which was applied to the 91 forest roads to be constructedor rehabilitatedunder the FDP; • Selectionof two forest roadsin conjunction with INL, for which project-specific EAs werecarried out by Romanian EA team members;and - Consolidationand analysisof data to prepare the draft EA document, involving further extensive consultation with key stakeholdersand the FDP social assessment and public awarenessconsultants. 1.4 SUMMARY OFFINDINGS AND RECOMMENDATIONS Basedon the reviews carriedout during EA preparation,it is clear that the FDP will have largelypositive and beneficialimpacts. Thereare however,aspects of the project that could have negative and environmentaland socialconsequences if the mitigation measuresincorporated in the projectare not properly implemented. The main component of concernwould be ForestRoading which involves new construction and rehabilitationofforest roads. The projectincorporates measures for sustainable managementof this component,the chiefbeing the developmentofforest roadsBest PracticeManual for the design, construction and maintenanceofforest roadsas well as the a supervisory role in the projectimplementation unit. In addition, the possibilityexists that the reinvigorationof the timber industry could result in incidencesof poorly managedharvests with resultant adverseenvironmental consequencesif the institutional capacitymeasures and public private partnership building exercisesare not successfullyimplemented. This risk will likely be greatest in the caseof newly restitutedforest lands. This sectiondraws together thefindings of the EA and provides a summary of the institutional and policy enabling recommendations,and recommendationsfor the environmental managementof the FDP'sforest roading component. ENvIRoNMENTrAL REsouRcEs MANAGEMENT MINISTRY OF AGECULTURE, FOODAND FORESTS 2 1.41 Involvement of the Public and the Private BusinessSector Publicinvolvement and supportof the FDPis criticalfor the successof the project. Consultationswere carried out withforest sector stakeholders and publicand private businessinterests during conception and preparation of the FDP,as illustratedin the Tablebelow. The consultations suggest there is somedegree of publicfrustration regardingthe fiuture restitution of existingForest Fund lands. The majorissue of concernis