50159-001: Protecting and Investing in Natural Capital in Asia and The
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Technical Assistance Consultant’s Report Project Number: 50159-001 October 2019 Technical Assistance Number: 9461 Regional: Protecting and Investing in Natural Capital in Asia and the Pacific (Cofinanced by the Climate Change Fund and the Global Environment Facility) Prepared by: Lorenzo V. Cordova, Jr. MA and Prof. Pastor L. Malabrigo, Jr. PRO-SEEDS DEVELOPMENT ASSOCIATION, INC. Los Banos, Laguna, Philippines Asian Development Bank is the executing and implementing agency. This consultant’s report does not necessarily reflect the views of ADB or the Government concerned, and ADB and the Government cannot be held liable for its contents. (For project preparatory technical assistance: All the views expressed herein may not be incorporated into the proposed project’s design. Nature-Based Solutions for New Clark City ASSESSMENT OF DESIGN STANDARD AND GUIDELINES, AND SCOPING RESULTS OF PROPOSED SUSTAINABILITY MANAGEMENT UNIT Lorenzo V. Cordova, Jr. EnP Prof. Pastor L. Malabrigo, Jr. October 2019 A report submitted to: Asian Development Bank 1 Table of Contents I. Background and Introduction ............................................................................................................. 4 II. Overview of Activities and Framework ............................................................................................. 5 III. Assessment of Chapter 8 of New Clark City Phase 1 Design Standards and Guidelines ..... 7 3.1. Landscape beauty in harmony with nature .................................................................................... 7 The use of native (locally growing) trees in the city landscaping ........................................... 7 Inclusion of or close coordination with botanist/ ecologist ..................................................... 8 Adoption of a standard framework to assess NCC’s environmental performance over time ................................................................................................................................................................ 9 3.2. Biodiversity as a key strategy to meet the objectives of a “Green Centric City” ................ 9 3.3. Biodiversity can help meet other goals of New Clark City ......................................................... 9 IV. Towards Establishing a Sustainability Management Unit ......................................................... 11 4.1. Sustainability in the Context of BCDA ............................................................................................. 12 4.2. Nature of Sustainability Management Unit .................................................................................. 13 SMU within BCDA Head Office ........................................................................................................... 13 SMU for New Clark City ......................................................................................................................... 13 4.3. Strategy to Mainstream Sustainability Principles ....................................................................... 14 4.4. Capacity Building for SMU ................................................................................................................... 15 V. Moving Forward: Initial Ideas for Pilot Nature-based Solutions ............................................. 16 5.1. Creating identity for NCC ..................................................................................................................... 16 5.2. Creating partnership models to ensure supply of native and indigenous species ........ 17 5.3. Establishing High Conservation Value Areas (HCVA). ............................................................... 17 VI. Immediate Next Steps ......................................................................................................................... 18 Annex 1. General guide questions for Key Informant Interview and Focus Group Discussions19 Annex 2. List of native trees naturally occurring in NCC area (Priority 1 for planting) ................ 22 Annex 3. List of native trees naturally occurring in Tarlac and/or Pampanga (Priority 2 for planting) ......................................................................................................................................... 27 Annex 4. List of proposed shrubs, herbaceous and ground cover species intended for planting inside the NCC and the suggested alternative native species. ....................................... 31 Annex 5. List of invasive alien species that should be banned for planting inside NCC. ............ 34 Annex 6. Commonly used food plants by the Aeta Communities in Porac, Pampanga .............. 40 Annex 7. Commonly used medicinal plants by the Aeta Communities in Porac, Pampanga .. 43 2 List of Tables Table 1. Number of flora and fauna species in NCC. ............................................................................................. 8 Table 2. Approved staffing pattern of Estate Management Division. .......................................................... 14 Table 3. Seven lamps of planning for biodiversity in the city. ......................................................................... 16 List of Figures Figure 1. List of proposed nature-based solutions based on the findings of biodiversity assessment. .................................................................................................................................................................................................. 4 Figure 2. Process of implementing the project. ..................................................................................................... 6 Figure 3. Expected output as per Terms of Reference. ........................................................................................ 6 Figure 4. Biodiversity vis-à-vis its link to meet the goal and objectives of New Clark City. .................. 10 Figure 5. Focus topics of KII and FGD with key BCDA officials ........................................................................ 11 Figure 6. Map showing the locations of Important Biodiversity Areas in NCC. ........................................ 18 3 I. Background and Introduction The New Clark City (NCC) is envisioned to be the country’s premier development that will promote a model of sustainable development. Design features of a smart, green, and disaster resilient city were incorporated in its master plan. To help realize the vision of NCC, the Asian Development Bank (through its Environment Thematic Group) supported the conduct of full biodiversity assessment in NCC in April 2019. The study aimed to generate new scientific information to enable NCC build its foundation in developing nature-based solutions. The biodiversity study was implemented in different sites within NCC that met the minimum prerequisite for conducting field surveys and assessment of various ecosystems. The study also utilized the application of Geographic Information System (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS) to analyze the interface of biodiversity vis-à-vis phases of urban development including pressures, and potential environmental challenges. The study provided a checklist of surprisingly rich biodiversity in the area and recommendations to BCDA for the enhancement of NCC’s Masterplan, development and implementation of NCC’s integrated sustainability plan, and biodiversity management programs. Moreover, the information generated by the assessment should serve as reference for locators in their site development plan, and management of landscapes for the parcels, among others. More importantly, the findings from the biodiversity study also puts forward possible nature-based solutions, strategies, and measures to conserve and enhance state of ecosystem, and habitats. As the country’s premier new growth area and a key stakeholder in Cutcut and O’Donnel Watersheds, NCC should be able to prioritize these to address the alarming rate of decline in land and vegetation cover, and anticipated increase in built-up areas. The recommended nature-based solutions are provided in the figure below. Source: ADB and ProSeeds (2019) Figure 1. List of proposed nature-based solutions based on the findings of biodiversity assessment. 4 It was concluded that the determination of appropriate nature-based solutions to address the pressures should be anchored in planning and governance framework across different levels – project-level, inter-LGU, and watershed. The nature-based solutions may be implemented to complement existing/ on-going development in NCC, to mitigate risks, and/or for consideration in future interventions. Previous meetings between ADB, BCDA and its contractors surfaced some issues and concerns that needs to be addressed to enable NCC successfully implement nature-based solutions. These are: • Challenges to implement the establishment of biodiversity important areas given the on-going development such as golf courses etc; • The need to prioritize locally growing native trees in landscape activities and incorporate a list of appropriate trees for planting in the SDG of NCC; • There is possibility that the designs of buildings and other infrastructures are not friendly to biodiversity; • Since biodiversity is a highly specialized field, further assistance may be needed to revisit and enhance existing operational and design guidelines of NCC to incorporate biodiversity principles; • The need for close coordination with current contractors/ sub-contractors to implement recommended mitigation measures that will