RESILIENT KERALA Program for Results [Pforr]
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RESILIENT KERALA Program for Results [PforR] Public Disclosure Authorized Final Environmental and Social Systems Assessment [ESSA] Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized 15 March 2021 Public Disclosure Authorized India RESILIENT KERALA Program for Results [PforR] Environmental and Social Systems Assessment [ESSA] Part A: Final ESSA Summary Report 15 March 2021 India List of abbreviations and acronyms AEU Agroecological Units AEZ Agroecological Zones BMW Bio-Medical Waste BOD Biological Oxygen Demand CAPEX Capital Expenditure CC Climate Change COD Chemical Oxygen Demand CPCB Central Pollution Control Board CPF Country Partnership Framework CRN Core Road Network CSO Civil Society Organization DCAT Disaster and Climate Action Tracking DDMA District Disaster Management Authority DEA Department of Economic Affairs, Ministry of Finance, GoI DLI Disbursement-Linked Indicator DPO/L Development Policy Operation / Lending DoA Department of Agriculture, Government of Kerala DoE Department of Environment, Government of Kerala DoF Department of Finance, Government of Kerala DoECC Directorate of Environment and Climate Change DoR Department of Revenue, Government of Kerala DRF Disaster Risk Financing DRM Disaster Risk Management DRR Disaster Risk Reduction E & S Environmental & Social EHS Environmental, Health & Safety EIA Environmental Impact Assessment ESHS Environmental, Social, Health and Safety ESIA Environmental and Social Impact Assessment ESMP Environmental and Social Management Plan ESSA Environmental and Social Systems Assessment FGD Focus Group Discussion FPO Farmer Producer Organizations GHG Green House Gas GIS Geographic Information Systems G(R)M Grievance Redressal Mechanism GoK Government of Kerala GoI Government of India GP Gram Panchayat GSDP Gross State Domestic Product IDSP Integrated Disease Surveillance Program IEC Information, Education and Communication IT Information Technology JJM Jal Jeevan Mission Page | 2 KII Key Informant Interviews KILA Kerala Institute of Local Administration KSDMA Kerala State Disaster Management Authority LG Local Government LSGD Local Self Government Department LSGI Local Self Government Institutions (Gram Panchayat or Municipality or Corporation) M & E Monitoring & Evaluation MoEFCC Ministry of Environment, Forests and Climate Change MoHUA Ministry of Housing & Urban Affairs O & M Operations & Maintenance OH One Health OPBRC Output and Performance-Based Road Contracts OPEX OPerational EXpenditure PDO Program Development Objective PDNA Post Disaster Needs Assessment PforR Program for Results PHLs Public Health Laboratories PMSS Project Management Support Services PMT Project Management Team PMU Project Management Unit PWD Public Works Department RA Results Area RM(A)MS Road Maintenance (Asset) Management Systems RBCMA River Basin Conservation and Management Authority RF Results Framework RKDP Rebuild Kerala Development Programme RKI Rebuild Kerala Initiative RoW Right of Way RTI Right To Information SDRF State Disaster Risk Financing SEIAA State Environmental Impact Assessment Authority SOP Standard Operating Procedures SPCB State Pollution Control Board TCP Town and Country Planning ULB Urban Local Body WB World Bank WRD Water Resource Department WRM Water Resource Management Page | 3 I. Background 1. State of Kerala is highly vulnerable to natural disasters such as cyclone, monsoon storm surge, coastal erosion, sea level rise, tsunami, flood, drought, landslides/ land subsidence and earthquakes and changing climatic dynamics given its location between the western coast and steep slopes of the Western Ghats. In last 3 years the state has seen several such adverse events one after the other, starting with Cyclone Ockhi in 2017, floods and landslides in 2018, 2019 and 2020, Nipah virus in 2019 and present COVID-19 pandemic. The 2018 floods led to widespread loss of life, property, and habitats, affecting several millions and leading to economic losses of nearly US$3.74 billion (Rs. 26,720 crores). These events and their impacts highlighted the level of under-preparedness of the State to deal with these natural disasters and climate change shocks. 2. In order to support Government of Kerala (GoK), World Bank initiated a strategic engagement to build multidimensional resilience in Kerala through First Resilient Kerala Development Policy Operation (DPO 1, US$250 million- June 2019) by extending support to Rebuild Kerala Development Programme (RKDP) — the state’s strategic roadmap for recovery, rebuilding and resilience. It supported key policy and institutional reforms for a) improved irrigation- agriculture nexus, b) engendering river basin management, c) shifting to sustainable and climate-resilient agriculture, d) risk-informed land use planning and updating disaster management plans, e) apart from fiscal reforms to ensure greater investments for preparedness and rehabilitation. Under this DPO, a dedicated institution - the Rebuild Kerala Initiative (RKI) - was set up to coordinate, manage and monitor the roll out of RKDP and DPO 1 across various government departments and agencies. As part of the DPO, GoK has already initiated reforms laid out in the Rebuild Kerala Development Program (RKDP) such as local disaster risk mapping, performance-based road contracting, shifting agricultural and river basin management practices to align with agroecological conditions and introducing risk- informed master planning for cities and towns. 3. This partnership has improved state’s capacity to respond to disasters and improved resilience of the community and treat resilience and disaster risk management as cross-cutting and important concerns in policy formulation and implementation. It has also led the way towards deepening and broad-basing this partnership by looking at additional sectors crucial for building resilience of the state and citizens to shocks of climate change, natural disasters and disease outbreaks. This PforR is part of a series of engagements between Government of Kerala and the World Bank that started after the 2018 floods. II. Program Description 4. The Resilient Kerala PforR builds on the foundations of policy and institutional reforms initiated under Resilient Kerala DPO 1. The new PforR aims at two key Results Areas (RAs): (1) building institutional capacities and systems for managing shocks from climate change, natural disasters and disease outbreaks; and (2) demonstrating integrated approaches to multidimensional resilience at the local level. The former aims at working to strengthen the state-level institutions and systems for greater resilience, the latter aims at addressing the underlying drivers of floods and landslides by building state capacities and simultaneously working on integrated water resources and reservoir management; improved land use planning and management; and ecologically sound agriculture practices. 5. The Program Development Objective ‘is to enhance the State of Kerala’s resilience against the impacts of climate change, natural disasters and disease outbreaks.’ The Program will support the two Results Areas (RAs) that contribute to the outcomes of RKDP - first through support for state-wide systems and institutions development, and second for piloting sectoral investments in four districts along the Pamba river basin- Alappuzha, Idukki, Kottayam, and Pathanamthitta. Page | 4 RA 1: Strengthening transversal systems for resilience 6. Building on RKDP and the policy and institutional reforms achieved through RKP DPO 1 and 2 prior actions, this RA aims to enhance the sustainability of GoK’s fiscal and debt management framework to cope with large scale exogenous shocks, and institutionalize climate and disaster risk-informed urban and disaster risk planning at the State level for enhanced preparedness and response. Objective 1.1: Enhancing the sustainability of the GOK’s public finances to cope with exogenous shocks 7. The Program aims at strengthening public debt management capacity and fiscal sustainability of the GoK to manage its contingent liability to natural disasters and disease outbreaks, and to ensure that these events do not negatively impact the debt profile and budget objectives for the State’s sustainable development. This will be complemented by parallel Technical Assistance (TA) and capacity building support to enhance revenues, and to improve expenditure efficiency and performance orientation in select spending departments. 8. The Program will support the development and implementation of a comprehensive state disaster risk financing & insurance plan and social protection system. This will enable the GoK to identify and develop potential public and private sources (e.g. bonds, (re)insurance) of disaster risk financing to safeguard the state finances, provide transparent and timely assistance to the vulnerable households, and to protect the economy and livelihoods against natural disasters and pandemics. The system provides cost-benefit trade-offs to investments in climate and disaster risk reduction, risk retention, and risk transfer and ensures that the GoK is financially prepared to enact effective preparation, response and reconstruction actions. Relief payments made to fisherfolk families will be made to the bank accounts of female head of the family, which is expected to empower women further and ensure better usage of funds. Objective 1.2: Mainstreaming climate and disaster risk informed development and investment planning 9. This Program intends to establish norms, systems and capacities for risk-informed master