SIGNATURE PAGE Upon request from the Government of Angola, represented by the Ministry of Culture, Tourism and Environment (MCTA); the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) will provide technical assistance for the project entitled: “Integrated landscape management to reduce land degradation and enhance community resilience in Angola’s Miombo-Mopane dry forests.” Upon signature of this project document by the duly authorized representatives of both parties, the project will be implemented in accordance with the background, rationale and management arrangements described herein. On behalf of the Government: On behalf of: The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations Name: Name: Title: Title: Date: Date: 1 COVER PAGE: FAO-GEF PROJECT DOCUMENT Project Title: Integrated landscape management to reduce land degradation and enhance community resilience in Angola’s Miombo-Mopane dry forests. GEF ID: 10256 FAO Entity Number 657340 FAO Project Symbol: GEF/ANG/060/GFF Country(ies): Angola EOD (Implementation start): 01-May-2021 NTE (Implementation end): 30-Apr-2026 Environmental and low risk moderate risk [X] high risk Social Risk Classification: Gender Marker: G0 G1 G2a [X] G2b Contribution to FAO Strategic Objective (SO) /Organizational Outcome: FAO’s Strategic SO #2: Make agriculture, forestry and fisheries more productive and sustainable. Framework: Org. Outcome 2.1: Countries adopted practices to increase productivity sustainably while addressing climate change and environmental degradation in agriculture, forestry and fisheries. Country Outcome(s) UNDAF: Angola’s UNDAF 2020-2022, under preparation, Pilar #3, as currently defined) Environmental services and resilience for the most vulnerable population. Linking up to: Angola’s National Development Plan's (PND) Axes 1, 2, 5 and 6; and to SDGs 1, 2, 3, 6, 7, 8, 9, 11, 12, 13, 14, 15 and 17. Country Programming Framework(s) Output(s): Priority 3: Improving sustainable and coordinated management of natural resources and building the resilience of small producers to best adapt to the impacts of climate change. Outputs 3.1, 3.2, 3.3, 3.4, 3.5. Regional Initiative(s) /Priority Area: • SADC’s Initiative: Great Green Wall of Southern Africa, with focus on Miombo ecosystems • GEF’s Global Impact Program, with FAO in the lead: Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes: ‘to avoid, reduce, and reverse further degradation, desertification, and deforestation of land and ecosystems in dryland through the sustainable management of production landscapes’ • FAO’s Regional Priority Areas: Integrated Management of Agricultural Landscapes in Africa / Generating and sharing knowledge and Capacity Building. Project Budget (GEF Trust Fund): $ 5,359,633 Co-financing: $ 34,500,000 Total Project Budget: $ 39,859,633 EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Landscapes of Miombo and Mopane woodlands in Angola are exposed to varying degrees of land degradation due to the expansion of agricultural lands, unsustainable charcoal production and overgrazing in grassland areas. These trends are accelerated by population pressure, the associated demand for food and other ecosystem services, the expansion of settlements and climate change. Angola also faces land governance challenges, including issues of land tenure security and the need to accord environmental protection to important natural assets -- in particular, forests and water bodies in dryland areas. This project addresses some of these challenges through the adoption of SLM/SFM practices across selected landscapes in southern Angola, covering an area of at least 1.3 million hectares of Miombo and Mopane woodlands ecosystems. The project is expected to positively contribute to the achievement, by 2030, of Angola’s Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) Target, which had been set in 2018 as a national commitment under the UNCCD. The national LDN Target has been since mainstreamed into the country’s climate change and national development policies’ and frameworks. More specifically, the project will pioneer the application of two important LDN principles in Angola: (1) the development and implementation of integrated land-use planning tools for the management of landscapes by embedding in the planning the neutrality mechanism; and (2) the application of the LDN response hierarchy in the active management of the landscapes. The latter implies the consistent and tracked management of land to avoid, reduce or reverse degradation. The present project is part of the Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes (the Global DSL IP), approved by the GEF in 2019 and benefitting 11 countries in Africa and Asia. The objective of the 2 Angola Child Project under the DSL IP is to support a transformational shift towards a sustainable and integrated management of multi-use dryland landscapes of the Miombo and Mopane ecoregions of Angola (Okavango and Cunene river basins) following Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) principles. The project objective will be delivered through three components. Component 1 focuses on the strengthening of the enabling environment and frameworks for LDN and the management of landscapes. Component 2 will help Angola develop an integrated land-use planning (ILUP) for two selected landscapes and support the implementation of priority actions embedded in the plan, which will have a long-term sustainability goal. The landscapes constitute sub-basins of the Okavango and Cunene river basins and are located in Cuando Cubango and Cunene provinces. The development and implementation of the ILUPs will engage all relevant stakeholders and propose solutions that reconcile land-use goals under various sectors. Also, under the second Component, the project will focus on the development of sustainable value chains based on dryland products. The realization of specific SLM/SFM goals within multi-use landscapes will count on specialized rural advisory services conveyed by FAO, including the strengthening of land-users’ capacity for SLM/SFM through Farmer Field Schools (FFS) and Forest-Farm Facility (FFF) models – both being signature support programs of FAO. The project will equally strengthen support the organization of Community Seed Banks (CSB) and various other actions linked to the sustainability of dryland value chains and local livelihoods. Component 3 will focus on strengthening national and landscape level assessment and monitoring for LDN, while facilitating national stakeholders’ participation in regional and global level initiatives under the DSL IP, which will improve Angola’s access to best practices and other capacity development resources for LDN. Among them are the Regional Exchange Mechanism (REM), which involves 6 other countries in southern African that form part of the DSL IP’s Miombo Cluster. These countries share not only the Miombo-Mopane Woodlands ecoregion and various transboundary river basins, but also common challenges and the potential to jointly develop solutions. Global Environmental Benefits (GEBs) to be generated by the project include the achievement of the following targets aligned with GEF Core Indicators: The ILUP will apply to at least 633,278 ha (with a roadmap plan to cover 1.36 million hectares, corresponding the sum of the surfaces of Sub-basins #1 and #2). Within this wider landscape, priority areas of multi-use landscapes will come under improved management through on the ground interventions, covering at least 35,742 hectares, which has been classified according to land cover classes, predominant land-use systems and where socio-economic features have been studied. An initial strategy for management of intervention sites according to the LDN response hierarchy was devised. Much of GEBs in terms of land under improved management will be delivered through production systems covering some 85% of the surface area, while the remainder 15% represents would be in forest fragments to which different degrees of forest protection would apply. Some 107,722 hectares of forests will be covered by ILUPs, with at least 16,825 ha under direct improved management through the adoption suitable sustainable forest management (SFM) techniques, where ecosystem functions or structure can be potentially restored and generate multiple benefits. The ecosystem rehabilitation/restoration strategy has great potential for replication, 1,000 ha at a time. Another approach to forest protection includes the development of Community-Based Forest Management (CBFM), a promising land stewardship model that is relatively new in Angola but has good chances of being proven sustainable, if adequately supported. As for other land uses, ILUPs will cover at least 525,556 ha, of which croplands account for 217,056 ha, rangelands 141,200 ha, and 167,300 ha of mixed land uses. In addition, direct interventions on croplands and rangelands are expected to cover an area of 4,929 ha and 13,988 ha respectively. Within the and beyond the targeted landscapes, there is scope for identifying additional areas for improved management. Furthermore, an improved and integrated management of land, soil, water and forests resources will generate GEBs through recognized AFOLU methodologies, resulting in the mitigation of 1,047,911 tCO2e emissions over a 20-year period. Up to 5,000 people (45% Women) are expected to benefit directly from the project’s activities within the two selected landscapes in southern Angola, and a much larger number will benefit indirectly, if the wider landscape, which