KENYA Western Kenya Integrated Ecosystem Management Project Brief Africa Regional Office Public Disclosure Authorized AFTS2 Date: April 15 , 2004 Team Leader: Berhane Manna Sector Manager: Karen Mcconnell Brooks Country Manager/Director: Makhtar Diop Project ID: P072981 Focal Area: M - Multi-focal area Sector(s): General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (100%) Theme(s): Environmental policies and institutions (P), Biodiversity (P), Other environment and natural resources Public Disclosure Authorized management (S) Project Financing Data [ ] Loan [ ] Credit [ X] Grant [ ] Guarantee [ x ] Other: For Loans/Credits/Others: Total Project Cost (US$m): $9.55 Cofinancing: 5.45 Total Bank Financing (US$m): 4.1 Proposed Terms (IDA): GEF Financing Plan (US$m): Source Local Foreign Total BORROWER 2.75 0.00 2.75 PHRD 0.40 0.00 0.40 SIDA 2.30 0.00 2.30 Public Disclosure Authorized GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY 4.10 0.00 4.10 Total: 9.55 0.00 9.55 Borrower/Recipient: GOVERNMENT OF KENYA Responsible agency: KARI Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) Address: P.O. Box 57811 Nairobi, Kenya Contact Person: Dr. Romano Kiome, Director Tel: 254-2-583-290 Fax: 254 (0) 20583344 Email: [email protected] Project implementation period: 5 years Public Disclosure Authorized Table of Contents A. Project Development Objective .....................................................................................3 B. Strategic Context ............................................................................................................5 C. Project Description Summary......................................................................................10 D. Project Rationale...........................................................................................................15 F. Sustainability and Risks...............................................................................................28 G. Main Loan Conditions...................................................................................................30 H. Readiness for Implementation.....................................................................................30 I. Compliance with Bank Policies ...................................................................................30 Annex 1: Log Frame Matrix.................................................................................................31 Annex 2: Incremental Cost Analysis..................................................................................35 Annex 3: STAP Technical Review and IA Response .........................................................43 Annex 4: Detailed Project Description...............................................................................56 Annex 5: Estimated Project Costs .....................................................................................63 Annex 6: Cost-Benefit Analysis Summary ........................................................................64 Annex 7: Financial Summary..............................................................................................75 Annex 8A: Procurement Arrangements.............................................................................76 Annex 8B: Financial Management and Disbursement Arrangements.............................82 Annex 9: Monitoring and Evaluation Plan ..........................................................................87 Annex 10: Root Causes of Ecosystem Degradation .........................................................92 Annex 11: Biodiversity in Western Kenya ..........................................................................95 Annex 12: Maps...................................................................................................................101 A. Project Development Objective 1. Background: Western Kenya supports one of the densest and poorest populations in the world, with up to 1200 persons/sq. km in some rural areas, and over 58 percent of households living in absolute poverty. Low agricultural productivity, high population pressure and lack of off-farm income opportunities have placed great pressure on the natural resource base. Traditional land management in western Kenya relied on fallowing of unproductive fields to restore fertility and decrease pest problems. High rural population growth has made this practice untenable, leading to wide scale abandonment of fallowing and the search for new agricultural land. At the local level, there has been little restriction on encroachment onto steep slopes, wetlands, or forests, despite the existence of laws and regulations against such practices. Conversion of woodlands, forests, and wetlands into agricultural production has accelerated in recent years with significant negative impact on the natural resource base. Studies conducted in the context of the Lake Victoria Integrated Land Management Project (LVILMP) uniformly indicate the occurrence of severely accelerated land degradation in the Lake Victoria watershed. Measurements performed on sediment cores collected in the Nyando estuary show that sedimentation rates of the basin have increased fourfold over the last 100 years. (Walsh, unpublished data). Erosion loss has created large gullies that advance at rates up to 200 meters per year and large quantities of sediment – discernible in satellite images – are being deposited in the Winam Gulf of Lake Victoria. Western Kenya’s rich stock of biodiversity has suffered as a result of land degradation. For example, by the mid 1980’s, some 400 endemic species cichlid fish were approaching extinction due to encroachment from water hyacinth and increasing eutrophication of Lake Victoria. Deforestation and loss of vegetative cover has also resulted in a shortage of plant and tree resources. Native plant communities in western Kenya include perennial grasslands interspersed with evergreen and semi-deciduous bushlands in lowland areas, Cyperus spp. in inland valleys and at the river’s outlet, and evergreen broadleaf forest in the highlands. Over the last 150 years the most important land cover conversion pathways in the Nyando basin have been characterized by substitutions of vegetation dominated by trees (characterized by a C3 photosynthetic pathway) to vegetation dominated by grasses (characterized by a C4 photosynthetic pathway). Evidence from stable carbon isotope (i.e. d13C) studies, suggest that historically, grass and cereal crop based land use types (Walsh et al., in prep.) are strongly associated with elevated soil erosion risk in this environment. Poverty reduction, land degradation, and sustainable agriculture are intricately linked in Western Kenya. Experiences from Central Kenya, where there is evidence of high productivity, high profits, and good land management, also are supportive of this relationship. Adoption of an ecosystem management (EM) approach focused on: (i) participatory planning of land use and natural resources management at the village, location, district, watershed and provincial levels; (ii) empowerment of communities with proven technology, information and financial resources to make the best natural resource management (NRM) investment decisions; and (iii) dissemination of agro-ecosystem management techniques such as improved soil fertility and erosion control techniques, will be necessary to address problems of natural resource degradation and achieve sustainable farming systems. Better farming practices also provide global environmental benefits in areas of biodiversity, international waterways, and climate change. The recent Land-Use, Land-Use Change, and Forestry Report (2000) of the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) has identified conversion of degraded crop lands into agroforestry as the land-use practice with the largest potential to sequester carbon. The Ministry of Agriculture and Kenya Agricultural Research Institute (KARI) have been actively involved in disseminating improved agricultural technologies in Western Kenya with various government and non-governmental partners. The proposed project would be implemented in Western Kenya with the main purpose of scaling up the existing successes and introducing an ecosystem-wide approach to achieve sustainable agriculture. The project is expected to demonstrate the value of such approach and will help leverage Government, IDA or other resources for scaling up project successes in the future. 2. Project Development Objective: (see Annex 1) The project seeks to improve the productivity and sustainability of land use systems in selected watersheds in the Nzoia, Yala and Nyando river basins through adoption of an integrated ecosystem management approach. In order to achieve this the project will: (i) support on and off farm conservation strategies; and (ii) improve the capacity of local communities and institutions to identify, formulate and implement integrated ecosystem management activities (including both on and off-farm land use planning) capturing local and global environmental benefits. The project objectives would be achieved through a community driven development process whereby communities would decide on resources for infrastructure investments, technical assistance and implementation of ecosystem management activities. Global Environmental Objective The global environmental objective of the project is to promote a set of ecosystem management interventions so as to achieve local and global benefits. These benefits include reduced land degradation, reduced greenhouse gas (GHG) accumulation in the