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Environmental Compliance Monitoring Report Semi-Annual Report Project Number: 44214-024 Grant Number: 0357-NEP July 2020 Nepal: Building Climate Resilience of Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions Project Prepared by the Government of Nepal for the Asian Development Bank. This environmental Compliance Monitoring Report is a document of the borrower. The views expressed herein do not necessarily represent those of ADB's Board of Directors, Management, or staff, and may be preliminary in nature. Your attention is directed to the “terms of use” section of this website. In preparing any country program or strategy, financing any project, or by making any designation of or reference to a particular territory or geographic area in this document, the Asian Development Bank does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. Government of Nepal Department of Forests and Soil Conservation Building Climate Resilience of Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions (BCRWME) Project (ADB Loan/Grant No.: GO357/0358-NEP) Semiannual Environemntal Monitoring Report of BCRWME Sub-projects (January to June 2020) Preparaed By BCRWME Project Project Management Unit Dadeldhura July, 2020 ABBREVIATION ADB : Asian Development Bank BCRWME : Building Climate Resilience of Watersheds in Mountain Eco- Regions BOQ : Bills of Quantity CDG : Community Development Group CFUG : Community Forest User Group CO : Community Organizer CPC : Consultation, Participation and Communications (Plan) CS : Construction Supervisor DDR : Due Diligence Reports DFO : Division Forest Office DFSC : Department of the Forests and Soil Conservation DSCO : District Soil Conservation Office EARF : Environmental Assessment and Review Framework EIA : Environmental Impact Assessment EO : Environment Officer FAC : Feasibility Approval Committee FTT : Field Technical Team GRC : Grievance Redress Committee GoN : Government of Nepal Ha : Hectare IEE : Initial Environmental Examination MoFE : Ministry of Forests and Environment NCB : National Competitive Bidding NDF : Nordic Development Fund NES : National Environmental Specialist O& M : Operation and Maintenance PAM : Project Administrative Manual PCR : Project Completion Report PIU : Project Implementation Unit PMIC : Project Management Implementation Consultant PMU : Project Management Unit PS : Post Support REA : Rapid Environmental Assessment RVT : Reservoir Tank SES : Senior Environment Specialist SEMR : Semiannual Environment Monitoring Report SP : Subproject SPPR : Subproject Preparation Report SWMC : Sub-watershed Management Committee VDC : Village Development Committee WMA : Watershed Management Associate WME : Watershed Management Engineer i EXECUTIVE SUMMARY Building climate Resilience of Watersheds in Mountain Eco-Regions Project being implemented by the Department of the Forests and Soil Conservation with grant assistance from Asian Development Bank, Nordic Development Fund and Government of Nepal intends to improve access to and reliability of water supplies to communities living in watershed vulnerable to the impacts of climate change. The project has considered environment safeguard to address environmental issues of subprojects implementation. The project has an environmental assessment review framework that specifies subprojects selection procedures, subproject’s environment categorization, environment assessment procedure, community consultation, grievance redress mechanism and mechanism for environment monitoring and reporting. There are 108 SPPRs (Batch I-8, Batch II-20, batch II-40 and Batch IV-40) and all of them are category C projects. The environmental safeguard requirements of GoN and ADB are satisfactorily addressed in SPs planning and implementation stages. The project has adopted procedural requirements such as environmental screening, SPs categorization, due diligence report inclusion, community consultation, voluntary land donation documents during sub-project preparation report (SPPR) preparation and approval process. No violations of local traditions and culture, no resettlement of indigenous people, worker’s safety, avoidance of under aged workers, community consultations, slope stabilization, minimizing trees cutting (if unavoidable), quarry site management, spoil management are considered during implementation of SPs. The project has the provision an environment officer (a government deputed soil conservation officer) and an intermittent input of senior environment specialist (SES) to take care the safeguard issues of the project implementation. Environment compliance status of the subprojects during January-June, 2020. Preparation of 108 DDRs and inclusion of 515 numbers of voluntary land donation documents were already completed. About 378 subproject level meetings and 1077 ward level consultations were conducted during planning stage. Quarry site management, burrow pit management, spoils management, soil erosion and landslide control are adopted in SPs implementation. For 108 subprojects, aabout 302 m of brush layering, 1965 m of check dam and 11230 m of live fencing were done till reporting period. Bamboos are planted in an area of 121 ha for bio-engineering purpose to control erosion. To stabilize the land, 6357 units (2×1×1 m3 or 3×1×1 m3 per unit) of gabion wall are used to protect source water. It is reported that 55,078 winter plantation, 261882 fruit trees and 2188353 fodder species, 455823 forestry species were planted in 108 SPs till June, 2020. Cultivation of 1893039 numbers of grasses is reported. To increase the ground recharge, the SPs have also constructed 11230 recharge pits, 157 recharge ponds, 21 conservation ponds. No involuntary land acquisition, resettlement issues, social conflicts, child labour were noticed during SPs implementation. No safeguard related grievance is received till date. The SPs have great environment benefits in terms of catchment management, ground water recharge, surface water management, water source protection, land stabilization and erosion control. Caring of planted trees, considering grazing alternatives, safety measures and coordination with other government bodies should also be considered during implementation stage. Preparation of environment safeguard guidelines, training on safeguard monitoring and reporting to project staffs and preparation of environment code of practices should be considered during initial phase of the project. ii Table of Contents Abbreviation……………………………… ............................................................................................. i Executive Summary…………………………….. ................................................................................... ii 1. Background………………………… ............................................................................................ 1 2. Environment Safeguard in The BCRWME Project ....................................................................... 2 3. Construction Approach……………. ........................................................................................... 2 4. Overall Environmental Safeguard Status ....................................................................................... 3 5. Compliance Status with Environmental Covenants ...................................................................... 3 6. Institutional Arrangement…………………….. ........................................................................... 4 7. Environment Monitoring and reporting mechanism ..................................................................... 4 8. Compliance with Environmental Safeguard Measures .................................................................. 5 8.1 During Planning and Approval Phase ...................................................................................... 5 8.1.1 Environment Screening and SP categorization, environment assessment ..................... 6 8.1.2 Project Procedural Requirement ................................................................................... 6 8.1.3 Rapid Environment Assessment and Due Diligence Report ......................................... 7 8.1.4 Environmental officers ................................................................................................... 7 8.1.5 Grievance redress mechanism and Environment safeguard desk ................................. 7 8.1.6 Community consultation and downstream users’ consent ........................................... 7 8.1.7 Land Donation ............................................................................................................... 7 8.1.8 Trainings ......................................................................................................................... 7 8.1.8 Environment management related activities .................................................................. 8 8.2 During Implementation Stage .................................................................................................. 8 8.2.1 Quarry Site and Burrow Pit Management ..................................................................... 8 8.2.2 Excess Spoil and excavated top soil management ......................................................... 9 8.2.3 Tree cutting and plantation ........................................................................................... 9 8.2.4 Soil erosion and landslide control ................................................................................. 9 8.2.5 Grazing land management .............................................................................................