E519 Volume 1 ProjectWith Loans From the World Bank Public Disclosure Authorized People's Republic of China World Bank FinancedJiangii Integrated Agricultural Modernization Project (JIAMP) Environmental Impact Assessment Report Public Disclosure Authorized ( Final Draft) Public Disclosure Authorized Jiangxi Provincial Environmental Protection Research Institute State Environmental Assessment Certificate Grade A No. 2303 Public Disclosure Authorized Entrusted by Jmgxi Provincial Agricultural Office for Foreig Capital Utlization November, 2001 FILECOPY Project With Loans From the World Bank < People's Republic of China World Bank Financed Jiangxi Integrated Agricultural Modernization Project (JIAMP) Environmental Impact Assessment Report ( Final Draft) Jiangxi Provincial Environmental Protection Research Institute State Environmental Assessment Certificate Grade A No. 2303 Entrusted by Jiangxi Provincial Agricultural Office for Foreign Capital Utilization November, 2001 People's Republic of China World Bank Financed Jiangxi Integrated Agricultural Modernization Project (JIAMIP) Environmental Impact Assessment Report (Final Draft) Compiler: Jiangxi Provincial Environmental Protection Research Institute Director: Shi Jing Senior Engineer Chief Engineer: Long Gang Senior Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 087141 Technical Review: Zhu Baiming Senior Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 08872] Project Leader: Shi Jing Senior Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 087111 Project Deputy Leader: Zuo Zhu Senior Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 087121 Hu Xiaohua Senior Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 087151 Participants: Huang Jingming SeniorEngineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 084991 Liu Zhigang Senior Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 08713] Xu Meishen Engineer Zhou Hansan Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 08715] Cheng Xiaonan Engineer [(ES) Qualification Certificate No. 0151 Entrusted by Jiangxi Provincial Agricultural Office for Foreign Capital Utilization Executive Summary Jiangxi Integrated AgriculturalModernization Project (JIAMP),a world-bankloan project, is an agricultural development project authorized by China State Development Planning Conmmissionin 1998. The total project investmentis 1.54 billionsyuan RMB, includingthe World Bank loan of 100 millions US dollars. The proposed JIAMP aims at improvingthe livelihood of the farmers in the project areas through establishment of integrated, demand driven and sustainable agricultural production systems (including market systems). The achievementof this objectivewould lead to reductionof poverty and greater social stabilityin the project area, as well as enhancedfood securityat province and nationallevel. The following three componentswere proposed under the project: (1) Irrigation and Drainage; (2) Farm ProductionImprovement; and (3) Market SystemDevelopment. Except for project areas of Xunwu County that lies in Pearl River catchmentof Guangdong Province and Pengze County that lies in the Yangtze(Changjiang) River watershed,the project areas of the other 19 counties are situated in the Poyang Lake watershedthat lies south of the middlereach of YangtzeRiver in northernpart of JiangxiProvince. Jiangxi Province,with a total area of 166,900km 2 includingcultivated areas of 22,532 krn2 , has the jurisdiction over 11 cities and 99 counties. It is located on the south bank of the middle and lower reaches of the Yangtze River. The population of the province. in 2000 was 41,503,000 in total, including32,844,000 farmers. Poyang Lake, the largest fresh water lake in China, is located in the northern part of the province. It is a flowingthrough and seasonallake that acceptsthe water comingmainly from 5 river catchments (Gan, Fu, Xinjiang, Rao, and Xiuhe Rivers). The drainage area of the Poyang Lake river system is 162,220km 2 and occupiesabout 97% of the total area of Jiangxi Province. The project areas are located in the subtropicalzone with a monsoon humid climate.The mean annual rainfall varies between 1,387 to 1,795 mm. The rainfall from March to June usually comprises60% of the annualtotal. The mean annualtemperature is in the range of 16 to 200C. The yearly mean frost-freeperiod is 273 days. The yearly mean sunshineis 1,970hours. Forest coveragein most of the project counties is good, though differs greatly from county to county,with the best in CongyiCoumty, where the forest cover reaches 81.6%, and the worst in Hukou County beside the Poyang Lake, where the forest coverageis as low as 11.84%. In most irrigationareas, forest cover is composedof artificial(planted) forest, while the dominant species of wildlife are rabbits and variousmice, usually of low protection levels. Therefore, no significanteffect on vegetation and wild animalsis envisagedin the project areas. Based on a desk study,a number of naturalreserves are found to be either very close to the proposed i and/or water conveyance and reservoir appear to be within the buffer zone of the natural reserves. Before any constructionactivity starts within such areas, the projectproponent should contact the respective authoritiesat the Jiangxi Wildlife ProtectionAdministration Bureau of the JiangxiForestry Departmnentor their Nationalcounterparts. In order to seek local support,to increasetransparency and accountabilityto the public, to reach consensus with various stakeholders, and to enhance ownership of the environmental managementand the proposedproject, participation of beneficiariesand other stakeholderswas of crucialimportance in the environmentalassessment process. In order to keep all beneficiariesinformed, the EIA Terms of Reference(TOR) were sent to the libraries within the affected communitiesfor review and commnentby the interested parties. Notices were issued and were put up on notice boards. News media includinglocal newspapers, television and radio were also used extensivelyto informnall beneficiaries and potentially affectedpeople within the areas of project impact about the planned environmentalstudy, and their input was sought actively. The EnvironmentalAssessment (EA) of JIAMP is prepared to meet the requirementsof both the World Bank and the Govermnentof Peoples Republicof China and Governmentof Jiangxi Province environmentalassessment processes. Accordingto the EA TOR, this report presents the results of the Class B environmentalimpact assessmentfor the JLAMPbased on the study of five counties comprising of 27 irrigation schemes that were selected to represent the major topographic, social and ecological norms that are present within the project counties. A detailed environmentalanalysis of the 27 irrigationdistricts located in the 5 project cotnties of Pengze, Wuning, Hlengfeng,Nancheng and Gan, each located in a different river catchment, was carried out by the EA team. Wheneverthe irrigationschemes were in the proximityof natural reserves or ecologically sensitive areas, additional investigations were carried out outside the project counties to ensure that the proposed project have no significantimpact on the natural reserves, and if needed, propose further study programs. In addition, the counties for the EA study were selectedso that all major river catchment,flowing in or out of Poyang Lake, be presented to determine the potential impacts of the proposed project, if any, on the Poyang Lake, a Ramsar site of internationalimportance. Analysis was also made for each irrigation scheme around the Poyang Lake and on the banks of YangtzeRiver associatedwith the problemof Schistosomaisisbeyond the 5 typicalcounties. The environmental analysis of the Jiangxi Integrated Agricultural Modernization Project indicated that the project would have no major direct negative impact on the natural environment. The overall social impact is positive. The project, if successfullyimplemented, should increase agriculturalproduction through improvementof the economicand social well being of the farmers of the projectarea. A reliable irrigationwater supplyshould reduce yield reductionduring drought periods, while provisionof on-farmresearch and extension services and adequatemarket systemshould assist the projectfarmers with the technicalknow how and better means of obtaining maximum income from their effort without major negative environmentalimpact. The proposedproject, in general,should also have a positive impact on ii environmentalimpact. The proposedproject, in general,should also have a positiveimpact on the socio-economicconditions of the farnmingcommunities by improving their livelihood throughincreased purchasing power. There are, however,a number of unavoidableaspects of project implementation,.which,if not properly mitigated,might have potential adverse effects on natural and/or social environment withiinthe project areas. The identified impacts are reversible and the magnitude of their impactswould depend on how the proposedproject specificmitigation plans are implemented. It is believedthat the successfulimplementation of the proposedmitigation plans should reduce the enviromnentalimpacts to insignificantlevels. The other environmentalimpacts identifiedduring constructionphase are of temporarynature. Thesesimpacts include vegetation damage, temporary land occupancy,local soil erosion,public heath deterioration,minor noise and air pollution,and water pollutionmainly due to sediment loading due to soil erosionand unintentionaloil/fuel contaminationby constructionequipment. The main sources for such impacts include such activities as constructionof