Initial Environmental Examination April 2021 Uzbekistan: Partial Credit Guarantee Facility for Uzbekistan Solar PPP Program Appendix 3.1 Critical Habitat Assessment Appendix 3.1 (a): Ecological Survey Report Prepared by the Ministry of Energy of the Republic of Uzbekistan for the Asian Development Bank. This initial environment examination 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 on ADB’s 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. Critical Habitat and Impact Assessment Report for Utility-Scale Solar Photovoltaic PPP Project in Sherabad District, Surkhandarya Region of the Republic of Uzbekistan Project no.: 54056-001 August, 2020 Final Version Critical Habitat and Impact Assessment THE REPUBLIC OF UZBEKISTAN MINISTRY OF ENERGY SHERABAD SOLAR INDEPENDENT POWER PRODUCER PROJECT UZBEKISTAN CRITICAL HABITAT AND IMPACT ASSESSMENT REPORT SHERABAD August 2020 Version Date Created by Reviewed by Checked by Approved by V0 25.08.2020 AC (STR) SD (STR) www.suntrace.de Critical Habitat and Impact Assessment Disclaimer Suntrace GmbH has elaborated this document in good faith and in order to provide a comprehensive documentation of the assessed data at its current status, based on the information available at the time of the study. However, Suntrace makes no warranty – implied or expressive – with respect to the accuracy, correctness, completeness or appropriateness of any information contained in this document. The information in this document is solely for the use of the Client identified above and may only be used for the agreed purpose. Suntrace GmbH undertakes no duty to or accepts no responsibility to any third party who may rely on this document. Suntrace GmbH has worked in great detail, used available information, and employed proven methodologies. Utmost care has been taken to produce this report. 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 Suntrace does not intend to make any judgments as to the legal or other status of any territory or area. All rights reserved. No section or element of this report may be removed, reproduced electronically stored or transmitted in any form without written permission of Suntrace GmbH. © Suntrace GmbH, 2020 www.suntrace.de Critical Habitat and Impact Assessment Table of Contents EXECUTIVE SUMMARY .........................................................................................................1 PROJECT BACKGROUND ..................................................................................................... 7 INTRODUCTION. .....................................................................................................................7 OBJECTIVES. ..........................................................................................................................7 METHODOLOGY .....................................................................................................................9 FINDINGS ..............................................................................................................................10 MODIFIED AND NATURAL HABITAT DETERMINATION. .................................................. 10 Approach ....................................................................................................................10 Results ........................................................................................................................10 SPECIES PRESENCE. .......................................................................................................... 13 ANALYSIS OF BIRD FLIGHT BEHAVIOUR. ........................................................................ 15 OCCURRENCE OF CRITICAL HABITAT. ............................................................................ 19 Approach ....................................................................................................................19 Results ........................................................................................................................20 PROTECTED AREAS. ...........................................................................................................29 IMPLICATIONS OF NATURAL AND CRITICAL HABITAT FINDINGS ................................ 30 ASSESSMENT OF POTENTIAL IMPACTS AND MITIGATION ........................................... 32 HABITAT LOSS AND IMPACTS TO SPECIES OF CONSERVATION CONCERN. ............ 32 COLLISION RISKS FOR BIRDS WITH OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINES. .................. 35 ELECTROCUTION RISKS FOR BIRDS BY OVERHEAD TRANSMISSION LINES. ........... 37 IMPACTS TO AQUATIC ECOSYSTEMS. ............................................................................. 37 CONCLUSIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS ..................................................................... 39 REFERENCES .......................................................................................................................44 ANNEXES ..............................................................................................................................45 www.suntrace.de Critical Habitat and Impact Assessment List of Tables Table 1: Assessment of Modified and Natural Habitat for components of the Project AoI .. 11 Table 2: Overview of species recorded during the field survey across the EAA and potential species (in parentheses) from IBAT according to their IUCN Red List status ........................ 13 Table 3: Summary of species recorded during field survey within components the Project AoI 14 Table 4: Allocation of bird species into three collision risk groups, with total numbers of birds observed per species provided in parentheses ...................................................................... 15 Table 5: Numbers of birds observed per species in each location and risk group with total number of flocks observed per species in parentheses ......................................................... 16 Table 6: Summary of the mean numbers of birds counted per flock birds and mean flight altitude per species collision risk category .......................................................................................... 18 Table 7: Summary of different flight movement patterns per species collision risk category and mean flight altitude .................................................................................................................19 Table 8: Endangered and Critically Endangered species that could occur within the EAA . 21 Table 9: IUCN Red-listed Vulnerable Bird and Reptile species present or potentially occurring within the EAA ........................................................................................................................24 Table 10 List of reptiles recommended by Roman Nazarov as potentially occurring within the Project EAA ............................................................................................................................26 Table 11: Potentially range-restricted species (all reptiles) occurring within the EAA ......... 27 Table 12 Conservation recommendations provided for two reptile species in the IUCN Red List and the URDB ........................................................................................................................30 Table 13: Species of Conservation Concern and Key Recommendations .......................... 31 Table 14: Summary and classification of mitigation measures to address impacts to biodiversity 40 www.suntrace.de Critical Habitat and Impact Assessment List of Figures Figure 1: Location of the proposed Solar PV Site and Transmission Line in southern Uzbekistan relative to Protected Areas, Key Biodiversity Areas and the Ecological Area of Analysis (EAA) covering 12 600 km², defined by a 50 km radius (pink line) from the Project Developments .. 5 Figure 2: Layout of the Project AoI comprising the proposed Solar PV Site with a 50 m buffer and transmission line with 200 m buffer (green lines) ..................................................................... 6 Figure 3: Proposed Solar PV site within the Karakyr Uplands showing evidence of disturbance from past cultivation and abundant pathways ........................................................................ 13 Figure 4: Graphic comparison of number of bird flights observed per species collision risk category ...............................................................................................................................................17 Figure 5: Location of flight observation points represented by arrows, with a red circle highlighting the transmission line crossing of the Karasu River ................................................................ 18 Figure 6 Distribution for Alsophylax laevis (Smooth even-fingered gecko) on the global IUCN Red List. The red oval indicates the location and approximate extent of the Project EAA .... 22 Figure 7 Distribution for Alsophylax laevis (Smooth even-fingered gecko) within Uzbekistan (UBRD, 2019). A black oval indicates