EA1624 Environmental Assessment and Environmental Management Public Disclosure Authorized Framework for the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project Public Disclosure Authorized Public Disclosure Authorized CEE Centre for Environment Education Public Disclosure Authorized 1 Contents S.No. Chapter Page No. 1 Introduction 11 1.1 Project Objectives 11 1.2 Project Components 11 1.3 Institutional arrangements 12 1.4 Requirement of EMF 12 1.5 Methodology 13 1.5.1 Scope of EMF 13 1.5.2 Methodology 13 2 Environmental issues in livelihoods 14 2.1 Agriculture 14 2.1.1 Agro-climatic zones 14 2.1.2 Crop productivity 17 2.1.3 Horticulture 23 2.1.3.1 Vegetable cultivation 24 2.1.3.2 Fruit cultivation 25 2.1.4 Issues 28 2.1.4.1 Fertilizer consumption 29 2.1.4.2 Pesticide use 32 2.1.4.3 Inadequate extension support 33 2.2 Water resources 35 2.2.1 Irrigation 35 2.2.2 Ground water 37 2.2.3 Issues 37 2.2.3.1 Floods 40 2.2.3.2 Decline of the traditional water harvesting system 41 2.2.3.3 Chemical contamination of ground water 42 2.2.3.4 Water logging 42 2.3 Fisheries 45 2.3.1 Biodiversity of Bihar wetlands 46 2.3.2 Issues 48 2.3.3 Aquatic cultivation 51 2.3.3.1 Water chestnut cultivation 51 2.3.3.2 Makhana cultivation 52 2.4 Agarbatti 57 2.4.1 Occupational health 57 2.4.2 Over-exploitation of NTFP 57 2.5 Bee keeping 59 2.5.1 Biodiversity conservation 59 3 Legal and regulatory framework relevant to BRLP 61 4 Technical Environmental Guidelines (TEGs) 70 2 4.1 Screening TEG – Section A – Non-permissible activities 72 4.2 Screening TEG – Section B – Screening for deciding the 73 level of environmental assessment 4.3 Generic TEG 74 4.4 Specific TEGs – Gaya 76 4.4.1 Specific TEGs – Gaya – Paddy 77 4.4.2 Specific TEGs – Gaya – Dairy 82 4.4.3 Specific TEGs – Gaya – Agarbatti 85 4.5 Specific TEGs – Nalanda 87 4.5.1 Specific TEGs – Nalanda – Paddy 88 4.5.2 Specific TEGs – Nalanda – Vegetable cultivation 92 4.5.3 Specific TEGs – Nalanda – Dairy 96 4.6 Specific TEGs – Purnea 100 4.6.1 Specific TEGs – Purnea – Banana cultivation 101 4.6.2 Specific TEGs – Purnea – Jute cultivation 105 4.6.3 Specific TEGs – Purnea – Winter paddy 110 4.7 Specific TEGs – Madhubani 114 4.7.1 Specific TEGs – Madhubani – Dairy 115 4.7.2 Specific TEGs – Madhubani – Fisheries (Capture fisheries) 119 4.7.3 Specific TEGs – Madhubani – Mango cultivation 121 4.7.4 Specific TEGs – Madhubani – Makhana cultivation 125 4.7.5 Specific TEGs – Madhubani – Paddy 128 4.7.6 Specific TEGs – Madhubani – Vegetable cultivation 132 4.8 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur 137 4.8.1 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur – Dairy 138 4.8.2 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur – Fisheries (Capture 142 fisheries) 4.8.3 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur – Fisheries (Culture fisheries) 144 4.8.4 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur – Vegetable cultivation 147 4.8.5 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur – Litchi cultivation 152 4.8.6 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur – Mango cultivation 156 4.8.7 Specific TEGs – Muzaffarpur – Maize 160 4.9 Specific TEGs – Khagaria 164 4.9.1 Specific TEGs – Khagaria – Fisheries (Capture fisheries) 165 4.9.2 Specific TEGs – Khagaria – Fisheries (Culture fisheries) 167 4.9.3 Specific TEGs – Khagaria – Dairy 170 4.9.4 Specific TEGs – Khagaria – Maize cultivation 174 5 Additional TEGs 178 6 Environmental Implementation and Monitoring Manual 178 6.1 Integration of the EMF in the project activity cycle 194 6.2 Institutional Arrangements for Environmental Management 198 6.3 Capacity building strategy 212 6.3.1 IEC materials to be developed as part of the capacity 214 building strategy 6.3.2 Supplementary studies necessary for strengthening the EMF 220 3 6.4 Monitoring and Audit strategy 221 6.5 Budget 227 Annexure 1: Package of practices for rice cultivation in 229 Bihar Annexure 2: National standards for organic farming 234 Annexure 3: Appropriate crop cultivars and production 243 technologies for Rabi Annexure 4: Pesticides banned in India 247 Annexure 5: WHO classification of chemical pesticides 249 Annexure 6: Details of trade prohibitions on forest produce 264 Annexure 7: Filed notes 266 4 Executive Summary Introduction The Government of Bihar has initiated the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Project on rural livelihood promotion with support from World Bank. This is being implemented through the Bihar Rural Livelihoods Promotion Society (BRLPS). BRLPS through the BRLP aims to improve rural livelihood options and works towards social and economic empowerment of the rural poor and women. Objectives The stated objectives of the project are: • To improve rural livelihoods and enhance social and economic empowerment of the rural poor. • By developing organizations of the rural poor and producers to enable them to access & negotiate better services, credit and assets from public and private sector agencies and financial institutions. • To invest in building capacity of public and private service providers. • To play a catalytic role in promoting development of microfinance and agribusiness sectors. Components The components of the BRLP include the following: Community Institution Development: Formation and strengthening of Self Help Groups (SHGs), Producer Groups and Federations; Strengthening and forming producer and economic groups around key commodities, non-farm products and services; and, expanding membership of poor in existing commodity cooperatives and producer groups. Community Investment Fund: Group level investments for rural livelihood enhancement and for social services and social action. Technical Assistance Funds: Including Civil Society Organization Capacity Building Fund, Agribusiness Development Facility, Innovations Grant Fund and Micro Finance Technical Assistance and Innovations Fund. The institutional arrangements for the BRLP include state level and block level staff. The community institution partners of the BRLP – that is, the SHGs of the poor are federated at the village and block levels. Objective of the Environmental Management Framework The BRLP focuses on rural livelihood enhancement for poverty reduction. An Environmental Management Framework (EMF) has been developed for the BRLP with the objective of ensuring that the livelihood activities supported by the BRLP are environmentally sustainable besides meeting all regulatory requirements (the laws and regulations of the Governments of Bihar and India as well as the Safeguard Policies of the World Bank). The orientation of the EMF is on enabling the community institution partners (SHGs and their federations) to utilize the existing (Government schemes) and 5 newly created support systems (CRPs and para professionals) for ensuring environmental sustainability of their livelihoods. Process of development of the EMF The EMF was developed by Centre for Environment Education (CEE) in consultation with the BRLP team and representatives of the World Bank. Discussions were held with a range of stakeholders of the BRLP including: SHG members, community members; BRLP functionaries at the state and block levels; Line department representatives (agriculture, animal husbandry, fisheries, irrigation, etc.) at the state and district levels; NGOs; and Academic institutions. Field visits were made to Gaya, Nalanda, Muzaffarpur and Madhubani. Secondary research was undertaken. The exercise was undertaken during February and March 2007. The EMF includes Technical Environmental Guidelines (TEGs) and an Environmental Implementation Monitoring Manual (EIMM) for the BRLP. The following paragraphs give a brief overview of the components of the EMF: Environmental Profile of Livelihoods The EMF document presents an environmental profile of the various livelihood sectors that are the focus of BRLP’s intervention (Agriculture, Fisheries, and Small Enterprises) with a view to flag issues that the EMF will address. Legal and Regulatory Framework The EMF examines the legal and regulatory framework relevant to the BRLP. This section presents a brief listing of the various Acts, Rules and Policies of the Government of India, Bihar as well as the safe guard Policies of the World Bank. The alignment of the proposed BRLP livelihood interventions with respect to these is examined. Technical Environmental Guidelines The Technical Environmental Guidelines (TEGs) are developed based on the environmental profile as well as the legal and regulatory requirements. The TEGs are of three types: Screening TEG: This consists of two sections: Section A – Non-permissible activities and Section B – Screening for deciding the level of environmental assessment Generic TEG: These are generic in nature and are to be used for conducting the environmental assessment of any activity that does not have a Specific TEG Specific TEGs: These are specific to the nature of the activity being undertaken and have been developed for the key livelihood interventions identified in the ‘Livelihoods Study and Value Chain Analysis’ document provided by the BRLPS. Each Specific TEG is presented in two parts: 6 • Backend Reference Document: This is for the use by the BRLP functionaries and community institution federation members and provides an outline of the issues, technical and management guidelines for action. • Frontend Document: This is for use with the SHG members, Commodity or Produce Groups during the discussions that precede an application for credit support. It is to be annexed to any such application form (sub-project proposal, micro-credit plan or livelihood enhancement plan) for further action. The TEGs are presented district-wise for The TEGs have been developed for the following activities: Gaya: Paddy Cultivation, Dairy, Incense