UPDATED REPORT Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests, Romania Romania Forest Development Project: Environmental Assessment Update Volume I Summary and Main Report September 2002 Environmental Resources Management 8 Cavendish Square, London W1M 0ER Telephone 020 7465 7200 Facsimile 020 7465 7272 Email [email protected] http://www.ermuk.com in association with Intergroup Engineering SRL, Romania Romania Forest Development Project: Environmental Assessment Update September 2002 This report has been prepared by Environmental Resources Management the trading name of Environmental Resources Management Limited, with all reasonable skill, care and diligence within the terms of the Contract with the client, incorporating our General Terms and Conditions of Business and taking account of the resources devoted to it by agreement with the client. We disclaim any responsibility to the client and others in respect of any matters outside the scope of the above. This report is confidential to the client and we accept no responsibility of whatsoever nature to third parties to whom this report, or any part thereof, is made known. Any such party relies on the report at their own risk. In line with our company environmental policy we purchase paper for our documents only from ISO 14001 certified or EMAS verified manufacturers. This includes paper with the Nordic Environmental Label. E NVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND FORESTS ACRONYMS AND NAMES AAC Annual Allowable Cut AGV Association of Hunters AGVPS Association of Hunters and Fishermen ALFO Association of Local Forest Owners ANT National Tourism Authority ANTREC National Association for Rural Tourism APM Environmental Protection Agency APMR Association of Romanian Furniture Producers APPR Association of Private Forest Owners APPR Association of Private Forest Owners ASFOR Association of Romanian Foresters Asociatia “Stejarul” “Oak” Association DoF Department of Forests DS County Branch, National Forest Administration DSPL Directorate for Strategy, Policy and Legislation, Dept. of Forests EA Environmental Assessment (equivalent to EIA) EIA Environmental Impact Assessment (equivalent to EA) EMP Environmental Management Plan ERM Environmental Resources Management (consultancy) EU European Union FAO Food and Agriculture Organization FDP Forest Development Project FI Forest Inspectorate FMIMS Forest Management Information and Monitoring System FMP Forest Management Plan ForsBIC Forest Business Information Center Fortech FORTECH – FDP project preparation consultant FSC Forest Stewardship Council GDF General Directorate of Forests GEF Global Environment Facility GIS Geographic Information System GOR Government of Romania IBA Important Bird Area IC Institutional Change ICAS Forest Management and Research Institute (Institutul de Cercetari si Amenajari Silvice) INL Wood Institute (Institutu National al Leminuliu) IT Information Technology MAFF Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests MIS Management Information System MoI Ministry of Industry MWEP Ministry of Water and Environmental Protection MWFEP Ministry of Water, Forests and Environmental Protection NFA National Forest Administration NFPS National Forest Policy and Strategy NTFP Non-timber Forest Product E NVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND FORESTS ACRONYMS AND NAMES PCT Project Coordination Team PFOA Private Forest Owners Associations PM Project Management Group Ltd. (consultancy) POC Project Oversight Committee PPT Project Preparation Team RNP Regiei Nationale a Padurilor (see also NFA) ROMPAP Association of Romanian Pulp and Paper Producers SAPARD Special Accession Program for Rural Development SDF Social Development Fund SFM Sustainable Forest Management SME Small and Medium-scaled Enterprise TOR Terms of Reference WB World Bank E NVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND FORESTS Romania Forest Development Project: Environmental Assessment Update PREFACE This Environmental Assessment Update was prepared to provide additional information about the proposed Romania Forest Development Project which was not available at the time when work on the original Environmental Assessment was completed and made available in October 2001. (The EA was actually finalized on October 9, 2001, but its final version was not made publicly available until later in the month). The original Environmental Assessment was prepared by ERM and Intergroup Engineering Romania. This Update has been prepared by staff commissioned by the Ministry of Agriculture, Food and Forests in cooperation with ERM and Intergroup on the basis of additional inputs prepared for the Project Appraisal Mission (which took place from October 14 to 26, 2001) and which had not been available at the time the EA was finalized. The Update includes all the information outlined in the original Environmental Assessment. It does not substantively change any of the findings from the original Environmental Assessment, but seeks to address concerns with respect to incomplete information in the original EA which were raised during subsequent consultations with Romanian NGOs. It also seeks to clarify some of the issues which were not clear in the original Environmental Assessment. It draws on additional material prepared for the project. There have been numerous consultations and public discussions about this Environmental Assessment, and these are summarized in Appendix 3: Consultations and Disclosure with respect to project preparation and in relation to preparation of the Environmental Assessment of the Forest Development Project. These include public consultations about the Terms of Reference for the Environmental Assessment (which were held in Piatra Neamt, Targoviste, Arad, and Bucharest in October 2000), and about the draft and final Environmental Assessment (held in Brasov in July 2001 and in September 2001). In addition, the Ministry sought comments on the process by soliciting these through announcements in the press. Extensive information about the project has been made available on the project’s website (www.forestier.ro), including (and unusually) the full version of the draft Project Appraisal Document, since January 2002. Additional concerns were raised about the project and the Environmental Assessment following Appraisal, which had not been voiced during the initial and extensive period of consultation leading to project preparation and to preparation of the Environmental E NVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND FORESTS Assessment. In December 2001, the Romanian project preparation team met with concerned local NGOs to discuss these issues more fully. Subsequent correspondence from CEE Bankwatch and a group of 17 Romanian NGOs with World Bank President James D. Wolfensohn indicated continuing concern about the project and the Environmental Assessment. This correspondence is included with this Update in Volume II, Annex 4. During another NGO consultation convened in Brasov, on March 21, 2002, it was agreed that there was scope for improving the original Environmental Assessment. The meeting made the following suggestions for improvement, which have been incorporated into the Terms of Reference for this Update (See Appendix 2: Terms of Reference for Environmental Assessment Update): · Include information which was not fully reported upon, particularly with respect to fuller information about the project, the location of the initial list of roads targeted for rehabilitation or construction, changes to the legal framework which may impact project implementation, information about the consultation process which was used both to inform preparation of the project and to improve the Environmental Assessment, maps (for those roads which have preliminarily been identified for rehabilitation or construction) and other information about initiatives with respect to public activities to conserve biodiversity (including the GEF-financed Biodiversity Conservation Management Project); · Incorporate the text and recommendations which are outlined in Annex IIA of the original Environmental Assessment ['Initial Report on Environmental Aspects of Forest Roads Component' prepared by Fortech, Dames and Moore, and Projec t Management (Ireland)] into the Environmental Assessment as an integral part of it, to develop binding recommendations during roads construction and rehabilitation; · Consider more fully the likely direct and indirect impacts of project investments on harvesting, based on information which is available, and develop and describe actions to mitigate these impacts where they are not consistent with sustainable forest management practices; · To the extent possible, examine the risks to project performance associated with illegal harvesting and problems of governance, and propose steps to reduce these risks; · add more information about the project alternatives considered and the reasons for their rejection (particularly in the context of the National Forest Policy and Strategy). · Describe in detail the steps taken to publicly disclose information about the project, as well as the steps taken to disclose and consult with key stakeholders during preparation of the original Environmental Assessment. This Update seeks to provide clarification about these issues. E NVIRONMENTAL RESOURCES MANAGEMENT MINISTRY OF AGRICULTURE, FOOD AND FORESTS Romania Forest Development Project: Environmental Assessment Update TABLE OF CONTENTS VOLUME I: SUMMARY AND MAIN REPORT SUMMARY ...............................................................................................................................