Environmental Impact Assessment of Guadua aculeata Plantations San Jose ERF, El Rama, Nicaragua TABLE OF CONTENTS 1. INTRODUCTION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.1 GENERAL INFORMATION ................................................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 SUMMARY OF THE PROJECT .............................................................................................................................................. 2 1.3 GOALS ................................................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.1 PURPOSE OF THIS DOCUMENT ..................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.3.2 OBJECTIVES OF THE EIA ............................................................................................................................................................... 3 1.4 EIA INVESTIGATIVE TEAM ............................................................................................................................................... 4 2. PROJECT DESCRIPTION ........................................................................................................................................................... 6 2.1 PROJECT LOCATION ............................................................................................................................................................ 6 2.1.1 MACRO LOCATION ......................................................................................................................................................................... 6 1.3.2 MICRO LOCATION .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8 2.2 NATIONAL AND INTERNATIONAL POLICIES ................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.1 NATIONAL POLICIES ...................................................................................................................................................................... 9 2.2.2 INTERNATIONAL POLICIES .......................................................................................................................................................... 10 2.3 PROJECT PHASES ............................................................................................................................................................. 11 2.3.1 NURSERY OPERATIONS – PHASE I ............................................................................................................................................. 11 2.3.2 PLANTATION OPERATIONS – PHASE II ..................................................................................................................................... 13 2.3.3 HARVESTING – PHASE III ........................................................................................................................................................... 18 3. LAND USE HISTORY AND HISTORICAL CONTEXT .......................................................................................................... 21 3.1 NATURAL LANDSCAPE OF THE ATLANTIC COAST ...................................................................................................... 21 3.2 HISTORICAL AND LAND USE CHANGE ANALYSIS OF PROJECT AREA ..................................................................... 23 4. ENVIRONMENTAL BASELINE STUDY ................................................................................................................................. 28 4.1 INTRODUCTION TO THE BASELINE STUDY .................................................................................................................. 28 4.1.1 SOIL BASELINE METHODOLOGY ................................................................................................................................................ 28 4.1.2 VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION METHODOLOGY ...................................................................................................................... 30 4.1.3 BIODIVERSITY METHODOLOGY .................................................................................................................................................. 31 4.2 ABIOTIC ENVIRONMENT ................................................................................................................................................. 31 4.2.1 GEOLOGY ....................................................................................................................................................................................... 31 4.2.2 CLIMATOLOGY ............................................................................................................................................................................... 32 4.2.3 PRECIPITATION ............................................................................................................................................................................ 33 4.2.4 TEMPERATURE ............................................................................................................................................................................. 33 4.2.5 RELATIVE HUMIDITY ................................................................................................................................................................... 34 4.2.6 HYDROLOGY .................................................................................................................................................................................. 35 4.2.7 TOPOGRAPHY ................................................................................................................................................................................ 35 4.3 SOIL BASELINE ...................................................................................................................................................................... 37 4.3.1 BACKGROUND ............................................................................................................................................................................... 37 4.3.2 SOIL COMPACTION ....................................................................................................................................................................... 38 | Page ii 4.3.3 SOIL PHYSICAL AND CHEMICAL CHARACTERISTICS ................................................................................................................ 39 4.4 VEGETATION CLASSIFICATION ........................................................................................................................................... 41 4.5 BIODIVERSITY ....................................................................................................................................................................... 43 4.5.1 FLORA ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 43 4.5.2 FAUNA ............................................................................................................................................................................................ 45 5. SOCIOECONOMIC BASELINE STUDY ................................................................................................................................... 46 5.1 INTRODUCTION ..................................................................................................................................................................... 46 5.2 DESCRIPTION OF METHODOLOGY ..................................................................................................................................... 46 5.2.1 TECHNICAL TOOLS ....................................................................................................................................................................... 47 5.3 TIMELINE ............................................................................................................................................................................... 51 5.4 DEMOGRAPHICS OF COMMUNITIES ................................................................................................................................... 54 5.5 TYPES OF HOUSEHOLDS IN THE COMMUNITIES .............................................................................................................. 59 5.6 CHARACTERISTICS OF HOUSEHOLDS AND LAND ............................................................................................................ 61 5.7 EDUCATION ............................................................................................................................................................................ 63 5.7.1 STATUS OF EDUCATION IN NICARAGUA .................................................................................................................................... 63 5.7.2 EDUCATION OF INTERVIEWED POPULATION ..........................................................................................................................