E789 V. 2 August 2003 Government of Burkina Faso Public Disclosure Authorized m ,~~~~~~~~*-* o: ' oW -- nD-C. Public Disclosure Authorized {t ? v Wf- _ Manaemet Framework:, 51- Environmental and Social Management Framework: Community-Based Rural Development Public Disclosure Authorized August 2003 Environmental Resources M[anagement 1001 Connecticut Avenue, NW, Suite 1115 Washington, DC 20036 Telephone 202 466 9090 Facsimile 202 466 9191 http://www.erm.com Public Disclosure Authorized IERMWe f t imE j0h Government of Burkina Faso Environmental and Social Management Framework: Community-Based Rural Development May 2003 Reference 0002038 Prepared by: Kurt Lonsway, Tania N. Mansour, Tuya Altangerel, Rachel Cardone, and Cara Harbison For and on behalf of Environmental Resources Management Approved by: Kur Lonsway - Signed: - / Position: Technical Direc t Date: 8 May 2003 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 i 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, ismade known. Any such party relies on the report at their own rsk. 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. Executive Summary This is the report of a study to produce an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF)for the existing Community-Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP) and the developing Sahel Integrated Lowland Ecosystem Management (SILEM) Program, [hereafter referred to as 'the Project']. The project corresponds with the centralfeatures of the GoBF's strategy for poverty reduction which focuses on the following key issues: accelerating broad-based equitable growth; increasingaccess of the poor to basic social services; increasing the employment and income generating potential of the poor; and promoting good governance.(1) The objectives of the study are: * To assess the potential environmental and social impacts of the CBRDP and SILEM Program, whether positive or negative, and propose mitigation measures 7vhich will effectively address these impacts; * To inform the project preparationprocess committee charged with integrating SILEM into CBRDP of the potential impact of different alternatives, and relevant mitigation measures and strategies; * To establish clear directives and methodologies for the environmentaland social screening of micro-projects to be financed both by CBRDP and SILEM. Community Based Rural Development Project The Government of Burkina Faso (GOBF) receivedfinancingfrom the IDA, effective in December 2001 to support its Communihy Based Rural Development Project (CBRDP), which is a community-driven development program with local investmentfunds managed by communities and targeted to reduce poverty and promote sustainable development in rural areas. The program aims to be implemented in Burkina Faso's 45 provinces over a period of 15 years, in threefive-year phases. The program'sobjective is to support poverty reduction and promote sustainable development in rural Burkina Faso through strengthened local governance and community empowerment, with a focus on marginalizedgroups. The CBRDP aims to be implemented within a decentralized rural developmentframe7vork, and shall more specifically (a) support implementation of demand-driven micro-projects, and (b) conduct local capacity-buildingefforts. To achieve these goals, the program shall: (i) Strengthen capacihy of villages and local governments to prioritise,plan, implement, and maintain communihy-based investnments; (ii) Provide decentralizedfundingfordemand-driven and communihy-managed rural infrastructureand services; and (iii) Support Burkina Faso's ongoing decentralization and PRSP processes. Phase I of the CBRDP (2001-2005) will initiate tiw process, develop the capacity of rural areas to manage their 07vn development in a sustainable, equitable and productive (1) Terms of Reference for Environmental and Social Impact Assessment, Programme National de Gestion des Terroirs (PNGT), World Bank 2002. manner, andfacilitatethe emergence of rural municipalities or groups of municipalities. To that effect, it will couple capacity building activities and a demand-driven local investnientfund to enable communities to learn by doing. Phase 1 (2006-2010) will build upon and expand the achtievements of Phase I and scale up the program to a national level. Phase III (2010-2015) will consolidate whlat has been achieved and prepare an exit strategy. Tle baseline project (CBRDP) has thefolloWingfive components: 1) Build and reinforce local capacity building; 2) Provide local investmentfunds; 3) Build and reinforce institutionalcapacity building, 4) Introduce a land tenure securihy pilot project; and 5) Strengthen and provide program coordination and monitoring and evaluation functions. Sahel IntegratedLowland Ecosystemn Managetnent (SILEM) The Sahel Integrated Lowland Ecosystem Management (SILEM) project, funded through the GEFfinancingwindow, is designed to provide supplemental support to the CBRDP. SILEM will provide incremental supportfor environmental and natural resource management related activities under each of thesefive components as listed above, in each of the Program's three phases. SILEM's basic development objective is to strengthen the capacity of rural communities to undertake an integrated management of theirecosystems, so as to help reduce, mitigate and reverse to some extent the degradationof their naturalresource base, and thereby alleviate, in a sustainable manner, poverhy and vulnerabilihy. In particular, SILEM will generate multiple and interconnected environmental benefits such as: (a) Building capacityfor sound, sustainable integrated ecosystem management planning (IEM) and implementation at local, regionaland nationallevels; (b) Reduce, mitigate, and reverse land degradationand desertification with adequate and innovative soil and water management technologies in lowlands as a means for improving the productivihy and sustainabilityof plant and animal production systems, andfor protecting naturalhabitats of local and global importance; and (c) Strengthen the naturalresource base and decrease vulnerability to climate change (drought and other stressfactors) by improving conservation and maintaining (agro-) biodiversihy at ecosystem, species and genetic level. SILEM plans to intervene in itsfirst phase (2003-2006) in only 100 villages to initiate and demonstrate IEM activities. In the second phase (2006-2010), CBRDP will intervene in an additional 2,000 villages, with an ultimate goal to cover all 8,000 of Burkina Faso's villages in the third phase,7Vlile SILEM will intervene in an additional 200 villages in the second phase, but no more than 600 villages by the end of the third phase. SILEM's goal is to initiate, consolidate, and confirm IEM demonstration activitiesfor replication throughout the countny to be initiated - andfunded - by communities themselves. Both CBRDP and SILEM are administered, andfinances are channelled through, the Project Coordination Unit (PCU), wvhich Works at the national, regional, provincial, and community levels. Majorfindings The potential environmental and social impacts of CBRDP and SILEM Will vany in significance according to the size and strategic influence of sub-projects. At a strategic level both CBRDP and SILEM have the potential to make a significant positive contribution to environmental and social sustainability - and specifically naturalresource sustainabilihy - though there are risks of negative impacts associated with individual sub- projects. Ensuring that CBRDP/SILEM make significant positive contribution to environmental and social sustainabilitywill require the integration of understanding of communities' management of tleir resources into the strategic direction of the project. 7This wvill be addressedunder the components outlined above and the application of this ESMF. Guidance on impacts Examples of potential Communihy -driven activities, and of larger 'inter-community' activities, under the componentsfor both CBRDP and SILEM are given in below, with indications of some of the potential negative and positive environmental and social consequences associated 7with each. Table 1 Examples of potential environmental and social risks of CBRDP CBRDP activity Potentialnegative (and positive) impacts Feeder Road Destruction of vegetation, habitat; water pollution; soil erosion; increased Improvement/lnfrastructure migration and social instability; health consequences. (Opportunityfor positive impact: improved communication, market access, access to social services) Water Supply Infrastructure Health implications, pressure on and degradation of surrounding land, social pressures; (Opportunityforpositive impact: improved water supply for variety of uses; social benefits) Social and Economic Health implications; waste disposal; social disparities; (Opportunityfor Infrastructure positive impact: improved education and health services) Soil and