RP1662 REV World Bank-financed Poverty Alleviation and Public Disclosure Authorized Agriculture Development Demonstration in Poor Areas Project Public Disclosure Authorized Resettlement Policy Framework Public Disclosure Authorized China State Council Leading Group for Poverty Alleviation and Development Foreign Capital Project Management Center Public Disclosure Authorized November 2014 Table of Contents Executive Summary .................................................................................................... 1 A. Project Overview, Principles and Rationale for a Resettlement Policy Framework.................................................................................................................... 4 B. Framework for Land Acquisition .......................................................................... 7 B1. Objectives and Relevant Terms of the Policy Framework ............................. 7 B2. Preparation and Approval of Resettlement Action Plans ............................... 8 B3. Institutional and Legal Framework .................................................................. 11 B4. Implementation Process.................................................................................... 13 B6. Budget Arrangements........................................................................................ 14 B6. Public Participation and Information Publication ........................................... 14 C. 4. Land Transfers and Use of Land as Shares ........................................... 15 D. Complaint Mechanism ......................................................................................... 16 E. Monitoring and Evaluation .................................................................................. 17 Appendix I Laws and Policies Related on Land Acquisition ....................... 19 Appendix II Compensation Principles for the Project Areas ....................... 27 Appendix III Laws and Policies on Social Security ...................................... 29 Appendix IV Entitlement Matrix ....................................................................... 36 Appendix V Summary of Land Occupied for Market Construction ............ 41 Executive Summary 1. Process This Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) is based on the findings of a full social assessment that bas been undertaken during project preparation by an independent and qualified consulting firm, with extensive community consultation. The draft document was made available to the public locally and the final document has been publicly disclosed. 2. Purpose The World-Bank financed Poverty Alleviation and Agriculture Development Demonstration in Poor Areas Project aims to develop and demonstrate rural value chain models in selected destitute areas that promote equitable organizational arrangements, participation, and the sustainable increase of income of poor households in 547 administrative villages in Gansu, Sichuan and Guizhou provinces. This RPF is established for the following purposes: Under Component I, the project will finance agricultural cooperative investment funds. Cooperatives are likely to use part of this investment to expand their farming operations in the form of plantations or breeding farms (production bases). The RPF confirms the participatory process and cooperative formalization process, which have been instituted in the project implementation manual and will serve to ensure fair and transparent land arrangements. It also provides additional detail to guide implementation of these processes. Under Component 2 (public infrastructure and services), the project will finance the construction of public markets and access roads to production areas. At the time of appraisal, no instance of civil works requiring land acquisition had been identified. However, as most locations for markets have not been confirmed at the time of appraisal (Appendix V), and none of the locations for access roads have been confirmed, it cannot be ruled out that some of this infrastructure would require land acquisition. The World Bank Policy on Involuntary Resettlement OP 4.12 is therefore applicable. This RPF is produced to ensure full compensation at replacement cost of all affected households. When access roads are built on land currently used as farmland, most land is likely to be obtained through voluntary adjustments within the project villages. The RPF requests coordination and agreement by the villagers, and documentation of these cases. It will also guide the implementation of voluntary exchanges. The project will take place in an environment where the government is implementing ecological resettlement operations. Successful cooperative development can only take place in stable communities. The RPF confirms that the project villages will 1 neither be departure locations nor arrival locations for households in on-going ecological resettlement programs. 3. Compensation for the Construction of Rural Infrastructure and Other Civil Works In accordance with OP 4.12, instances requiring land acquisition have been avoided during project preparation and will continue to be avoided where feasible, or minimized, exploring all viable alternative project designs. In instances where land acquisition is unavoidable, affected persons would be diverse. Although most of them will be farmer households affected on farmland, it may not be precluded that some households might be urban households, or some land might be residential land, or the construction of some markets might affect occasionally houses and lead to house demolition. As a result, the RPF is a generic document covering all these instances. July 2011 (project identification) is the cut-off date established to determine whether land for future project-funded infrastructure or facilities are covered under the present RPF. Counties that have acquired land after July 2011 have produced a due diligence report prior to appraisal to confirm absence of land acquisition. Information included in these reports will be monitored during project implementation. 4. Land Transfers and Use of Land as Shares for Agricultural Production In accordance with OP 4.12, any instance of land transfer or use of land as share in a joint cooperative investment must be fully voluntary. Households will therefore retain the possibility not to join or to opt out after the end of a contract period. In cooperatives, since the project provides an investment fund to cooperatives in a grant form, there should be no requirement that households are requested to pool their land into the cooperative’s capital stock (“land shares”) as a condition to become a cooperative member. Should the use of land as shares be the preferred option for local members, related rights to dividends would be open in a transparent manner. Land transfers are now requested by the national legal framework to take the form of a contract with a clear time limit, and with payments based on the local land market. This process is starting in the project areas, and this RPF guides full use of this legal framework. In order to ensure that the project is implemented in accordance with these principles, project supported cooperatives are required to go through a participatory process of formalization of new or existing cooperatives that includes a mandatory step on land arrangements. Participants will receive prior information and training on land management in cooperatives, and they will receive individual land transfer contracts in the event of land transfer. 2 Land transfers and land share schemes for a production base undertaken by a project-supported company or organization other than a cooperative will be subject to the same requirement. 5. Complaint Mechanism A complaint mechanism covering all situations listed in this Resettlement Policy Framework is set up. This mechanism will start at the administrative village or township level. The government offices in charge will be resettlement offices, or another relevant office that has been designated for the project. 6. Responsibilities and Budget County PMOs assume overall responsibility for the implementation of this RPF. They ensure that township project implementation units and village committees undertake the consultations and negotiations that are needed to prevent any unnecessary land acquisition under the project. They will assume all expenses to cover planning in relation to this framework and any potential need for compensation. The Provincial Project Management Offices, under the guidance of the national Project Coordination Office, take overall responsibility for preparation and appraisal of abbreviated Resettlement Action Plans, and of full Resettlement Action Plans in the event that such plans are needed, in close cooperation with county PMOs, and for their submission to the World Bank. 7. Monitoring and Evaluation International monitoring is undertaken, with quarterly reports, to cover all aspects of this RPF including the complaints mechanism. An independent external evaluation of this framework will be undertaken twice during project implementation. In the event a full Resettlement Action Plan is needed, specific external and evaluation of this plan will take place. 3 A. Project Overview, Principles and Rationale for a Resettlement Policy Framework 1. The World-Bank financed Poverty Alleviation and Agriculture Development Demonstration in Poor Areas Project aims to develop and demonstrate rural value chain models in selected destitute areas that promote equitable organizational