E2202 v1 World Bank loan Public Disclosure Authorized Integrated Forestry Development Project Public Disclosure Authorized Environmental Impact Assessment Report Public Disclosure Authorized World Bank Loan Project Management Center State Forestry Administration May 2009 Public Disclosure Authorized Table of contents 1 INTRODUCTION................................................................................................................................1 1.1 PROJECT BACKGROUND ...................................................................................................................1 1.2 PROJECT ORIGIN ..............................................................................................................................1 1.3 LESSONS LEARNT FROM PREVIOUS WORLD BANK LOAN FORESTRY PROJECTS IN CHINA.................2 1.4 PROJECT COMPLIANCE WITH RELATED POLICIES AND REGULATIONS ...............................................5 1.5 ENVIRONMENT MANAGEMENT ASSESSMENT AND INSTITUTES .........................................................6 1.5.1 Assessment content ..................................................................................................................6 1.5.2 Assessment Institutes ...............................................................................................................6 2 POLICY, LAWS, AND REGULATIONS AND MANAGEMENT FRAMEWORK ....................7 2.1 POLICY, LAWS AND REGULATIONS AT NATIONAL AND LOCAL LEVELS.............................................7 2.1.1 Policy, laws and regulations at national level.........................................................................7 2.1.2 Policy, laws and regulations at local level ..............................................................................7 2.2 WORLD BANK POLICY .....................................................................................................................8 2.3 TECHNICAL NORMS OF ENVIRONMENTAL ASSESSMENT ...................................................................8 2.4 CONSTRUCTION PROJECT DOCUMENTS ............................................................................................8 3 PROJECT DESCRIPTION ................................................................................................................8 3.1 PROJECT OBJECTIVE.........................................................................................................................8 3.2 PROJECT COMPONENTS ....................................................................................................................9 3.2.1 Establishment of new multifunction forest plantations............................................................9 3.2.2 Improving existing plantation forests ....................................................................................10 3.2.3 Institutional support, project management and M&E ...........................................................11 3.3 DISTRIBUTION OF PROJECT AREAS .................................................................................................11 4 NATURAL ENVIRONMENT AND SOCIO-ECONOMIC CONDITION OF PROJECT AREAS...................................................................................................................................................17 4.1 NATURAL CONDITIONS ..................................................................................................................17 4.1.1 Topography............................................................................................................................17 4.1.2 Soil.........................................................................................................................................19 4.1.3 Climate ..................................................................................................................................21 4.1.4 Hydrological conditions ........................................................................................................23 4.2 ECOLOGICAL CONDITION ...............................................................................................................24 4.2.1 Vegetation types.....................................................................................................................24 4.2.2 Current condition of forest resources....................................................................................26 4.2.3 Fauna and flora resources.....................................................................................................28 4.3 CURRENT SOCIO-ECONOMIC DEVELOPMENT CONDITION ...............................................................29 4.3.1 Socio-economic condition......................................................................................................29 4.3.2 Land ownership condition .....................................................................................................30 4.3.3 Culture heritage and historical relics....................................................................................30 4.3.4 Collectively owned forest contracting and forest land tenure reform ...................................30 4.4 CURRENT ENVIRONMENTAL QUALITY RELATED TO PROJECT OBJECTIVES ..............................31 5 ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ASSESSMENT AND MITIGATION MEASURES..................34 1 5.1 METHODS OF ASSESSMENT ............................................................................................................34 5.1.1 Scope and time of assessment................................................................................................34 5.1.2 Factors of assessment............................................................................................................35 5.1.3 Standards of assessment ........................................................................................................38 5.1.4 Category of assessment .........................................................................................................38 5.1.5 Priorities of assessment .........................................................................................................38 5.2 POSITIVE ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACT ANALYSIS ..............................................................................39 5.2.1 Water retention, soil conservation and improvement ............................................................39 5.2.2 Wind-breaking, sand-fixing forests and land sandification combating .................................40 5.2.3 Increment of biodiversity .......................................................................................................40 5.2.4 Carbon sequestration and regulation of climate ...................................................................40 5.3 NEGATIVE IMPACT AND MITIGATION MEASURES ...........................................................................42 5.4 RISK ANALYSIS AND PREVENTION MEASURES................................................................................45 5.4.1 Risk analysis ..........................................................................................................................45 5.4.2 Risk reduction measures........................................................................................................46 5.5 SOCIO-ECONOMIC IMPACT ANALYSIS.............................................................................................46 5.5.1 Social benefit .........................................................................................................................46 5.5.2 Social risks.............................................................................................................................47 5.5.3 Mitigation measures ..............................................................................................................48 6 ANALYSIS OF ALTERNATIVES ..................................................................................................49 6.1 THE "ZERO SCHEME" ANALYSIS.....................................................................................................49 6.2 COMPARISON BETWEEN IFDP AFFORESTATION AND OTHER AFFORESTATION SCHEMES................50 6.2.1 Afforestation site selection.....................................................................................................50 6.2.2 Species selection....................................................................................................................51 6.2.3 Afforestation model selection ................................................................................................51 6.3 COMPARISON BETWEEN IFDP EXISTING PLANTATION FOREST IMPROVEMENT SCHEME AND THE TRADITIONAL SCHEME.........................................................................................................................53 7 ENVIRONMENTAL MANAGEMENT PLAN ..............................................................................55 7.1 SPECIFIC PLANS OF IMPLEMENTING MITIGATION MEASURES..........................................................55 7.1.1 Preparation and execution of “Environmental Protection Guidelines” ...............................55 7.1.2 Preparation and execution of “Integrated Pest Management Plan” ....................................55 7.2 ENVIRONMENTAL MONITORING PLAN............................................................................................55 7.2.1 Topics and indicators of monitoring......................................................................................55