PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID) APPRAISAL STAGE Report No.: PIDA506 Public Disclosure Copy Project Name JO-Badia Ecosystem and Livelihoods (P127861) Region MIDDLE EAST AND NORTH AFRICA Country Jordan Sector(s) General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (50%), Public administration- Agriculture, fishing and forestry (50%) Lending Instrument Specific Investment Loan Project ID P127861 Focal Area Multi-focal area Borrower(s) Government of Jordan Implementing Agency National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension Environmental Category B-Partial Assessment Date PID Prepared 25-Jun-2012 Estimated Date of Appraisal Completion 08-May-2012 Estimated Date of Board Approval 29-Nov-2012 Decision Further to clarification provided during the decision review meeting, the Safeguard Policies OP 4.04 on Natural Habitats and OP 4.11 on Physical Cultural Resources will be triggered by the project. These policies will be covered within the scope of the project's Environmental and Social Impact Assessment (ESIA) and Management Plan (ESMP) as well as the Ecotourism Development Plan (ETDP) and site- specific Environmental Management Plan (EMP). I. Project Context Country Context The Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan is an upper middle-income country with a population of 6 million and a per-capita Gross National Income (GNI) of US$4,390. The population is 80 percent urban and 41 percent is youth. Services account for more than 70 percent of the Gross Domestic Product (GDP) and more than 75 percent of jobs. The economy is well integrated with the rest of the region through trade, remittances, foreign direct investment and tourism, and has especially strong links to the Arab Gulf economies. Jordanian policymakers seek to use the demographic opportunity of a well educated, young population to build a dynamic, knowledge-based economy. Jordan’s climate varies Public Disclosure Copy from dry sub-humid Mediterranean with rainfall of about 630 mm to desert conditions with less than 50 mm. More than 80 percent of the country’s area is arid and receives less than 200 mm annual rainfall, with precipitation patterns being latitude, longitude and altitude-dependent. The area farther inland from the western highlands forms a considerable part of the country known as “Badia”, a region which receives an annual rainfall of 50 to 200 mm and has general characteristics of seasonal contrasts in temperature with high variations in rainfall within and among years. Geographically, the area extends east of the western mountain series aligned to the east of the Jordan Valley, and is located on elevations between 700 and 1,100 meters above sea level. The Jordan Badia comprises 80 percent of the country’s territory and is divided into the north, middle and south Badia. The southern and northern Badia constitute a bulk of the source of livelihood for about 240,000 people , including nomadic, semi-nomadic and settled communities who largely depend on raising livestock for a living (Hashemite Fund for the Development of the Jordan Badia and 2007 Census). Though overall poverty incidence has been reduced from around 20 percent in the late 1990s to 12.5 percent in 2008, higher poverty incidence occurs in the Badia. Both the northern and southern Badia are regarded as some of the most impoverished areas in Jordan, containing several “poverty pockets” (11 in the northern Badia and 3 in the southern Badia), as identified in the Department of Statistics (DOS) 2010 Poverty Report. Poverty Report. Poverty pockets are defined as sub-districts where the percentage of individuals below the absolute poverty line exceeds 25 percent of the total population of the sub-district. Poverty prevalence in both the northern and southern Badia is largely attributed to a relatively large family size (7 in the Badia compared to the Kingdom’s average of 5.7), scattered settlement patterns, high rate of illiteracy (21 percent in the Badia as a whole, 28 percent in parts of the southern Badia, and 39 percent amongst women), and limited income sources. Jordan also lags behind in female employability in nonagricultural sectors: unemployment is highest among young graduates, and particularly among young women. Although women are at least as educated as men, their participation in the labor force is among the lowest in the region. Forty to forty five percent of the Badia is rangeland; during the last twenty years, anthropogenic and natural factors as well as climate change have severely degraded the land and the Badia’s unique agro-biodiversity. Fodder productivity in the Badia decreased from 80 kg DM /ha in 1990 (DM=Dry Matter), to 40 kg DM/ha in 2006 (Ministry of Environment/MOE-Hashemite Kingdom of Jordan Country Environmental Analysis, World Bank, 2009), resulting in the loss of JOD3.5 million annually according to the Jordan Country Environmental Analysis (CEA, August 2009). As a result, most ecosystem services have impoverished, impacting negatively on the environment and on inhabitants’ livelihoods. About one third of the country’s livestock - 800,000 to 900,000 heads, mainly sheep - are raised in the Badia (Department of Statistics data projections from the 2007 Census). Many practitioners in Jordan, however, consider this an overestimate, believing that the total sheep and goat population is likely to be around 2 million. The livestock population has halved during the last twenty years, primarily due to the gradual lifting of feed subsidies in the 1990s. The hike in feed prices since 2007 has further compounded this situation. While this has relieved some pressure off the rangelands, small flock size with very low productivity parameters have severely affected peoples’ income, resulting in outmigration from the Badia to the cities. The lack of concerted remedial actions and the de facto state of abandonment of the Badia have encouraged an opportunistic and unsustainable use of the resource base by remaining dwellers. Overgrazing, extensive woodcutting and intensive agricultural practices have posed a significant threat to Jordan’s biodiversity in general and in the project target areas in specific through destruction of natural habitats and soil erosion. Uncontrolled vehicle movement in migratory birds’ breeding areas has lowered the breeding occasions and the number of migratory birds visiting Jordan. Unbalanced water use and unplanned water extraction from surface and underground water resources are threatening and consequently affecting the habitats and micro ecosystems of both animals and plants. Public Disclosure Copy The Badia Ecosystem and Livelihoods Project (BELP) will focus its interventions on three of the eleven poverty pockets in the northern and southern parts of the Jordan Badia: Ar Ruwaished sub-district in the northern Badia and Al Jafr and Al Husseinieh sub-districts in the southern Badia. II. Sectoral and Institutional Context Rangeland rehabilitation Badia rangeland productivity is low and the grazing period in the rangelands of the southern Badia lasts just two weeks, and at best, twice a year (late autumn and spring). Past planning and policy formulation in Jordan were based on sector-specific approaches with little consideration of social and environmental concerns. During the 1980s, the Jordanian Government in cooperation with Badia herders began establishing rangeland reserves and managing the access to them. These strides were accompanied by a number of donor- and government-funded programs aiming to conserve biodiversity and range resources, resulting in limited success. The National Rangeland Strategy (2001) and its action plan include a national program for rangeland rehabilitation and development which is based on a participatory planning processes, information and environmental awareness. Among other issues, enhancing biomass and vegetation cover, and protection of biodiversity are stressed. Importantly, the concept of community-based rangeland reserves is introduced in the action plan, although its precise mechanisms are continuing to be refined. Community-based rangeland management is based on the premise that resource users (e.g. livestock owners) and resource managers can find a common solution which produces common gains in the long term; this is done by bringing the interested parties together to identify and discuss needs and problems, and collaborate in establishing agreed and sustainable objectives and practices. Although Jordan’s vision for the Badia is far from being realized, this community participation model holds promise in that it addresses the community issues of livestock needs and resource depletion. In order to support the livelihoods of local communities, the BELP will promote a people-centered sustainable natural resource base development approach, thereby improving the range and fodder production services in the southern Badia target areas. In this context, two pilot sites will be selected for establishment of rangeland reserves in the southern poverty pockets of Al Jafr and Al Husseinieh (one in each), where community engagement in the identification, management and maintenance of the reserves will be strengthened. The emphasis will be on taking the concept of community-based rangeland reserves one step further by transferring to the communities not only responsibility for identifying site locations, but also for ongoing management of the sites. The sites will also provide local employment opportunities via the biomass restoration activities and site monitoring. The project is based on community engagement from the outset. Despite the project’s limited scale, it will be important in terms of piloting new community driven approaches which have potential to pave the way for scaling-up in larger areas of the Badia. Ecotourism Public Disclosure Copy In contrast to the relatively limited success in rangeland rehabilitation to date, Tourism is Jordan’s largest export sector. Travel and tourism account for about 12.5 percent of GDP and provide both direct and indirect employment opportunities, including in some of the poorest parts of the country. Many of Jordan’s most significant cultural and historic assets are located in secondary cities. The 2011-2015 National Tourism Strategy (NTS) looks to position Jordan as a high quality destination and raise industry competitiveness to the level required to underpin long- term sustainable growth. The NTS is meant to be private sector-led with public sector partnerships. Defined implementation activities and growth targets have been agreed on, and the crosscutting themes of competitiveness and sustainability are integrated to maximize the contribution tourism can make to economic and social development in Jordan, while enhancing business success and sustaining the country’s natural and cultural assets. Ecotourism is one of 12 promising market segments identified by the NTS. The BELP will seek to further realize Jordan’s high tourism potential by expanding existing tourism centers into the northeast Badia, where attractive landscapes, biodiversity and archeological sites are available. The project will undertake this by partnering with the country’s leading nature-based tourism agency, the Royal Society for Conservation of Nature (RSCN), and with local communities. In this context, tourism is seen as a means to enhance local development benefits on the one hand, and enhance biodiversity conservation efforts by providing communities with alternative income sources on the other hand. In specific, the project will promote ecotourism in order to minimize the impact of economic activities on the environment, while contributing to the well being of local people through varied instruments such as job creation and revenue sharing. Badia restoration and poverty alleviation programs In June 2005, the Governing Council of the United Nations Compensation Commission (UNCC) awarded Jordan US$160 million for the rehabilitation and restoration of the Badia’s terrestrial ecosystem in the aftermath of the 1990-1991 Gulf War. The Badia Restoration Program (BRP), housed in the Ministry of Environment (MOE), was initiated to implement this grant. The BRP is intended to take place in the Northern Badia by investing in water harvesting, improvement of vegetation cover and productivity, socio-economic activities and M&E, targeting 2,000-2,300 households and about 30 to 40 percent of the livestock population. The BRP has established a Database and Information Unit (DBIU), housed at the Hashemite Fund for the Development of Jordan Badia (HFDJB), which is tasked to compile and store data, base maps, GIS layers and other information coming from baseline studies in the course of the BRP implementation. (www.Badiarp.gov.jo) The Enhanced Productivity Program (EPP) within the Ministry of Planning and International Cooperation (MOPIC) is an integrated package of interventions aiming to alleviate poverty in Jordan’s poverty pockets. Presently, the EPP is at its third phase of implementation with a total government funding of JOD25 million, funding small to medium productive projects, capacity building for local NGOs, cooperatives and charities, basic infrastructure and essential community services, micro credits and loans. These EPP phase 3 interventions are also implemented in the three poverty pockets targeted by the BELP. There is ample scope for an innovative project which helps realize Government’s vision for the Badia. The BELP will do so by demonstrating a bottom-up approach toward rangeland rehabilitation, and by carrying forward the NTS’s agenda for long-term sustainable growth. By doing so, the project is expected to leverage additional interest and resources in the Badia for future replication and scaling-up of interventions. Additional national policies Public Disclosure Copy The project is aligned with a number of key national policies, namely: (i) National Agenda 21 (2000), which prioritizes the increase in productivity and improved sustainable management of rangelands; (ii) National Poverty Reduction Strategy (2002) and measures to increase employment opportunities in rural areas and secondary towns; (iii) National Strategy for Agricultural Development 2000-2010 (2002) and its emphasis on rainfed agriculture as well as sustainable livestock and rangeland management; (iv) National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (2002) and its key themes of sustainable use of biological resources, promotion of integrated land use planning and water resources development within the existing land tenure system; (v) National Agenda (2005) and the Executive Development Plan (EDP 2011-2013), which are key strategic documents for the Government and include clear references to poverty reduction; (vi) National Strategy and Action Plan to Combat Desertification (2005) and its key objective to provide programs and resources targeting local communities and environmental components in areas under the threat of desertification; (vii) National Strategy for Women (2006) and its emphasis on women’s economic empowerment; and (viii) Jordan’s Water Strategy 2008-2022 (Water for Life, 2008), in particular the goal to maximize the use of rainwater harvesting for irrigation. III. Global Environmental Objective(s) The Project Development Objective (PDO) is to support sustainable livelihoods and enhance ecosystem services through participatory approaches in selected areas of the Jordan Badia. IV. Project Description Component Name Community-Centered Ecotourism in the Northern Badia Adaptive Rangeland Management and Alternative Livelihoods Support in the Southern Badia Project Management and Monitoring and Evaluation V. Financing (in USD Million) For Loans/Credits/Others Amount BORROWER/RECIPIENT 11.35 Public Disclosure Copy Global Environment Facility (GEF) 3.33 Total 14.68 VI. Implementation The project will be implemented by the National Center for Agriculture Research and Extension (NCARE), a semi-autonomous (1993) leading center for agricultural research and extension in Jordan under the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA). NCARE houses most agricultural research, projects and extension activities in the country; it has been involved in a number of donor-funded projects, and it meets the criteria necessary for optimal project implementation and sustainability due to its strong technical capacity combined with local presence and ties with local communities. Please refer to Annex 3 of the Project Appraisal Document (PAD) for detailed information on institutional and implementation arrangements. Project institutional arrangements are as follows : Project Management Unit: The Project Management Unit (PMU) will comprise a full-time project manager, a part-time M&E specialist, a full-time financial officer and a procurement officer (seconded by NCARE). The PMU will manage the activities of all project entities, prepare annual work plans and budgets, ensure collaboration between stakeholders and conduct M&E. Steering Committee: The PMU will be guided by a Steering Committee (SC), chaired by the Secretary General of MOPIC. Based on consolidated implementation progress reports submitted bi-annually by the PMU, the SC will provide strategic guidance and oversight for the project (including on procurement, financial management, disbursement, M&E and reporting matters), advise on corrective measures, provide conflict resolution, and be responsible for approving annual work plans and associated budgets submitted by the PMU. The SC will include the directors-of NCARE, RSCN and HFDJB and the secretary generals of MOA, MOE, Ministry of Water and Irrigation (MOWI) and Ministry of Tourism and Antiquities (MOTA). The SC will hold meetings every 6 months, or more frequently as required. Technical Working Group: The PMU will benefit from a Technical Working Group (TWG), chaired by the project manager. Focal points from NCARE, RSCN and HFDJB as well as a representatives from MOPIC and MOA (one from each) will form members of the TWG. The TWG will discuss technical issues, enable information exchange between project activities, provide technical advice and guidance on various aspects of project implementation, and may also make recommendations to be discussed at the SC. It is crucial for project success that the PMU operate in a flexible, transparent and collaborative manner with all concerned entities. To this end, the TWG will be a key mechanism. The TWG will meet on a quarterly basis, or more often as required. The project will be implemented by the National Center for Agriculture Research and Extension (NCARE), and components will be executed as follows: Component 1 will be executed by RSCN, an independent non-profit NGO devoted to the conservation of Jordan's natural resources. RSCN’s main activities revolve around setting-up and managing Protected Areas (PAs), raising awareness on environmental issues, creating job opportunities for rural communities through ecotourism and other nature-based businesses, providing training and capacity building for Public Disclosure Copy environmental practitioners and other institutions and running environmental education campaigns. RSCN has developed and managed a number of ecotourism facilities, and is in the process of declaring Burqu’, the corridor’s end-point, a PA. It has strong technical capacity, a clear mandate (through a By-law, 1966) and proven experience in ecotourism development, putting it in a favorable position to design and implement ecotourism activities in collaboration with targeted communities in the north. Component 2 has three sub-components. Sub-components 2.1 (Water harvesting) and 2.2 (Adaptive rangeland management) will be implemented by NCARE through its Baqa’a headquarters and extension staff. Sub-component 2.3 (Alternative livelihoods) will be implemented by HFDJB, the institution mandated by Royal Decree (2006) to sustainably develop the Jordan Badia. HFDJB has engaged continuously with local communities through registered cooperatives that support different income generating activities and initiatives aiming at reducing poverty and protecting the Badia environment. The Fund communicates constantly and closely with the cooperatives through regular meetings and field visits, during which supported activities are monitored and evaluated. Component 3 will be implemented by a PMU housed in NCARE, as described above. The project will be implemented according to detailed procedures defined in a Project Implementation Manual (PIM), which is being prepared by NCARE in collaboration with RSCN and HFDJB. VII. Safeguard Policies (including public consultation) Safeguard Policies Triggered by the Project Yes No Environmental Assessment OP/BP 4.01 ✖ Natural Habitats OP/BP 4.04 ✖ Forests OP/BP 4.36 ✖ Pest Management OP 4.09 ✖ Physical Cultural Resources OP/BP 4.11 ✖ Indigenous Peoples OP/BP 4.10 ✖ Involuntary Resettlement OP/BP 4.12 ✖ Safety of Dams OP/BP 4.37 ✖ Projects on International Waterways OP/BP 7.50 ✖ Public Disclosure Copy Projects in Disputed Areas OP/BP 7.60 ✖ VIII.Contact point World Bank Contact: Banu Setlur Title: Environmental Specialist Tel: 473-7111 Email: bsetlur@worldbank.org Borrower/Client/Recipient Name: Government of Jordan Contact: Dr. Saleh Al-Kharabsheh Title: Secretary General, MOPIC Tel: 96264634511 Email: saleh.kh@mop.gov.jo Implementing Agencies Name: National Center for Agricultural Research and Extension Contact: Dr. Fawzi Al Sheyab Title: Director General Tel: 96264725071 Email: director@ncare.gov.jo IX. For more information contact: The InfoShop The World Bank 1818 H Street, NW Washington, D.C. 20433 Telephone: (202) 458-4500 Public Disclosure Copy Fax: (202) 522-1500 Web: http://www.worldbank.org/infoshop Public Disclosure Copy