KINGDOM OF CAMBODIA
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION CORRIDORS PROJECT
Financed through Asian Development Bank (ADB)
Grant No. 0241-CAM-(SF)
QUARTERLY REPORT
1st April– 30stJune 2016
Forestry Administration
Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries
CONTENTS
Page
LIST OF FIGURES(i)
LIST OF TABLES(i)
1Introduction
2Utilization of Funds
3Implementation Progress
4Compliance with Covenants
5Major Project Issues and Problems13
6LIST OF Appendix 13
LIST OF FIGURES
Figure 1:Q2 2015 BCC Project and FA PIU Disbursement S Curves
Figure 2:Q2 2015 BCC Project and FA PIU Procurement Value S Curves
Figure 3:Progress on Completing Project Outputs
LIST OF TABLES
Table 1:Project Financing and Investment Plan
Table 2:Q2 2015 BCC FA PIU Disbursements by Category
Table 3:Q2 2015 BCC FA PIU Disbursements by Output
Table 4:Q2 2015 BCC FA PIU Disbursements by Type
Table 5:Q2 2015 FA PIU Number of Procurement Contracts
Table 6:Q2 2015 FA PIU Procurement Contracts by Value
Table 7:Progress on Completing Project Outputs
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1Introduction
ADB signed a grant agreement [Grant 0242 Lao (SF)] with the Royal Cambodia government on 27 January 2011 wherein ADB agreed to provide $19 million to the Royal Cambodia government for the Cambodia component of the Greater Mekong Sub-region Biodiversity Conservation Corridors (BCC) Project.The grant became effective on 23 March 2011.
The Project will (i) empower communities to manage their forest resources through demarcation of boundaries, forest management planning, and achieving legal approvals for Community Forests (CFs) or Community Protected Areas (CPAs);(ii) restore habitat and degraded forest lands by planting native tree species and agroforestry that incorporates improved sources of non-timber forest products; (iii) improve livelihoods and income-enhancing small scale infrastructure; and (iv) generate short-term employment to project households through project activities.
Output 1: Community and Institutions Strengthened for Biodiversity Corridor Management
Under this output, investments will be geared towards strengthening the capacity of the national, provincial, district and commune levels in forest planning andbiodiversity management. In particular, targets for key FAactivities under output 1 include: (i) forest management plans in place by the end of 2018 for 14 CFs that coverabout 40,000 ha of forest land in Koh Kong and Mondulkiri provinces; (ii) boundaries of 14 CFs that participate in the Project are delineated and marked; (iii) at least 30% of the members of each CF management committtee are women; (vii) by project end, 30 central level, 100 provincial, 200 commune level, and 1,100 village persons are trained in project activities. Of the trained persons, at least 40 percentwill be female with a large portion from indigenous people’s groups.
Target communities will participate in delineating and marking the boundaries of their CFs and in forest enhancement activities. The Project will pay communities to provide these services.
Provincial, district, and commune level officials, and target communities will be trained in skills of conservation, water and forest protection, and implementing new livelihoods.
The Project will promote GMS transboundary cooperation between Cambodia, Viet Nam and Lao PDR by supporting exchange visits and sharing information regarding scientific research, biodiversity assessment, management of forest ecosystems, and livelihood improvement.
Output 2: Biodiversity Corridors Restored, Protected, and Maintained
Output 2 deals with community-based forest enhancement and protection of the forests. The geographic focus of the Project encompasses two biodiversity corridor areas: (i) the Eastern Plains Landscape runs along the border Cambodia - Viet Nam international boundary in Mondulkiri province, and (ii) the Cardamom Landscape that runs from the Cambodia - Thailand international boundary eastward in Koh Kong province.
Targets for FAkey activities under Output 2 include: (i) 2 upland forest nurseries are operational; (ii) 1500 ha of forest in 14 CFs is enhanced via enrichment planting or natural regeneration; (iii) 300 ha of agroforestry is established by 150 households in 14 CFs (iv) at least 40% of labour input for forest enhancement is provided by women.
Output 3: Livelihoods Improvement and Small-Scale Infrastructure
Under Output 3, the Projectwill provide short-term income to target communities through a series of short-term incentives to communities to provide labour for community patrols; forest enhancement, including the establishment and operation of seedling nurseries; and delineating and demarcating boundaries of CPAs. The Project will agree contracts with target communities to 2018 for these activities.
Targets for FAkey activities under Output 3 include: (i) at least 450 households implement integrated agriculture with market linkages, resulting in incomes increasing by at least 30% over project control households; (ii) 100% of female headed households participate in the livelihoods program; (iii) by 2018, at least 4 value chain investments are etablished that will diversify income cources to operators; (iv) by 2016 at least 18 village development funds (VDFs) are established with management committees making loans; (v) at least 50% of VDF beneficiaries are women; (vi) by 2018 investments in livelihoods and small-scale infrastructure are completed.
Output 4: Project Management
Output 4 provides support services for project management. Targets for key activities in output 4 include (i) at least 20% of PIU staff are female; (ii) by June 2011 all advance actions on procurement are completed; (iii) by August 2011 first tranche of grant received in imprest accounts; (iv) by 2012, 20 project officials are trained in procurement, financial management, and project management; (v) half-yearly reports on the project are produced by PIUs; (vi) by 2015 PPMS established with sex-disaggregated baseline data; (vii) timely submission of financial liquidation and withdrawal applications; (viii) by 2018, operations guidelines and manuals on biodiversity corridor management and best practices are produced.
The project’s completion date is 31 March 2019.
The Executing Agencies for the Project is the Forestry Administration (FA) of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry, and Fisheries and the General Department of Administration of Nature Protection and Conservation (GDANCP) in the Ministry of Environment. Implementing agencies in Koh Kong and Mondulkiri provinces are the governor’s offices.
The project’s financing is provided entirely by ADB.Table 1 below shows the project’s financing and investment plan as contained in the grant agreement.
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Table 1:Project Financing and Investment Plan
Amount Allocated [$]Number / Item / Category / Subcategory
1 / Civil Works (small scale infrastructure) / 3,534,100
2 / Vehicles and Equipment / 946,600
2A / Vehicles / 452,500
2B / Equipment / 494,100
3 / Goods & Services / 3,932,020
4 / Livelihood Inputs / 2,481,000
5 / Training and Others / 603,900
6 / Consulting Services / 6,400,300
7 / Project Management / 870,040
8 / Recurrent Costs / 232,040
Total excluding contingency / 19,000,000
ADB completed review missions of the Project in June 2012, December 2012, May 2013, December 2013, and December 2014, July-August and December 2015, January 2016, March 2016 and July 2016.Aide memoires from thosemissionsare on file at ADB and in the Project Implementing Units (PIUs) of the Executing Agencies.
At this stage of the BCC Project, the project scope and implementation arrangements follow those in the Report and Recommendation of the President (RRP).
The immediate development objectives will be met at least in part. Remedial measures were put in place in December 2014, based on the current project scope and implementation arrangements.
2Utilization of Funds
During quarter 2 of2016, the FA PIU of the BCC Project disbursed $155,000and had cumulative disbursements through 31March 2016 of $2,039,371 million, as shown in Table 2.Major expenditures by the Project cumulative to 30June 2016 include the payment on the contract for Grant Implementation Consultants (GIC),the purchase of vehicles and motorcycles, the purchase of computer and office equipment, payment of supplementary payments to government staff assigned to the Project, purchase of field equipment, purchase of tree seeds and seedlings and payments to communities for weeding/firebreakforest, and field verification in preparation for boundary poles procurement.
Table 2:Q2 2016 BCC FA PIU Disbursements by Category
Figure 1 shows the disbursement S curves for the BCC Project.For information and comparison, this figure shows the S curve projection for the total Project from the ADB revised forecast that was completed in March 2014, the actual cumulative disbursements from the totalProject so far, and the actual cumulative disbursements by the FA PIU so far. Cumulatively through 31March 2016, the FA PIU of the BCC Project has disbursed $2,884,872 million. The revised target for total project cumulative disbursements by 31 December 2015 is $6.383 million.
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Figure 1:Q2 2016 BCC Project and FA PIU Disbursement S Curves
Table 3 shows the FA PIU disbursements by output.Most disbursements for Q2 2016were for Output 4 - project management - about $69,917 of the $155,000 disbursed. Disbursements for Output 2 for Q2 2016 were $24,258 and for Output 1 were $47,361. Cumulatively for FA PIU to 30June 2016, about $1,437,207 million of the $2,039,371 million disbursed for by FA PIU is for Output 4.
Table 4 shows the BCC project disbursements according to direct replenishment, first-generation imprest account, and sub-imprest accounts.Cumulatively for the FA PIU, about $359,101 has been disbursed through direct replenishment, $1.009,355 has been disbursed through the first-generation imprest accounts, and $670,915through sub-imprest accounts.
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Table 3:Q2 2016 BCC FA PIU Disbursements by Output
Table 4:Q2 2016 BCC FA PIU Disbursements by Type
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3Implementation Progress
Table 7 and Figure 3 show the per cent of completion for each output in the project. The key activities in each output are given a weighting; overall progress of an output is a weighted average of progress in all activities in that output.
Appendix 1 to this report contains detailed tables that show progress against each key activity in an output.
FA has completed about 65% of the activities that have physical targets in Output1 and about 22% of the activities in Output 2.
Output 1
- 14 CF communities covering a total area of 32,769 ha have been approved under FA/MAFF;
- CF Management Plan development was slow in progress due the forest areas were transferred to MoE. Technical assistance for CFMP is provided by CF Department of FA;
- Prepared all necessary documents for 4 CFs in Mondulkiri for submission to MAFF to get CF Prakas. Once the Prakas is obtained, the CF agreement could be signed accordingly.
- 550 CF pole installation were fully completed for the remaining 8 CFs including 500 poles for 06 CFs in Mondulkiri and 50 poles for Koh Kong;
- 28 CF billboards were installedin 13 CFs including 23 billboards for 09 CFs in Modulkiri and 05 billboards in 04 CFs in Koh Kong. The billboards are about to inform villagers of CF location and CF maps, to raise awarness and education on forest fire protection and on Assisted Natural Regeneration);
- A study tour to exchange experiences on forest research station establishment and ANR implementation in Siem Reap was conducted with a total of 67participants (07 women) including FA, local authorities, CFMC and PIU Salaketh from both provinces.
- Meetings with CFManagement Committeeswere conductedd in 9 CFs in Modulkiri to discuss on record keeping, to monitor patrolling materials and to strengthen CF Management Structures with a total of 96 participants (09 women);
- CFMC re-election in TateyLeur CF in Koh Kong was conducted with a total of 104 participants (55 women);
- Meetings with newly-elected CF Management Committee (CFMC) in 07 CFs including 04 CFs in Modulkiri and 03 CFs Koh Kong to strengthen of CF management structure and review CF internal rule and regulation and CFMC by-laws;
Output 2
- Enrichment planting and natural regeneration (NR) for 2016 and 2017 in both provinces have been completed. Total Ha for both enrichment planting and ANR is 932 ha including enrichment planting is 468 ha for 05 CFs (03 in Mondulkiri and 02 in Koh Kong) and ANR is 464 ha for 09 CFs (05 in Mondulkiri and 04 in Koh Kong);
- Meetings with CFMC, FA and local authorities were arranged to discuss about ANR contracts and implementation in 09 CFs including 05 CFs in Mondulkiri and 04 CFs in Koh Kong. After the meetings, field verification to ANR areas in all all CFs were arranged. The team also worked on identifying the key species for ANR.Lists of tree species for ANR in each CFs were also documented;
- Technical trainings on ANR were provided to 03 out of 05 CFs in Mondulkiri with a total of 52 participants (04 women);
- 140 small signboards are placed around the ANR areas in 04 CFs in Koh Kong;
- Two nurseries are in full operation and seedling maintenance is in progress. Up to now, there are about 30,000 seedlings have been germinated and maintained;
- Facilitated meetings with FA cantonment and CFMC to discuss about research station establishment and implementation for both provinces;
Output 3
- ToR of livelihood consultants developed and recruitment process is underway. The Livelihood Officers will be on board in Q3;
- Village Development Fund (VDF) manual drafted and comments from PIUs incorporated. VDF Inception Report prepared and submitted to PIUs. Field ToTtrainings to PIUs will be conducted in Q3;
- For livelihood strategy and implementation: submission 2: technical evaluation report of the consulting firm will be submitted in July and submission 4: draft contract and minute of contract negotiation will be in early August;
- Small scale infrastructure design and supervision (SSIS) field work was completed in both Mondulkiri and Koh Kong. Preliminary costing and screening criteria developed. The field report and final SSIS report prepared and comments from PIUs were incorporated.Final SSIS report was submitted to PIUs;
- Contract Variation 4 has been signed with Lao Consulting Group. Mobilization of team leader and all consultants will be in Q3 2016.
PPCR Additional Financing:
- The 03 consultancy packages including i) Design and Supervision for Irrigation System, Rain water Harvesting Ponds and Sea Barriers (QCBS Method); ii) Capacity Building for the Ecosystem-based Adaptation in O Por Catchment Subproject (QBS Method); iii) Capacity Building for System of Rice Intensification and Drought- and Salinity Resistant Crops (QBS Method) are underway. It’s expected that the submission 1: will be completed and submitted in Q3 2016.
Social Safeguard and Gender
- Social safeguard training manual drafted and submitted for comments from PIUs. The khmer version of social safeguard training manual translated into Khmer. It’s expected that training will be conducted in Q3 2016;
- GAP orientation had been introduced to the program manager and finance officer;
- Gender training materials have been prepared and waiting for comments from team leader and international experts. It’s expected that the trainings will be conducted in Q3 2016.
Environmental Safeguards
Environmental risk assessment and management plans not yet completed. GIC team is still recruiting a national environmental safeguards specialist.
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Figure 3:Progress on Completing Project Outputs
Table 7:Progress on Completing Project Outputs
Weight / Completion % of Activites in Output 1 / Completion % of Activites in Output 2 / Completion % of Activites in Output 3FA CF Boundary Marking / 50% / 100%
FA CF Training / 50% / 30%
FA CF Forest Enhancement / 70% / 31%
FA CF Agroforestry/NTFP / 30% / 0%
FA CF Livelihood / 40% / 0%
FA CF VDFs / 30% / 0%
FA CF Infrastructure / 30% / 0%
Weighted Average Completion % for the Output / 65.0% / 21.9% / 0%
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4Compliance with Covenants
The primary covenant in the grant agreement is that the Cambodia government shall furnish ADB with a financial audit of the Project at the end of each financial year. The BCC Project has submitted an audit conducted by KPMG of Cambodia for the years ended 31 December 2012 and 31 December 2013 to the Ministry of Economy and Finance and to ADB. KPMG of Cambodia will complete an audit for the year ending 31 December 2014 in Q2 2015.
Schedule 3 contains a number of provisions on procurement and consulting services. The BCC Project is meeting those provisions.
Schedule 4 in the grant agreement outlines a number of requirements for execution of the Project. These include environment; resettlement; ethnic groups; gender and development; community awareness and beneficiary participation; operation and maintenance of project facilities; monitoring of social and environmental safeguards; sub-project selection and screening; community development fund guidelines and regulations; and governance and anti-corruption.
As of Q1 2015, the only requirements above that the BCC Project will address relate to monitoring of social and environmental safeguards. The BCC Project has contracted an international social safeguards specialist, an international environmental safeguards specialist, a national social safeguard specialist, a national gender specialist, and a national environmental specialist.
5Major Project Issues and Problems
The major issues for this Q2 2016 are as the followings:
- The Protection Forest under MAFF/FA will be transferred to MoE. With this matter, the established CFs in this forest will experience a transition. This causes delay in implementation of activities.
- In this transition period, the CF agreement and CF management plan development will not be completed as originally proposed in the annaul work plan.
- GIC team is not on board yet.
6. List of Appendix
Appendix 1: Detailed Achievementsby Key Activities in Each Output
APPENDIX 2: PROGRESS AGAINST GAP TARGETS
APPENDIX 3: FOREST ENHANCEMENT AUDITING FINAL REPORT
APPENDIX 4: CDF FINAL MANUAL
APPENDIX 5: SMALL-SCALE INFRASTRUCTURE DESIGN AND SUPERVISION (PHASE 1_SCOPING AND PLANNING)
APPENDIX 6: SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL SAFEGUARD
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