UNITED NATIONS DEVELOPMENT PROGRAMME
GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
PROPOSAL FOR PIPELINE ENTRY
Project Title: Demonstrations of Integrated Ecosystem and Watershed Management in the Caatinga
GEF Implementing Agency: UNDP
Country: Brazil
GEF Focal Area: Biodiversity; Climate Change, & Land Degradation
Operational Programme: OP 12: Integrated Ecosystem Management
Project Duration: Ten years in three phases [Phase I: 4 yrs; Phases II & III 3 yrs each]
Funding Requested: GEF contributions Phase I: 6 m; Phase II: 7m; Phase III: 7m. Total approximate co-funding US$ 80 million detailed in paragraph 60
Preparation Grant Awarded: PRIF funding of US $ 100,000
Council Submission: May 2002
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Project Summary, Development Status, Endorsement and Response to Reviews
1. The goal of this project is to develop a biome-level framework for the integrated ecosystem management of the Caatinga Tropical Dry Forest of Brazil and build multi-sector capacity so that the implementation of baseline development and poverty alleviation programmes is consistent with the capture of multiple global benefits. Significant benefits will be incurred in Climate Change through carbon emission avoidance and increased carbon capture - the former through reduction of deforestation rates and increased efficiency of transformation and final end-use of Caatinga biomass, and the latter through reforestation of degraded lands with native species. Biodiversity benefits will be achieved through strengthening protected area management in this globally significant biome. These actions will also produce critical watershed conservation in a drought prone area, halting land degradation and the advance of desertification in this semi-arid region.
2. The preparation process is supported through a fully endorsed UNDP Preparatory Assistance Project that counts with GEF PRIF resources to finalise the institutional, financial and technical design of the full-scale project through broad stakeholder consultation. The co-ordination and execution of this project preparation is the responsibility of the Ministry of the Environment (MMA), with implementation under the responsibility of the Forests Directory, through its Support Unit in the Northeast. An earlier version of this Concept was submitted to the GEF Sec for review in June 2001, however, it was not included in the pipeline based on the following three comments: (i) the presence of a “technically cleared” Concept for the Caatinga submitted by the World Bank; (ii) doubts that the proposal would make significant difference on the ground and (iii) concerns over the amount of funding requested. As the July bilateral meeting was postponed, UNDP did not have the opportunity to rebut these issues despite formally requesting a new meeting date.
3. As regards the first issue, the Government of Brazil (GoB) have requested UNDP to resubmit the Concept as it considers this initiative to be the priority intervention for the Caatinga and the only one they have formally acknowledged and endorsed. The Brazilian GEF Focal Point - the Secretariat of International Affairs (SEAIN) - has requested the GEF Sec that no initiatives be considered that do not have their formal acknowledgement or endorsement. The Preparatory Assistance for the proposal presented herein was approved by the GoB in 13th December 2000; the first version of the Concept arising from this was acknowledged by SEAIN in a letter from dated 29th May 2001 and a first version of the Project Brief received their endorsement through a letter dated 19th October 2001 (see Annex I ). Links between the present biome-level Concept and the development of any potential State-level World Bank initiative are detailed in paragraph 62. In regard to the second two issues, this up-dated Concept includes more detail to illustrate the substantial on the ground effects of the proposed project and has reduced the amount of GEF funding requested by 30%.
Link to National Priorities, Programmes and Actions
The Brazilian Government (GoB) has adopted a development strategy in which development regions (or “axes”) have been defined using environmental assets and conservation as part of a framework to develop business opportunities and sources of income and jobs. Within these “axes” the GoB seeks to co-ordinate programmes and actions of different governmental levels and sectors to ensure well-articulated regional approaches to improving living conditions. The North-eastern region of Brazil, which houses the largest part of the Caatinga, conforms one of these regions– the Transnordeste axis. It has the lowest sustainable human development indexes of the country and has been designated a priority of this new strategy. By developing a framework for integrated ecosystem management at the biome level, promoting the sustainable management of natural resources to improve livelihoods and co-ordinating actions at different governmental levels (federal, states and municipalities) and across governmental and non-governmental sectors in the Transnordeste axis, this proposal fully complies with both the integrated approach of the GoB’s development strategy and the priority it designates to the North-eastern region.
4. The demonstration of integrated ecosystem management with co-ordinated action at different levels will also facilitate the implementation of the National Environmental Policy that adopts a multi-layered, but integrated, institutional arrangement following the 1988 Federal Constitution, which determined the transference of a series of environmental management responsibilities from Federal Agencies to the State Environmental Management Agencies -OEMAs in order to expedite and improve performance in the enforcement of regulations. In this multi-layered approach, the Ministry of the Environment (MMA) is the federal institution responsible for the policy and planning of environmental activities including the use and conservation of forest resources. IBAMA (The Brazilian Institute for the Environment and Renewable Natural Resources) is the MMA’s principal executing agency, and OEMAs are responsible for execution within their jurisdiction.
5. By developing a framework for conservation of the Caatinga from a biome perspective based on local and State level action, and by strengthening existing conservation’s units and promoting the creation of new ones within an integrated ecosystem management approach, this project proposal also falls clearly within national biodiversity priorities and strategies and will assist Brazil in meeting its recent commitment to conserving 10% of each of its major biomes by the year 2020 (National Biodiversity Strategy). It will contribute significantly towards the National System of Conservation Units (SNUC), approved recently through Law Nº 9985 of 18th July 2000. Furthermore, this initiative is compliant with the GEF funded- National Biodiversity Programme (PRONABIO), which aims at promoting co-operation between the GoB and civil society for conservation of Brazilian biodiversity, its sustainable use and equitable sharing of benefits. It also draws from recommendations of the PRONABIO funded-workshop (May 2000) “Evaluation and Identification of Priority Actions for the Conservation, Sustainable Use and Equitable Distribution of Benefits of the Biodiversity of the Caatinga Biome” henceforth called the Caatinga Workshop.
6. The project is also consistent with the Brazilian National Forestry Programme that works in close collaboration with productive sectors and the civil society to establish sustainable forestry practices adapted to the ecological, economic and social conditions of different forest ecosystems whilst conserving forest stocks and biodiversity. Similarly it will support the National Programme on Biodiversity and Genetic Resources (BIOVIDA) that seeks, amongst other issues, the sustainable management of the Brazilian flora and fauna and the dissemination of well-succeeded experiences. As the project will include actions to promote community participation in the sustainable-use of Caatinga resources that provide alternatives to curb emissions of GHGs, it will also facilitate the civil society’s ability to partake in the fight against global warming - a goal that forms part of a commitment assumed under the Framework Convention on Climate Change (FCCC). As project activities will abate current levels of environmental degradation in a semi-arid region, it is also consistent with Brazil’s commitment to the Convention for Combating Desertification, their National Policy on the Control of Desertification (1997) and the ensuing National Strategy for Combating Desertification that is active in the Caatinga. Indeed the proposed Project is a direct follow up of MMA official position at the CCB CoP III 1999 that pledged the formulation of a project to explore alternatives for the sustainable use of natural resources that impede the process of desertification in the Caatinga, and its presentation to GEF.
Project Context
7. Global Significance: With its vast size and geographical position, Brazil is one of the most important repository of the world’s biodiversity as well as being a key player in the scenario for fighting global warming. Until now, the focus of attention regarding these matters, has been on the Amazonian Forest and to a lesser degree, the Atlantic Coastal Forest. However, nested in a transition zone between these forests, Brazil also has a unique tropical dry forest – known as the Caatinga - that could also play a critical role in conserving these global values.
8. Covering 10% of the nation’s surface area (858,000 km²) and comprised by the parts[1] of ten States from the Northeast, this region is known as the Brazilian semi-arid. It is covered by Caatinga Forest meaning “white forest” in the Tupi-Guarani language. Found only in Brazil, the Caatinga Forest is made up of a mosaic of xerophytic and deciduous vegetation, composed predominately of low to medium sized trees and thorny bushes mixed with a large number of prickly succulent cacti and spiny rigid-leafed bromeliads. The Caatinga is the only tropical dry forest ecoregion surrounded by semi-humid and humid forests. In the east, it borders with the seasonal deciduous forest (the "agreste") which gives way to forests of the Atlantic coast. In the south, it flanks the cerrado vegetation of Bahia, Minas Gerais and Piauí and in the north the coastal and mangrove swamp formations. The transitions, or ecotones, between these different forests display a unique combination of species and habitats[2], and represent the adaptation of neotropical forest to semi-arid conditions (see Annex 2 for map of vegetation types).
9. The complex made up of ecotones, the Caatinga proper and the small islands of cerrado or agreste vegetation found in its more humid higher area, constitutes a world centre for biodiversity with an estimated 20,000 species of flowering plants and a rich, although less known, fauna composition that includes 17 species of amphibians, 44 reptile species, 270 species of birds and 83 mammals[3]. It also plays a vital role in seed dispersal for important species in surrounding ecosystems and has relatively high levels of endemism - all characteristics that have placed the Caatinga eco-region as a top priority for conservation in Latin America[4].
10. The Caatinga eco-region, also has an enormous potential in carbon storage capability. Caatinga standing woody biomass averages 44 m3/ha with an annual increment ranging from 1.5 to 6 m3/ha/year. Despite sparse information, it has been estimated that the remaining Caatinga represents a carbon sink in the order of at least 2.5 billion DTMs[5], with an annual renewed storage capacity (through natural regeneration) of 1.5 DTM/ha (UAP 2001). Native Caatinga is also critical to curb soil erosion, which can lead to generalised land degradation. This is particularly important as the North-eastern region suffers recurrent droughts that collectively represent up to ten years of each century and can each last up to five years. Only 14% the municipalities in the Northeast are exempt from droughts and 45% have reported at least five major drought periods. The irregular and low precipitation, high evapo-transpiration, extremely few perennial rivers and water bodies and reduced conditions for underground water storage, further exacerbate these droughts and greatly increases the risk of desertification throughout the Caatinga. Indeed the region has been designated as the “Drought Polygon” with approximately 181,000 km2 classified as of great desertification risk and the remainder largely falling under serious or moderate desertification risk categories.
11. The semi-arid region’s population is estimated at 18.5 million, corresponding to 11% of the Brazilian population (UAP 2001). In part as a result of the extreme environment, living conditions in the region are harsh with Human Development Indexes below the national average[6]. Population distribution was once governed largely by microclimates, soil fertility and water availability, and was concentrated in fertile valleys such as the Sao Francisco River. It is now more widespread, follows road networks and is increasingly urban. Forty-six percent of the population (8.6m) live in rural areas and subsist under great social and economic vulnerability resulting in high emigration rates to regional cities or to other regions of the country in search of jobs. This emigration generates high concentrations of women, adolescents, children and elders in rural communities and a subsequent labour scarcity in rural areas causing a shift from being mainly productive to becoming higher consumers of natural resources. Despite this emigration, population density in rural areas is approximately 20 hab/km2, a value much higher that any other semi-arid region in the world.
12. Threats to Global Values: The Brazilian semi-arid population has a close connection with the native vegetation, drawing much of their livelihood from the land. However, the combination of growing populations, harsh and drought-prone climate and unsustainable land-use practices, is causing increasing environmental degradation in the semi-arid region. Recent assessments indicate that the Caatinga is one of the most threatened of Brazilian biomes with more than 50% of its original cover already transformed by human action (Casteleti et al. 2000). Deforestation rates ran as high as 1.0% per year in the 1982-92 decade, three times higher than the rate in the Amazon Forest for the same period. This is driven by a series of proximate threats which are summarised below.
13. Timber Exploitation. In the advent of the 1970 international energy crisis, bakeries and the ceramic, plaster and steel industries in the Brazilian semi-arid region turned to wood for fuel as an inexpensive energy that increased the competitiveness of the final product. Wood biomass is now the key source of energy in the Northeast, representing up to 33% of the region’s entire energy matrix and 73% of household energy in small and medium size rural properties. Studies have shown that this industrial and domestic use could be sustainable if forest management techniques that ensure continued biomass production are adopted[7]. However, to the contrary, clear-cutting is widely used for extracting wood biomass for firewood and charcoal production for industry and domestically for food-preparation and as a cash-generating alternative. The clear-cutting and subsequent adoption of unsustainable agricultural and livestock practices (see below), affect biodiversity through habitat fragmentation and insularisation and impedes the maintenance of minimum viable populations for many fauna species by reducing feeding grounds and jeopardising reproduction sites. Clear cutting and the use of inefficient burning technologies such as open-fire stoves and rudimentary charcoal-producing ovens, also contributes to the release of carbon to the atmosphere. Caatinga timber is also used extensively for stakes for fences and for boxes for exporting agricultural products.