GLOBAL ENVIRONMENT FACILITY
CONCEPT PAPER
1. ProjecProjectt Title: Madagascar: Third Environment Program, Support to the Protected Area Network and Strategic Zones
2. Country: Madagascar
3. GEF Focal Area(s): Biodiversity, cross-cutting with land degradation
- Operational Program: OP1: arid and semi-arid zone ecosystems;
OP2: coastal, marine and freshwater ecosystems;
OP3: forest ecosystems
OP13: biological diversity in important to agriculture
5. Estimated Costs and Financing (USD million):
GEF: US$ 8.0 million (World Bank) No PDF funds requested
US$ 4.0 million (UNDP)
Co-financing:
IDA US$ 40.0 million
Government/Beneficiaries
through debt conversion
and PA revenues US$ 10.0 million
UNDP(TRAC) US$ 1.8 million
USAID US$ 35.0 million
KFW US$ 27.0 million
WWF US$ 1.0 million
CI US$ 1.0 million
Other Co-financing (JICA, US$ 22.2 million
Coopération Française, EU, etc.)
TOTAL Project Cost: US$ 150.0 million
6. Project Duration : 5 years
7. GEF Implementing Agency: Implemented jointly by the UNDP and the World Bank
8. Executing Agency: Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Water and Forests of Madagascar
9. Secretary General, Ministry of Environment
Ministry of Environment
Project Summary: The proposed project UNDP/GEF and IDA/GEF funding supports the third five-year phase of the Environmental Action Plan (PAE). The PAE was adopted by the Government of Madagascar in 1989, while implementation started in 1991 with the support of a broad coalition of bilateral donors (Germany, France, Switzerland, USA), international agencies (GEF, IDA, UNDP) and NGOs (WWF, Conservation International). Ahead of its time, the PAE was designed from its inception as a fifteen-year investment program divided into three five-year phases. The first five-year phase aimed at creating a proper policy, regulatory and institutional framework so as to generate the conditions for genuine country ownership of the environmental agenda that prior to the PAE used to be set and driven by the donor community. The second phase of the PAE aimed at consolidating the programs initiated under the first phase while expanding into the forest and marine and coastal sectors. The established national institutions were put more firmly in the driver's seat. The third phase aims to achieve the mainstreaming of environment into macroeconomic management and sector programs, mainstreaming into local governance and community initiatives, and putting into place sustainable financing mechanisms for the environment. The third phase of PAE incorporates an “exit strategy”, meaning that the third phase is supporting to progressively reduce dependence on donor funds and a move towards internally managed funds for operating and investment cost of PAE, while leaving open the door for continued donor assistance to a country–led programmatic approach to environmental management.
WB, UNDP and GEF support The project financed by UNDP, IDA and GEF is geared towards assisting the GoM in the implementation of selective elements of the third phase of the overall Environmental Action Plan based on the incremental cost principle. It is complementary to, and builds upon support provided by other partners and co-financiers. It is against this background that the development objective of the project is specified as: setting natural resources management and biodiversity protection in critical ecological regions on an effective and sustainable footing with active participation from local populations and other relevant stakeholders, while at the same time incorporating environmental dimensions in public policy making and investment decisions. The innovative mechanisms set in motion by EP II for donor coordination will continue to be effectively used.
GEF financing would aim to preserve the quality of regional and global commons with contributions to the following activities:
i. Demonstration and mainstreaming of integrated and sustainable community-based forest and fisheries management in PA buffer zones and surrounding landscapes and seascapes. The project will provide funding to develop integrated natural resource management models, support multi-stakeholder participatory planning, develop core management capacities, and develop policy and institutional mechanisms to ensure mainstreaming (UNDP). best models for sustainable community-based forest and fisheries management to improve biodiversity conservation in the production sectors and participatory planning and private sector involvement in the development of sustainably produced biodiversity products (UNDP).
ii. Improvement of the long-term financial, institutional, social and environmental sustainability of the national protected area system through (World Bank):
- Rationalization of the PA system to increase representativeness through re-delineating boundaries and establishment of new protected areas;
- Consolidation of the emerging PA system through strengthened surveillance, improved monitoring and evaluation, investments in critical infrastructure, and improvement of management effectiveness;
- Stakeholder participation in PA management through decentralized community governance structures and capacity building for biodiversity conservation through partnerships with civil society groups;
- Gradual decrease on dependence of donor funding through development of a sustainable financing mechanism for the protected area network.
GEF Concept Paper for a Full Project
1 Context:
1.1 Special features of the country:
Madagascar, which comprises the fourth largest island in the world, has been separated from the continents since the end of the age of the dinosaurs. As a result of its long-lasting geographical isolation and its highly varied geomorphology and micro-climates, the archaic life-forms making up its highly varied terrestrial ecosystems have evolved into some of the most unique biodiversity in the world. Madagascar has been called the single highest major biodiversity conservation priority in the world, owing to its combination of high diversity, endemism, and degree of threat.
Madagascar is one of the 17 recognized megadiversity countries that represent 80% of the world’s biological diversity. About 80% of the 10,000 plant species that have been identified are endemic, with 940 endemic species of trees and large shrubs alone. Although Madagascar occupies only about 1.9% of the land area of the African region, it is home to about 25% of all African plants and has more orchids than the entire African mainland. In addition, Madagascar is home to a large diversity of medicinal plants that are of critical importance to the pharmaceutical industry. Inventory and research on biodiversity of Madagascar is still far from complete and many more aspects of this exceptional biodiversity remain to be discovered.
The percentage of endemism for most taxa of animals is usually even higher than for plants. The best examples are the lemurs, all but one species of which occur naturally only in Madagascar. Of the 280 bird species recorded with (204 species breed in Madagascar), 110 species are listed as endemic. Of the 346 reptile species recorded, 314 are endemic. Only two other eco-regions in the world, i.e., Caribbean and Meso-America, can match Madagascar’s diversity in reptiles. Raxworthy (in press) suggests a high risk of extinction for 18 reptile species. Most remarkable is that Madagascar harbors endemism at the higher taxonomic level (genus and family level). It provides for 5 endemic botanic families and 5 endemic primate families. In comparison, Brazil, the largest tropical country of the world, does not have one single endemic family.
TThe ecosystems of Madagascar include fragments of the once extensive lowland humid tropical forests in the east, the still widespread, mid-altitude humid tropical forests centered on the eastern escarpment, high altitude montane ecosystems, the greatly diminished range of dry forests in the west and the highly unique spiny forests of the southwest. The southern portion of the country extends into the temperate zone. WWF has identified 7 distinct ecoregions, all of high global conservation significance.
Madagascar has over 5000 kilometers of coast, with the second largest barrier reef in the world found in the southwest. A rapid assessment conducted by CI this year showed that Madagascar’s coral reefs have some of the highest levels of species diversity of the region combined with a significant level of endemism. Mangrove forests are common in the west. Remnants of the littoral forest ecosystems are found along the eastern coast.
1.2 Problems and threats:
In Madagascar there is a need to halt and reverse the downward spiral of poverty and environmental degradation. The situation in rural Madagascar is characterized by widespread, extreme poverty and significant pressure on its unique biodiversity resources. The country has fallen deeper into poverty, with its GDP per capita falling from US$383 (in 1995 dollars) in 1960 to US$246 today. Close to 80% of the poor live in rural areas. Their livelihood almost exclusively depend on agriculture and related activities. Low productivity in combination with a rapidly growing population have generated pressures for agricultural expansion through forest conversion under slash-and burn production systems. Further contributing to this trend are poorly defined property rights and a breakdown in traditional regulatory mechanisms caused by increasing human migration within the country. More productive agricultural practices that could have helped mitigate natural resource destruction have been hampered by lack of: (i) basic infrastructure; (ii) market integration; (iii) resource inputs; and (iv) adequate access to credit. Poorly regulated commercial exploitation of forests for timber, due to weaknesses in central policies and institutions, and a failure to invoke the cooperation of all stakeholders, particularly those at local and regional levels are other root causes of deforestation. In addition, poor governance in the forestry sector has been conducive in generating a climate under which illegal logging practices could flourish. As a result, more than 80 per cent of the country’s original forest cover has disappeared. The area covered by primary forest has decreased to 15 per cent. It is noteworthy that the forest cover would disappear within 25 years if current trends were to continue. Inadequate management continually threatens the existing protected areas. There continues to be lack of management skills and training to execute programs and enforce laws . With the recent decentralization of government services and decision making, it has still yet to be seen how increased revenue to the regions will be utilized. For the protected area system, ANGAP currently does not have any policing authority for law enforcement . However, this authority will be granted as part of the newly approved Code des Aires Protégées.
Hence, biodiversity loss is a direct consequence of forest loss. Consequently, forest destruction and poor land use have eliminated wildlife habitat at an alarming rate, resulting in unknown loss of plant and animal species, many of which are not yet known to science. Furthermore, unique ecosystems have become increasingly fragmented, threatening their ecological integrity and resulting in decreasing levels of genetic variability of unique wildlife populations, a situation that ultimately leads to species extinction. Deforestation and habitat destruction threaten not only biological diversity, but also watershed and soil stability vital to the agrarian economy. Deforestation has caused significant loss of topsoil (up to 150-200 tons per hectare per year on bare land). The economic cost of lower agricultural productivity due to soil loss, siltation and water shortage, damaged infrastructure, and coastal zone degradation and the need to build new infrastructure continues to place a heavy burden on the country’s GNP. Total annual costs of environmental degradation, from soil erosion, silting, declining soil fertility and loss of forests has been estimated at 5%-15% of GDP. At the same time, soil erosion has resulted in widespread coastal and marine sedimentation with yet unknown consequences on marine biodiversity as the distribution, status and threats to marine biodiversity as a whole are currently little known and understood.
Biodiversity management in Madagascar is complicated by the exceptionally fragile terrestrial ecology – the fauna and flora have a very poor ability to regenerate following habitat disturbance or conversion. There are almost no native pioneer species capable of recolonizing severely disturbed sites where forests have been converted to grasslands. Although humans only arrived about 1500 years ago, about three fourths of the island is now covered by grasslands that are dominated by a low diversity of pan-tropical, exotic grass species. Many anthropogenic impacts in Madagascar seem to be largely irreversible. Furthermore, ecological inter-connectedness implies that degradation in one ecosystem can have profound repercussions on others, through systems feedback . The development of productive, sustainable land use systems in Madagascar is also made more challenging by the fact that Madagascar has some of the least fertile and most highly erodible soils in the world. The soils are so infertile that aA large part of the grasslands leave much of the soil surface still exposed even at the peak of vegetative development at the end of the rainy season. Loss of forests can result in sedimentation of freshwater and marine ecosystems, changes to the whole hydrologic cycle and, loss or reduced productivity of lowland rice fields and reduced productivity of freshwater and marine fisheries.
The principal direct threats to biological diversity include:
· Deforestation -- Half of the remaining natural forests of Madagascar have been lost over the past 40 years. Land clearing for agriculture in the dry forest almost always results in the conversion to grasslands after only one cycle of cultivation. Slash-and-burn agriculture in the humid forest can support one to half a dozen cycles of field and fallow before sites are abandoned. Forests are being “mined” by farmers for the short-term, unsustainable use of their nutrients
· Unsustainable harvest of biological resources – This is a widespread problem for marine and coastal resources, for natural forests and for freshwater ecosystems.
· Uncontrolled burning
· Dry forests are often converted to unproductive grasslands by fire alone.
· Fire in the humid forests is an unquantified, highly destructive and perhaps growing threat.
· There has been widespread, but poorly quantified, degradation of rangelands
· Sedimentation/siltation of marine/coastal and freshwater ecosystems
The environmental effects of these threats include:
· Conversion of highly diverse forest habitats into extremely low diversity, low productivity grasslands, often of very low economic value;
· Degradation and loss of coral reefs, mangroves and sea grass beds from sedimentation.
· Land degradation and ;
· Simplification of ecosystems and loss of economic potential;
· Fragmentation of forest ecosystems and loss of ecological corridors;
· Degradation and loss of productivity of grasslands. loss of ecosystem resilience;
The root causes of these threats are further described in detail in Annexureppendix B. In summary, the priority root causes are the following: