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SUPPORT
TO THE WORLD BANK FOR THE PREPARATION OF THE
BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION PROJECT
FOR BOSNIA AND HERZEGOVINA
Component 1: Establishment, Expansion
and Physical Improvement of Sustainably Managed
Protected Areas
This
component’s objective is to help preserve
BiH’s globally significant biodiversity
focusing on its critical forests and mountain
ecosystems though by establishing an increased
network of additional areas that are protected
within BiH via intra, inter, as well as trans-national
cooperative options and improved management practices.
Due
to the division of BiH into two entities (and
Brcko District) the expansion of or creation of
PAs requires a strong cooperation between the
authorities to make the best out of the given
biodiversity resources. Thus, this project is
a seed project to test multiple options.
This
component has two sub components: (i) organizational
support for the managerial steps in expanding,
creating, and improving PAs such as Environmental
Assessments, Social Assessments, feasibility studies,
management plan and cadastre review; and (ii)
physical structural support including civil works,
equipment, and transport options (motorcycles,
trucks, and horses).
(i)
Organizational support. Through participatory
selection this component aims to systematically
create and expand PAs at multiple levels and across
all IUCN categories. As a seed project, it is
anticipated that the size of PAs will increase
from 0.55% some four fold. The results will leverage
lessons learned for future replication, addressing
cross section of types and structures of PAs.
The six (6) priority PAs address three different
types and organizational structure of PAs. These
six (6) PAs were chosen from the development of
participatory methodologies will be applied elsewhere
in BiH in the future. The learning outcomes also
have relevance for the wider ecosystems of the
West Balkans, and therefore the opportunities
for sub-regional learning would be consistent
with work linked to the South Eastern Europe Stability
Pact. Each feasibility study will include options
for either expand the physical border of the proposed
PA organizationally or create cross associations
of connecting smaller units together, one if such
applies to cross entity, canton (FBiH) or organization
structures (such as National Parks expanding /
associating with a connecting state forest). In
achieving government’s goal of increased
size of PAs, two approaches must be addressed,
to extend existing PAs and establish new PAs;
a) developing associations across the organizations
of an overall PA or b) the physical and organization
of singular PA. This includes necessary EAs, SAs
and feasibility studies.
Expansion
of existing PAs. The component will evaluate opportunities
for extending the existing PAs beyond their current
borders, if expansion is feasible from a biodiversity
and a political standpoint.
Establishment
of new PAs. This component intends to establish
two new PAs in BiH. The process of setting up
new PAs will be assisted by this component.
This
component will finance the utilizational updates
of existing and starting new studies that focus
on the possibilities to integrate BiH’s
biodiversity conservation activities in an international
network. With the development of BiH PA-Association,
there is the potential to connecting with the
international network of PAs that currently extends
from Greece, in the south to Slovenia, in the
north. Thus this component will support various
activities (conferences, studies, workshops, etc.)
for inter-entity and trans-boundary cooperation
by developing opportunities for organizational
and physical links and biological corridors between
the PAs.
During
the implementation phase it is foreseen that the
project will look at other potential PAs and check
whether there is scope and interest for additional
PAs supported through the project. Both the establishment
of new or the potential expansion of PAs will
be without the purchase of private land for political
and budget reasons.
(ii)
Physical creation / improvement of PAs infrastructure.
Upon establishment of the PA structure, this component
will then support with building of new physical
infrastructure for newly created PAs and the improve
the physical infrastructure assist of existing
PAs. That may inter alias include improved facilities
(administration office including equipment, civic
works for repair or construction of visitor centers),
laboratory facilities, environmentally selected
access roads, emergency stripes, ranger motorbikes
and horses, firefighting equipment, marked trials
and in accordance to safety i.e. landmines.
Component
2: Capacity Enhancement and Training for Successful
Management of Protected Areas and their Buffer
Zones
This
component aims to build capacity of state, entity
and local institutions and other stakeholders
to manage PAs and conserve biodiversity within
production landscapes. As the government aims
to increase the size of PAs, it is likely therefore
that significant capacity development is required
in order that the PAs and buffer zones established
within Component 1. Therefore training at this
time is critical to have programs tailored to
meet the needs of managers, foresters, rangers
and the community in the PAs. The institutions
responsible for the planning, declaration and
management of PAs throughout the BiH are considered
to be under-resourced and generally weak. Strengthening
these institutions at all levels will be critical
if the objectives of expansion and sustainable
management of the PA network is to be achieved.
Multiple levels of capacity enhancement and training
will be sponsored by this project. In specific,
the levels addressed are: international, national,
protected-area specific, and local.
International
• Create multi-lingual websites to attract
international tourism in the selected PAs.
• Support membership to related international
organizations and attendance at international
conferences, participation in international study
tours, and facilitate knowledge transfers.
National
• Strengthen cooperation among the Ministry
of Environment and the Ministries of Forest and
the subject PAs through integration in the planning
process.
• Support the creation of a BiH-wide PA
Association.
• Launch a national awareness campaign including
media advertisements and workshops.
• Create joint biodiversity database.
• Create PA-wide websites for information
exchange and unified marketing of services, including:
o Bid solicitations
o Regulations
o Grant applications and information
o Job opportunities
o Public awareness campaign ideas
PA-wide
• Establish inter-entity PA working groups
composed of managers, rangers, and representatives
of forest enterprises in order to strengthen political
and scientific cooperation.
• Develop joint PA-related activities among
the six subject PAs.
• Train PA staff on
o English language skills as lack of language
skills has also been identified as a significant
drawback to the development of communication and
exchange of ideas with international partners
and for the development of international based
tourism activities, which can bring in needed
revenue for the parks. Mainly English language
training will be offered to both management staff
and guides.
o New technologies including GIS to enable joint
biodiversity planning and monitoring for BiH by
establishing a joint biodiversity database
• Train staff at the newly created Una and
Igman-Bjelasnica-Treskavica-Visocica PAs.
• Train PA managers in marketing, financial
management, tourism development and community
relations.
• Facilitate needs assessment of the subject
PA personnel
o Conduct workshops and tailored training to meet
identified needs
Local
• Foster community outreach through seminars,
displays, leaflets, maps of mountain trails, brochures,
flyers, signings in the park and commercials as
well as other public awareness promotion materials.
• Give small grants.
In
furthering support for post-conflict integration
efforts, this component will assist with the concept
of establishing a BiH PA-Association. All PAs
in BiH will benefit from this union by jointly
developing some activities; i.e. workshops for
sharing information, conferences, subscriptions,
memberships and a harmonized portal of information
towards a consistent and cross PA exchange information
including opportunities, bids, regulations, trail
marking activities, public awareness campaigns,
tourist offers, grants, job opportunities and
a website. This website will also be used to launch
and promote transparency of the SGP. More important
the PA-Association will support to organizational
issues of PAs in BiH in line; i.e. categories
of entrance fees; improvement of personnel communication,
management and career enhancement, software for
financial management, etc. A future step will
be to connect the BiH PA-Association with National
Park Systems in neighboring countries. Related
international memberships as attendance of international
conferences will be supported.
Through
PA tailored capacity enhancement and training
this component’s objective is to improve
sustainable ecosystems through entity and state
level focused technical and personnel skill building
programs. This will be achieved through a needs
assessment in identifying and action plans through
management plans.
Workshops
and tailored training covers international, inter-entity
and PA specific levels in technical skills building
such as system usage such as GIS, conservation
communication enhancements (websites and leaflets/brochures),
managed harvest control systems such as licensing
(hunting) / permit / bids. There will also be
parallel management skills training such as business
planning, financial management, marketing and
euro-language building.
Within
this process studies and workshops will be conducted
for developing joint monitoring programs of the
distribution and managed movement of animals and
waterfowl.
This
component intends to strengthen political, strategically
and scientific cooperation at management and field
levels between all stakeholders of the PAs including
management, rangers, forest enterprises, an inter
entity PA working group(s). Theses working groups
will be the nucleus for co-coordinating the development
of the BiH biodiversity network and ensuring close
inter entity co-operation for planning, management
and scientific information exchange. This project
will also coordinate with the FDCP’s Forest
Management Information System (FMIS) to further
support the PA working groups at the local levels
with coordination efforts, training and related
equipment.
In
coordination with the FMIS, there will be an effort
to improve the overall land use and natural resource
planning in the selected PAs by integrating them
into the planning process. To strengthen the cooperation
between the Ministries of Environment as well
as Ministries of Forestry in the FBiH and RS,
common tools will be encouraged to facilitate
also efficient exchange of information; for example,
within this component there is a provision for
a GIS to enable joint biodiversity planning and
monitoring for BiH by establishing a joint biodiversity
database.
The
management selection historically had a dominance
of forest engineers as the key managers of PAs
and this has led to large knowledge gaps in the
senior management teams to fulfill the necessary
roles in areas such as marketing the PAs and its
attractions, financial management, applied ecology
for management plan implementation and monitoring,
tourism / recreation development and management
skills for community participation and liaison.
A wide range of training tools will be utilized
within the training program and an international
context will be provided to develop new ideas
and initiatives and encourage the concept of ‘good
practice’.
Within
each PA, information will be disseminated and
discussed with the local communities by each PA
administration through seminars, displays and
leaflets on the work of the PA management and
its staff. The park ranger staff will be specifically
trained to act as the ‘on the ground’
link between local people and the PA. Further
training opportunities will be provided to local
individuals who wish to provide complimentary
services to the PA such as guiding visitors. This
will be additionally supported by local Eco-Activity-Incubators
to be established in coordination with the PIUs
for Sutjeska, Kozara, Igman-Bjelasnica-Treskavica-Visocica,
and Una.
Component
3: Small Grant Program
The
Small Grant Program (SGP) will provide grants
to review, demonstrate, study and develop new
income generating activities, especially for the
crucial buffer zones around the PAs. Successful
economic activities in buffer zones are a precondition
for sustainable PA management and Biodiversity
Conservation. The design of the SGP is to provide
incubator seed money to generate alternative income
for a more sustainable use of the PAs and linkages
to the surrounding areas (buffer zones), for example
eco-tourism (rafting, hiking, camping, mountain
biking, and hunting). The SGP will also support
efforts for efficient input use and low cost options
for production and processing and alternative
management and utilization of the PA’s resources.
It is designed to supplement groups and individuals
to carry out activities that contribute to sustainable
use of natural resources in project areas.
The
SGP is modeled on similar successful approaches
in Croatia, Georgia and Romania. It will target
land users and civil society members to raise
awareness of conservation issues in and outside
protected areas. It is designed target priority
persons, private and public companies and NGOs
(village council, traditional associations, farmers
organizations, women’s groups, community
based organizations and others) that own or use
land in or nearby existing PAs that are part of
the BCP. This target is because the beneficiary’s
economic access to this land may be altered via
restrictions and regulations, therefore actual
local area income could be reduced due to the
expansion or creation of PAs. To compensate for
these potential losses, Small Grants (SG) will
be made available to enable persons, NGOs and
companies to start alternative income activities.
Taking into account lessons learned from the SSCADP’s
grant scheme that identified a potential risk
that the number of qualified applications might
not be large enough, the implementation of the
SGP will be assisted by an Eco-Activity-Incubator
that will both promote economic development, community
awareness and provide peer reviewing. The Eco-Activity-Incubator
will also help channel urgent associated needs
of PA community to the appropriate stakeholders.
An
Operational Manual (OM) that outlines the operational
details of SGP has been developed. The proposals
for grants will be solicited and evaluated in
accordance with the principles and procedures
in the Manual.
The
SGP will finance income generating opportunities
associated with the PAs, research activities and
studies. For the approved proposals, grant funds
will be provided for limited laboratory and field
equipment, materials, office equipment, computers,
travel costs, short term training, field labor,
fuel and supplies. Furthermore SGP will be a competitively
bid process for priority problems facing those
in the PAs and their buffer zones in identifying
improved environment conservation measures.
The
SGP review process will ensure that activities
are aligned with PA and GEF goals. The SMG review
process will also verify that the grants are in
line with the PRSP, which identifies broad priority
issues such as sustainable development of rural
areas, integrated landscape planning and management,
and the preservation of biological and landscape
diversity for the future. The new economic activities
funded by the grants are expected to reduce the
impediment pressure on PAs and enable a sustainable
conservation of BiH’s unique biodiversity.
Component
4: Project management (implementation, monitoring
and evaluation)
Implementation
of the project will start by expanding the existing
Project Implementation Units (PIUs) of the FBiH
Ministry of Agriculture, Water Resources and Forestry
(MAWF) and of RS Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry
and Water Resources (MAFW). One project manager
plus one assistant will join each existing PIU.
The overall management will be carried out by
the present PIU directors. Infrastructure like
premises, computers and vehicles should be jointly
used and additional equipment will be bought where
necessary.
The
existing PIU staff will do financial controlling
and project procurement and later on, if a new
law on setting up PIUs should be in place, these
activities could be sourced out to local experts
as expertise is available in BiH.
The
FDCP and SSCAD will not last as long as the Biodiversity
Conservation Project (FY06– mid 2010). Therefore
the BCP-Project Managers should take over the
existing PIUs and become director themselves.
To keep the costs as low as possible, the employed
staff will be kept small at all time and independent
consultants will be subcontracted for specific
task wherever needed.
To
enable a very slim team, a certain division of
labor between the two entities is envisaged, as
it was done successfully in the past. Furthermore
various specialists are foreseen for Short Term
TA, as needs arise. The appointments of all direct
PIU consultants paid by the project would follow
government Civil Service procedures and would
be subject to WB ‘no objection’.
Mobilization
of the project team is estimated to be three months.
A first duty of the PIU will be to launch the
procurement program. An initial task of the PIU
will be to invite applications for membership
of a small Technical Board (five members) where
preference will be given to those with a natural
resources and scientific background. The Board
will be created to advise the Government Public
Bodies that will be established to manage the
new PA’s. It is recommended that the two
smaller PA’s (Lom and Janj) remain under
the control of the existing Entity Forest Company,
as their size does not warrant the creation of
new administrative structures.
Assuming
that both PA feasibility studies are positive
a Government Public Enterprise will be created
for each of the two proposed PA in the Federation
(Una and Igman-Bjelasnica-Treskavica-Visocica).
Each enterprise will be responsible for the establishment
and management of the new PA. Each new public
enterprise will comprise: a Director, Accountant
plus assistant, Tourism Specialist, Marketing
Specialist, Biodiversity Specialist, Forestry
Specialist, one Park Ranger for maximum 2,000
hectares (who may also fulfill the roles of guards
and guides), forest maintenance staff for felling,
disease control and general duties.
The
foreseen 4 PA Eco-Activity-Incubators will be
managed and run by 6 part-time consultants. For
better cooperation with the PIUs and the project
managers, the Eco-Activity-Incubator’s staff
will be part of the PIUs. These part-time consultants
will be located in the four big PAs to assist
the project and the SGP.
The
SGP will have two SGCs, one for each entity. The
seven persons sitting in the SGC will meet 4 times
a year and take the decisions regarding project
proposals for funding. The first screening of
the proposed ideas will be done by the Eco-Activity-Incubator’s
staff who will also monitor the implementation
phase.
Monitoring
& Evaluation: (M&E) (For details see Technical
Annex 3) A Monitoring & Evaluation system
will be established by the PIU in each Entity
to assist the Government to observe and assess
the performance of the project. With the assistance
of the incubator consultants working directly
with the clients the data collected will permit
the assessment of the impact of the various project
initiatives. Timely collection, analysis and presentation
of data will be expected. Local M&E findings
will also help mitigate risks in project initiatives.
This project will leveraging the M&E system
in place within the PIU. The information produced
from the M&E system will assist decision-making
for project implementation and will generate key
parameters to support policy formulation and planning
for both existing and new areas for protection.
It is anticipated that Government will continue
with the implementation of an M&E system after
the completion of the Biodiversity Conservation
Project.
Monitoring
procedures have been devised, principally, as
a management tool but they will also record the
progress of project activities; this will facilitate
better selection, planning and management of areas
for future protection. The project has a series
of objectives and planned set of interventions.
The improved sustainable management practices
to promote biodiversity and project objectives
will be monitored and feedback given to management
and the Ministry of Environment in each Entity.
Project actions, expenditures and progress towards
identified objectives will be monitored by the
PIU and reported in a quarterly (and annual) report
so that appropriate action can be taken. A focal
point for M&E will be appointed in each Entity
to coordinate activities. The M&E budget makes
provision for a series of case studies that will
focus on particular topics of interest to management,
planners and policy makers. The implementation
of these studies will be outsourced to local consultants
as directed by the PIU.
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