Argentina Environmental Management Project

dropped

Failure

Under the Argentina's federal system, environmental issues are largely under the direct management of provincial governments while the national government plays an advisory and supporting role. Recognizing that environmental issues have often impacts across jurisdictions and demand high technical capacity and timely and accurate data for informed decision making at both the national and local levels, the proposed project will support the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (Ministerio de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable -MAyDS) and participating provincial governments to strengthen their technical capacity, improve their information and physical infrastructure to better manage three selected environmental priorities: wildfire, air quality and waste management. Along with physical investments, the project will support policy and institutional actions to ensure long-term sustainability of capacity and infrastructures developed under the project. Results of this project is expected to help the government develop follow-up operations to further strengthen co-management of other environmental priorities of the country.The Project has four components. The first component (Policy Development and Capacity Building) will support MAyDS and participating local governments on (a) policy development and (b) building technical capacities of public servants and relevant stakeholders to manage the three environmental priorities. A second component (Environmental Information Management) will support MAyDS to improve its physical infrastructure for environmental information management and proper disclosure of critical environmental information through (a) the development of a national air quality monitoring system with fixed and mobile stations in major urban centers (subcomponent 2.1); (b) the development of a national wildfire early warning system with a focus on fire prone areas (subcomponent 2.2); and (c) improvements in infrastructure and operations of the national and provincial environmental information centers (subcomponent 2.3). A third component (Closure of Legacy Dump Sites) will support the closure of about 20 such sites across the country, to new public areas. The targeted sites will have an area between 0.5 to 4 ha. Site-level interventions will include (a) environmentally sound closure of dump sites, (b) collection of landfill gas (methane), (c) post-closure management and monitoring of the dump sites, and (d) new landscaping and facilities for public uses. Based on lessons learned from these 20 sites, this component will support the development of engineering designs and investment plans for 50 additional dump sites. Such investment plans are expected to be presented to interested public and private investors for consideration. A fourth component (Project Management) will support MAyDS to manage project implementation. The mobile air quality monitoring stations (subcomponent 2.1) will be used to carry out year-round air quality monitoring campaigns in extended areas to supplement data from the fixed air quality monitoring stations, monitor air quality affected by fire events, and verify air quality changes before and after the closure of legacy dump sites to be financed by Component 3.Relationship to CPF. By supporting MAyDS and participating local governments, this project will contribute directly to the current CPF (World Bank Group, 2019. Country Partnership Framework for the Argentine Republic for the Period FY19-FY22) in its (a) Objective 5, “Improving service delivery through enhanced inter-jurisdictional coordination”, through improved air quality, waste and wildfire management practices and (b) Objective 10 (building resilient and low carbon cities) through reduced pollution releases including greenhouse gases (GHGs) from wildfires and legacy dump sites. Specifically, such control of GHG releases supports the implementation of the country’s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), which has called for technical assistance, technology transfer and concessional financing for improved fire management, and listed integrated waste management including methane capture as key mitigation actions (MAyDS, 2020. Segunda Contribucion Determinada a Nivel Nacional de la Republica Argentina). Successful implementation of this project will also contribute to Argentina’s efforts to achieve the Sustainable Development Goal (SDG) 3 for Good Health and Well-Being and SDG 11 for Sustainable Cities and Communities by better measuring and controlling environmental pollution discharges in the country.

FY17 - Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry,FY17 - Water, Sanitation and Waste Management

World Bank Group

Project

Water Supply and Storage, Waste Processing and Treatment, Natural Gas, Commercial, Raw Materials, Government