Eastern Arc Forests Conservation and Management Project

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The Global Environment Facility (GEF) financed Eastem Arc Forests Conservation and Management Project for Tanzania is the third component of the broader Forest Conservation and Management Project (P058706)(report no. 22743). The Eastern Arc component was appraised separately from the main project due to timing of the GEF approval process, which has necessitated the separate processing of the grant component. This third component of the program, which is largely to be financed by GEF (and possibly with bilateral sources) has been jointly developed and implemented by the World Bank and UNDP working with Government and other partners with interests in the forestry sector. This component will support institutional reform, strategy development, pilot community-based conservation, and the development of sustainable financing for tropical high forest conservation in Tanzania. The main global environmental objective of this GEF activity is to promote the sustainable conservation and management of the Eastem Arc forests. The activity has four sub-components: subcomponent (i) will be implemented by the World Bank with IDA resources; subcomponent (ii) will also be implemented by the World Bank with GEF grant resources; sub-components (iii) and (iv) will be implemented through UNDP with GEF grant resources. Subcomponent 1 finances institutional reforms for forest biodiversity conservation, in particular of the Eastern Arc forests at central, district and local partnership levels to incorporate specific responsibilities for biodiversity conservation, oversight, monitoring and coordination. Such reforms will be linked with other reforms and institutional restructuring proposed for the forestry sector as a whole, which are to be financed by IDA. The implementing agency for this sub-component would be the Bank. In subcomponent 2, mechanisms for sustainable financing of biodiversity conservation will be developed including the establishment of the Eastem Arc Mountains Conservation Endowment Fund (EAMCEF). It is envisaged that a pilot endowment trust fund will be established by the project, with GEF resources. The EAMCEF's initial operations and programs will be co-financed by IDA, The GEF implementing agency for this sub-component would be the Bank. Two additional components are to be implemented by the UNDP and are complementary to the Bank-implemented activities: 3) Development and preparation of an integrated Conservation Strategy for the Eastern Arc Mountain Forests and 4) A forest conservation intervention through government and community partnership initiatives which will be undertaken at priority sites in the Uluguru Mountains.