Kazakhstan Resilient Landscapes Restoration Project

closed

Closed

The Kazakhstan Resilient Landscapes Restoration Project is a child project of the GEF-financed Sustainable Forest Management Impact Program on Dryland Sustainable Landscapes. Project-financed activities will be grouped into the following three components: Component 1: Piloting community – centered approach on dryland agroforestry and landscape restoration (US$2.46 million)Component 1 will finance grants (cash-for-work), technical assistance, goods and services, works, training and operational costs to conduct several key activities related to actual landscape restoration: (a) piloting of community-centered afforestation around Kyzylorda city using successful planting technologies of Saxaul and other drought-resistant trees; and (b) piloting of the farmer-centered approach in establishment of 3 agroforestry demonstration plots in Kyzylorda oblast (5 ha each) of fast-growing fruit tree plantations for combining forestry with fruit production and/or horticulture; and 6 plots in degraded pasturelands in Zhambyl oblast (20 ha each but affecting 1,300 ha of surrounding pastures) for combining forestry with livestock production. Sample agro-forestry practices based on existing recommendations will include plantation of fodder trees and pasture improvement. Various agro-forestry practices will be evaluated separately based on cost-benefit calculations and beneficiaries’ feedback and will be suggested for scale-up in other donor financed projects and/or government subsidized programs as well as farms’ self-financed investments. The project will also cover establishment of nursery and technical equipment necessary to conduct those operations. When possible, if stumps or seeds are present in the soil, also Farmer Managed Natural Regeneration (FMNR) will be added in the menu of options for restoration. Actions under (a) will be implemented by local forestry enterprises while hiring local community members to carry out the planting, plantations on pastureland will be carried out by the farmers supported by forestry organizations reporting to the local government, involving: (i) knowledge dissemination to farmers, farmers’ associations, and the national and local administration about the model and its benefits; (ii) developing markets and rewarding farmers for start-up time; (iii) conducting suitability assessments to identify the areas suitable for agroforestry, for FMNR, and the tree species to be used, and the conditions under which agroforestry or FMNR should be implemented; and (iv) providing local incentives to participating farmers, for example subsidized inputs. Component 2: Capacity building of the Forestry and Wildlife Committee (FWC) for integrated landscape management (US$1.38 million)This component will address FWC key bottlenecks to raise their afforestation capacity and support the evolving institutional needs of the forestry sector to become a sustainable and productive sector by financing critical capacity building activities including inter alia technical studies, consultations and surveys. Preparatory works including mapping, survey, and design will be made on Dry Aral Seabed, which should allow continued long-term afforestation of degraded area. The project will also support establishment of a depository of forest species’ seeds (gene bank), which is needed for scientific and research purposes, and facilitate inventory of unaccounted forest, which should clarify magnitude of land degradation problem in Kazakhstan. To further strengthen forest management capacity the project will support preparation of the forest management plans on selected areas of newly accounted forest in southern and south-western part of Kazakhstan in close proximity to the project area. Just in time technical assistance will be provided to the Ministry of Ecology, Geology and Natural Resources to advance related policies and legislation depending on policy priorities at the project implementation period. The project will also work with the existing LDN workstreams and help establish additional ones as needed to support the development of an LDN strategy and targets for Kazakhstan. This component will also ensure regional cooperation, exchange of experience and dissemination of best practices within the GEF Drylands Impact Program and with neighboring countries. Component 3: Project coordination and monitoring (US$0.50 million)Component 3 will finance technical assistance, goods, training and the operating costs of a Project Implementation Unit (PIU) within the FWC, which will coordinate the implementation of the project by managing and monitoring and evaluating the implementation of project work plans; ensure collaboration among stakeholders at national and local levels; report on progress and financial management performance to the World Bank; ensure timely external auditing of project accounts and the appropriateness of procurement and financial management tasks; and ensure adherence to and implementation of environmental and social measures as appropriate. The PIU will also be responsible to produce communication materials for any program-level meetings and knowledge exchange visits and mobilize the participation of Kazakh representatives in such events. Component 3 will also cover the operating costs of a Project Advisory Committee.The project will strongly complement other World Bank activities: the North Aral Sea Development and Revitalization Project (NASDRP) (P170187), which is under preparation, and the Kazakhstan Sustainable Livestock Development PforR (P170365), approved in July 2020, with allocations of US$161.5 million and US$500 million, respectively. NASDRP will support sustainable economic, social and environmental activities in the North Aral Sea region, including afforestation in the degraded Aral Seabed and the establishment of shelterbelts (‘green-belt’) for dust prevention in the Kyzylorda Region. The proposed Landscape Restoration Project will pilot innovative techniques for afforestation and plantations establishment of shelterbelts in Kyzylorda to protect from dust storms /erosion or along main roads and canals for land stabilization and will draw lessons for further replication and scale-up by NASDRP. The Sustainable Livestock Development PforR intends to scale-up the community and farmer-centric service delivery model by enabling broad participation of small and medium-size farms, currently focusing on subsistence or low value-added domestic activities, in export-oriented value chains. The proposed Landscape Restoration Project will pilot agroforestry in a sub-set of these ‘model farms’ on planting trees on pastoral areas to protect against wind erosion, as fodder bank, to protect animal against inclement weather, as income diversification, and to inform a scale up by the Sustainable Livestock Development program. The three projects jointly will form a unique programmatic approach to address at the same time land degradation and productivity issues in some of the most lagging regions of Kazakhstan. The proposed project will be a part of the Central Asia and Afghanistan Resilient Landscape Regional Program (REGIONAL RESILAND CA+), which is aimed to reverse land degradation and increase the contribution of natural capital to economic development. PROGREEN funds were mobilized by the Bank team to blend with the current child project and Regional RESILAND CA+. As part of the Recipient -executed part of PROGREEN resources for Kazakhstan, it is planned to scale up piloted farmer and community-centered restoration of degraded landscapes in South Kazakhstan oblast.

FY17 - Agriculture, Fishing and Forestry

World Bank Group

Project

Road, Water Supply and Storage, Wind, Raw Materials, Government, Commercial