Forest and mountain protected areas project

1.INTRODUCTION

Forest based natural resources and biodiversity of Bosnia and Herzegovina are among the richest in Europe in terms of extent and variety of stock relative to the surface of the country. As much as 30% of all endemic flora of the Balkans is represented in the flora of Bosnia and Herzegovina. However, the recent war and subsequent unregulated development resulted in heavy damage to many aspects of nature and wildlife. Improper land, forest, and waste management practices, illegal logging along with forest clear-cuts resulted in degradation of natural environment. In addition to this, a substantial portion of forested areas is under landmines, which poses a serious obstacle to implementation of forest protection and rehabilitation activities. With all this in mind, it can be concluded that the sustainability of forest management and the stability of forest ecosystems are threatened.

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  Component 1 - Physical Improvement of Existing Protected Areas, and Establishment and Operationalization of Critical New Priority Areas, financing development and implementation of new management plans emphasizing ecosystem approaches and approaches for participatory land use planning, new „soft“ infrastructure, and limited small-scale building rehabilitation, necessary for improving the operations of existing PAs or for the newly created PAs. In addition, the Project will finance some limited goods for PAs operation, technical assistance, support for improvement of tourism capacity, promotion and marketing activities, and assist with introduction of a standardized visitor fee structure for individual PAs.
  

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  Component 2 -Strengthening of Capacity at Local, Entity and State Levels for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Land Use Practices, which will finance capacity building, learning and skill development at local, Entity and State levels in order to strengthen the institutions responsible for planning, establishment and management of PAs and to ensure the sustainability of the expanded PA network. Additional support will be aimed at building the institutional and technical capacity to access the different EU funding programs and instruments to finance nature conservation once BiH will become eligible to take advantage of these funds. In addition to the biodiversity monitoring system, the Project will under this component establish a Monitoring and Evaluation (M&E) system, based primarily on the GEF Protected Area Management Tracking Tool for Biodiversity. Component 2 also finances Project management and operating costs.
  

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  Component 3 - Generation of Alternative Rural Livelihood Opportunities through Wise Multiple-use of Protected Areas, which will provide financing to establish and operate a Small Grants Program (SGP) to support stakeholders living in and around PAs in small-scale tourism development activities directly or indirectly contributing to biodiversity conservation, and to provide incentives for stakeholders to change current unsustainable land use practices having adverse impacts on the natural resource base in or adjacent to the PAs and pose a threat to biodiversity. Sub-projects funded under the SGP will be targeted towards developing new livelihood options which promote ecologically friendly tourism and improve land use practices in support of the Project’s overall objective of increasing PA sustainability. Sub-projects could include small-scale waste management and recycling initiatives, habitat restoration, alternative energy promotion, environmental and cultural education, ecotourism programs and facilities, and community-based monitoring. To ensure sustainability of the SGP, the Project will help beneficiaries with business planning advice, market research, and links to other tourism or rural development initiatives.
  

Based on the expected overall likelihood and magnitude of environmental impacts, this project has been rated Category B with respect to the Environmental Assessment requirement of the World Bank OP/BP 4.01 safeguard policy. The objectives of this Environmental Assessment/Development of Environmental Management Plan Framework assignment are to:

develop guidelines for environmentally sound development of project-financed infrastructure, and