PROJECT INFORMATION DOCUMENT (PID)
APPRAISAL STAGE
Report No.: AB6818
Project Name
/ Togo Integrated Disaster and Land Management ProjectRegion / AFRICA
Sector / General water, sanitation and flood protection sector (100%)
Project ID / P123922 and P124198
Borrower(s) / MINISTRY OF ENVIRONMENT AND FOREST RESOURCES
Implementing Agency / Technical Secretariat of the National Disaster Risk Reduction Platform
The National Platform for Disaster Risk Reduction and Prevention
Togo
Tel: (228) 902-1696, 956-7046
Environment Category / [ ] A [X] B [ ] C [ ] FI [ ] TBD (to be determined)
Date PID Prepared / September 21, 2011
Date of Appraisal Authorization / September 29, 2011
Date of Board Approval / December 20, 2011
1. Country and Sector Background
1. Togo is a small country in West Africa with a population of over six million people. Approximately 70 percent of the population lives in rural areas and the economy is heavily dependent on both commercial and subsistence agriculture, which provide employment to 65 percent of the labour force. Togo remains a very poor country, ranking 139 out of 178 according to the 2010 Human Development Index (HDI). About 62 percent of the population lives below the national poverty line with poverty higher in rural areas. The climate is generally tropical with average temperatures ranging from 27 degrees Celsius on the coast to about 30 degrees Celsius in the northernmost regions. To the south, there are two rainy seasons. The first one takes place between April and July and the second between September and November. While the rainy seasons have shortened in recent years and the annual rainfall has decreased, the frequency and intensity of extreme rain events has increased. These changes to the climate pattern coupled with land degradation exacerbate flooding throughout the country.
2. In May 2002, as a consequence of the political and economic crisis, Togo fell into arrears with the Bank and operations were suspended, along with almost all dialogue and analytical work. Most donors left Togo during the crisis years. This long crisis severely affected the economy of Togo and hampered the capacity of the government to deliver basic social services to the majority of its population. The level of neglect and depletion of natural resources increased the risk of natural disasters and land degradation.
3. The country is now emerging from the crisis years of slow economic growth. Gross Domestic Product (GDP) growth is estimated at 3.1 percent in 2009 and real GDP per capita barely grew. Togo is unlikely to achieve many of its Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) by 2015. The Government of Togo (GoT) has limited fiscal space and weak mechanisms and capacities to react. In 2009, it adopted the recommendations from a full Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP 2009–2011) with the objective of providing sustainable improvement of people’s living conditions by addressing the principal causes of poverty.
4. Togo’s main economic activities are agriculture, phosphate mining, trade, and transit activities. Agriculture employs two thirds of the population and accounts for about 38 percent of GDP. However, this is mainly subsistence agriculture based on traditional practices and subject to the vagaries of climate and price fluctuations. Yields have been consistently low for food crops and the performance of the main export crops (cotton, coffee, and cocoa) has been deteriorating. Meat and fish production are also low and the country faces massive imports to make up its food deficit. Rural infrastructure is scarce, poorly maintained, and constitutes a major constraint to growth. Economic studies show that agriculture will remain the main source of growth and employment for the foreseeable future.
5. Unsustainable land and forest management [1] exacerbate erosion and intensify the negative results of climate change, especially flooding. Deforestation, land degradation, and flooding constitute an intertwined problem that requires an integrated approach.
6. There are different levels of risk associated with flooding and soil and coastal erosion within Togo depending on geographic region. In the north, the land is characterized by gently rolling savannas. The centre is characterized by hills and the Togo Mountains stretching across the country. In the south, there are savannas and woodlands that reach to a coastal area that contains extensive lagoons and marshes. Both rural and urban areas in Togo are vulnerable to flooding. The northern half of Togo shares the Upper Volta River Basin with Ghana and Burkina Faso and is vulnerable to water resource management decisions made in these countries. Areas along the coast, such as the capital, Lomé, are subject to coastal flooding because of the high levels of coastal erosion.
7. Though Togo experiences some flooding almost every year, between 1983 and 2010, there were ten major floods in Togo and during the last four years, there have been particularly widespread and devastating floods that have had severe consequences including the destruction of infrastructure and cultivated land. Climate change will likely only worsen this flooding trend. In 2008, approximately 11,688 hectares (ha) of cultivated land were washed away by the floods; four schools and eleven key bridges were destroyed, and over 300 kilometers of rural roads were seriously damaged. The destruction of roads and bridges hurt the national economy. Large companies operating in Togo were negatively affected by the spike in transportation costs, which in turn affected government tax revenues. Additionally, Togo lost customs and entrance fees from landlocked countries like Burkina Faso, Mali, and Niger that rely on the port of Lomé for the import and export of goods. Many farmers lost an enormous portion of their annual income (if not all), and the affected areas suffered from food shortages. The proliferation of waterborne diseases is a permanent threat when flooding occurs. Precise figures of the damage and losses caused by the 2010 floods are available from the government-led Post Disaster Needs Assessment (PDNA), supported by the Bank[2].
8. Land degradation affects at least 85 percent of arable land: it is occurring at a critical level in the Savanna region, in the mountainous area west of the Plateau region, and in the Maritime region of the south. According to Brabant et al.,[3] 63 percent of the lands are slightly degraded, 21 percent are moderately degraded and 2 percent are severally degraded. The Environmental Profile of Togo Ministry for Environment and Forest Resources (MERF: Ministère de l’Environnement et des Ressources Forestières, 2007) indicates that coffee and cocoa tree planting on deforested land in the southwest quickly leads to erosion. Farmers are also increasingly reporting land degradation in cotton crop areas. Loss of protected areas adds to the problem of land degradation and threatens habitats. Togo has a rich biodiversity including a variety of ecological conditions that serve as habitats for many plants and animals. Inventories list 3,752 plant species and 3,458 animal species. The population of many of these species has declined sharply and some of them have disappeared or are endangered. In 1938, a decree officially delineated 85 protected areas representing 793,000 ha or 14.2 percent of the Togolese territory. However, during the period of social unrest in 1990s, many protected areas were lost. Exploitation of the forests and fauna, deforestation, overgrazing, and introduction of development of agriculture and human settlements reduced the integrity of the protected areas so that many areas are protected only nominally now. Out of the original 793,000 ha of protected areas, 230,000 ha remains protected today.
9. Water resources and environmental management are crucial elements to reduce disaster-related risks. A number of international agreements emphasize the linkages of environmental management and Disaster Risk Reduction (DRR), including the Hyogo Framework for Action (HFA), the Millennium Declaration and the United Nations (UN) Millennium Ecosystem Assessment. While these three international agreements have different focus, they share the view that environmental degradation, poverty, and disaster risk have common causes as well as common consequences for human security and well-being. They also recognize that ecosystem services, environmental management, and environmental information offer opportunities to reduce risk, decrease poverty, and achieve more sustainable development.
10. In 2010, the GoT developed the National Investment Program for Environment and Natural Resources (PNIERN: Programme National d’Investissements pour l’Environnement et les Ressources Naturelles au Togo) to identify and create a budget for national priorities. The PNIERN integrates former plans and strategies within a set of sub-programs including: (a) institutional, legal, financial, and technical capacity-building in the area of sustainable environmental and natural resource management; (b) support for the implementation and dissemination of best practices in environmental and natural resource management in rural areas; (c) attenuating the effects of climate change, disaster management, and risk prevention; and (d) developing and integrating a system of knowledge acquisition and management, M&E, and a communication strategy to support environmental and natural resources management.
11. Under the PNIERN, the National Platform for DRR was developed with the support of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and finalized on April 17, 2007 by the MERF. The Platform has developed a national strategy for DRR and is charged with mainstreaming the strategy into sector plans, as well as monitoring its implementation. It is also responsible for promoting information dissemination related to DRR, coordinating the work of the government and non-governmental actors and mobilizing funding from national and international donors in support of DRR.
12. The PNIERN also integrates the National Action Program of Adaptation (NAPA) to climate change. The first priority project under NAPA is adaptation of the agricultural production systems in three regions through techniques that integrate climate change and improve agro-meteorological information. The second NAPA priority project is the development of an Early Warning System (EWS) for real-time information on floods in the Maritime and Savanna regions.
13. This project is fully aligned to the PNIERN and also complements other ongoing initiatives such as the Togo Agriculture Sector Support Project (PASA: Projet d’Appui au Secteur Agricole du Togo), the Community Development Project (CDP), the West Africa Agricultural Productivity Program Project (WAAPP) and the Emergency Infrastructure Rehabilitation and Energy Project (EIREP-PURISE: Projet d’Urgence pour la Rehabilitation des Infrastructures et des Services Electriques). Furthermore, the project builds upon the Interim Strategy Note for Togo (ISN, May 29, 2008, Report No. 43257-TG) with the long-term objective of improving efficiency and sustainability of Natural Resource Management (NRM).
2. Objectives
The Project Development Objectives are to strengthen institutional capacity of targeted institutions[4] to manage the risks of flooding and land degradation in targeted rural and urban areas.
The GEO is to expand sustainable land management (SLM) in targeted landscapes and in climate vulnerable areas in Togo.
3. Description
14. The Togo Integrated Disaster and Land Management (IDLM) Project was born out of the merger of two projects that were both under identification in 2010, namely:
· National Disaster Risk Management (DRM) Plan (P123922)
Funding source: Global Facility for Disaster Reduction and Recovery (GFDRR)
and
· Ecological Support to Agricultural Activities in the National Agriculture and Food Security Investment Program (PNIASA: Programme National d’Investissements Agricoles et de Sécurité alimentaire) (P124198)
Funding source: Global Environment Fund (GEF)
15. The rationale behind the merger of the Togo DRM Country Program and the SLM Project into the IDLM Project can be substantiated at three complementary levels: (a) thematic, (b) institutional, and (c) strategic.
(i) At the thematic level, both projects offer strong synergies and reinforce each other. For example, the GEF/LDCF funded activities which support ecosystem services restoration help reduce and mitigate flooding. Furthermore, sustainable agricultural and forestry practices in the watershed are known to consolidate land coverage, reduce erosion, and improve rain infiltration in the ground. The GEF-funded SLM activities thus contribute to consolidate the outcomes of the DRM activities. Similarly, the GFDRR-funded activities, including small-scale reforestation, tree nursery and tree planting contribute to more sustainable land and water management.
(ii) At the institutional level, both projects fall under the responsibility of MERF to implement so the merger facilitates one coherent program for MERF and the Bank.
(iii) At the strategic level, the newly approved PNIERN has identified institutional capacity building, SLM, and DRM as its three priorities for investment. Both projects fully contribute to the implementation of the PNIERN so merging them into one is logical.
16. However, the availability of funding for the GEF-financed activities and the GFDRR-financed activities differs so the project has been structured as follows:
Project Structure.
FUNDING SOURCES[5] / PHASE I / PHASE II / TOTALGFDRR / 1,575,000 / 5,715,000 / 7,290,000
TLF / 500,000 / 500,000
GEF STAR / 4,527,778 / 4,527,778
LDCF / 3,703,704 / 3,703,704
GEF SFM / 925,926 / 925,926
Totals / 2,075,000 / 14,872,408 / 16,947,408
17. The project has four components: (a) Institutional Strengthening and Awareness Raising, (b) Community-Based Activities for Adaptation and Sustainable Land Management, (c) Early Warning, Monitoring, and Knowledge Systems and (d) Project Management.
Component 1: Institutional Strengthening and Awareness Raising (US$ 3.12 million)
18. Institutional Strengthening: The capacity of key national, regional, local, and community organizations engaged in DRM and SLM will be strengthened through the provision of equipment and training.
19. In Phase 1, communication and pumping equipment will be provided to the National Civil Defence Department of Lomé. Combined with specific technical training, this will strengthen the preparedness and response capacity of the Department. In addition, the National Platform for DRR will also be equipped to be able to operate properly. In Phase 2, the operational capacity of the National Fire Brigade (the main operational structure of the Civil Defence Department) will be significantly strengthened in the Northern areas of the country by opening and equipping a new base in the Kara Region. Further, the capacity of key national, regional, and local institutions involved in managing and promoting SLM will be strengthened through the provision of training and equipment. Training will target experts who play an active role in preventing and managing risks of land degradation. Training will cover an introduction to land degradation phenomena, how these events may be affected by climate change and how prevention, mitigation, and rehabilitation can be improved.