Project Concept DocumentPage 1
Country: BéninProject Title: National Parks Conservation and Management}
Proposal for Review
1. Identifiers:Project Number: / BJ GE 37580
Project Name: / Benin: National Parks Conservation and Management Project
Duration: / 5 years
Implementing Agency: / World Bank
Executing Agencies: / Government of Benin;
CENAGREF - National Protected Areas and Wildlife Management Center
Requesting Country: / Benin
Eligibility: / Ratified Convention on Biological Diversity on June 30, 1994
GEF Focal Area: / Biodiversity
GEF Programming Framework: / OP1: Arid and Semi-arid Zone Ecosystems
2. Summary: The project will conserve the biodiversity of the globally-significant Pendjari and “W” national parks and their adjacent hunting areas and buffer zones in northern Benin. This will be achieved by: (i) increasing the conservation management capacity of Benin’s National Center for Wildlife Management; (ii) developing alternative community livelihood schemes to take pressure off the parks’ natural resources; (iii) improving basic infrastructure within the parks; (iv) expanding environmental awareness and education; and (v) developing a conservation trust fund to provide sustainable financing for conservation programs. It will also strengthen regional collaboration on management of the transborder semi-arid savanna ecosystem of which the target areas are a part.
3. Costs and Financing (Million US):
gef: / -Project:
- PDF:
Subtotal GEF: / US$ 6.0 million
US$ 0.244 PDF Block B Grant
US$ 6.244 million
Co-financing: / -Other International:
-Govt. of Benin: / GTZ, Germany US$ 7.8 million
CFD, France US$ 0.7 million
Netherlands US$ 1.9 million
European Union US$ 3.9 million
US$ 2.8 million
Total Project Cost: / US$ 23.1 million
5. Operational Focal Point Endorsement:
Name: Jerome Sacca-Kina
Organization: Ministry of Rural Dev’t / Title: Minister of Rural Development
Date: 12/16/96
6. IA Contact: / Robin Broadfield, GEF Operations Coordinator, Africa and South Asia, Tel. (202) 473-4355, Fax: (202) 522-3256
Form _____
Project Concept DocumentPage 1
Country: BéninProject Title: National Parks Conservation and Management}
Block 1: Project Description
The Project Area:
The project’s target area in Benin covers approximately 1.2 million hectares of protected areas, hunting reserves and buffer zones. It forms a significant part of a three country, transboundary wildlife management area which covers 2.5 million hectares in the north of Benin, in South West Niger and in South East Burkina Faso.
Project activities will focus on: (i) the two main National Parks in the north of Bénin, the Pendjari (266,040 ha - created a Biosphere Reserve in 1986) and the “W” (563,280 ha), (ii) the wildlife management/hunting blocks adjacent to the parks: Djona (115,000 ha), Atakora (125,000 ha) and Pendjari Hunting areas (175,000), (iii) the Siri Reserve, and (iv) the communities - villages and transhumant pastoralists living in the surrounding area.
The area is an important and extensive example of African Sudanian Savanna and contains a wide diversity of habitat and species. Detailed, long term ecological surveys and exhaustive biological surveys are still to be completed. There is, however, little doubt that the transboundary ecosystem represents the single most important example of this habitat and its biodiversity in the region. In addition to important plant, invertebrate and small vertebrate species, the area holds significant populations of large herbivores and their predators. Important threatened or endangered large mammal species include cheetah, leopard, korrigum antelope and spotted hyena. Hunting dogs used to occur in the area, but none have been seen in Benin since 1980. They do, however, still occur within the transboundary ecosystem. Over 270 species of birds have been recorded in the area.
The area is under threat from a range of problems, most of which are caused by anthropic factors. Population growth and the expansion of human activity into the area are seriously effecting the overall ecosystem as well as specific animal populations. While it has not yet been possible to allocate priorities to each of the threats, and their importance varies with both time and area, the chief concerns include: (i) the clearing of natural vegetation for cultivation, especially of cotton; (ii) competition for pasture and water due to increased transhumant pastoralism following the Sahelian droughts of the 1970s and 1980s and the growing threat of the El Nino activity and drought that is already starting in Niger; (iii) increasing, uncontrolled use of bushfires for land clearing, pasture regeneration and poaching, (iv) an increase in commercial poaching and the use of automatic weapons; and (v) the degradation of village lands, a reduction of soil fertility and an increase of soil erosion due to the use of unsustainable agricultural practices.
These threats are exacerbated by a lack of trained human resources, finance and equipment to address them. Without a concerted, broad based multi-sectoral approach there is little doubt that the protected areas, the natural habitats and the plant and animal species will rapidly decline and a crucial part of Africa’s unique biodiversity resource will disappear.
The Government of Benin, working in coordination with Niger and Burkina Faso, has launched a National Protected Area Conservation and Management Program, which is intended to tackle these problems and reverse the current decline. At the same time as improving the management of the protected areas, support will be given to local communities. This will ensure, first, they can be more actively involved in protected area and buffer zone management and, second, that they will be able to manage their agricultural lands, pastures and woodlands in a productive but sustainable manner.
There are already a number of related development projects underway in the area, or on a national basis which are helping to address the threats to the area. The IDA National Natural Resource Management Project (PGRN) has, for a number of years, been financing pilot community-based wildlife and natural resource management operations in the communities adjacent to the protected areas. This has provided an important base for the preparation of the proposed project. The Agence Beninoise pour l’ Environment, another IDA-supportedoperation, has a range of components which support the planning, execution and monitoring of the protected areas program. The Government is also seeking donor support for its first Agriculture Sector Investment Program ( ASIP), which will be a wide ranging program covering all aspects of rural development in Benin. This proposed project is a part of the overall ASIP and is designed to fill the conservation gaps in that program and, as such, will be an important step towards “mainstreaming” biodiversity conservation in Benin and in facilitating a comprehensive response to key issues of appropriate land use and sustainable landmanagement.
1. Project development objectives:The development objective of the National Protected Areas Conservation and Management Program (NPACMP) is to ensure the sustainable management and conservation of regionally and globally important biodiversity, and globally important fragile ecosystems in northern Bénin. Failure to take decisive and coordinated action in the near future will result in the irrecoverable loss of globally important biodiversity resources.
The specific objective of the NPACMP is to establish sustainable wildlife management and biodiversity conservation capacity at local and national levels. It would develop durable wildlife management and conservation systems within the protected areas and wildlife management zones. At the same time, through developing an effective partnership with local communities, the program would enhance local access to the benefits of protected area and wildlife zone management and encourage ecologically sound and economically viable land use and production practices in the surrounding areas. The conservation empowerment and capacity building of local populations is a crucial objective of the program.
The global environmental objective of the project is to ensure the long-term conservation of Benin’s biodiversity in the face of competing economic pressures. This will be achieved by: (i) increasing the ecological security of regionally important species, including a number of endemics, through improved management of protected areas and associated zones; (ii) providing sustainable management of habitats and ecosystems which are of regional and global importance, and which are coming under increasing threat from a range of anthropic factors; (iii) in situ preservation of genetic diversity, which includes species of ecological, cultural and economic importance in their natural habitat and within their natural range; (iv) supporting the involvement of local communities in the management of natural resources and the conservation of biodiversity; (v) supporting a coordinated response to the management of the tri-national transboundary ecosystem, and (vi) encouraging the sustainable management of fragile semi-arid ecosystems in a zone susceptible to desertification. In encapsulating this range of measures, the project design is fully consistent with guidance from the Conference of the Parties to the Conventions on Biological Diversity and Desertification and with the GEF Operational Strategy and specifically with its Operational Program for Arid and Semi-Arid Zone Ecosystems.
Theoperational objectives of the biodiversity conservation program are: (i) to increase the technical and managerial capacity of the local communities, the National Center for Wildlife Management (CENAGREF) and other partners for protected area and wildlife management, (ii) to enable the local populations to play a more active and profitable role in park and wildlife management, (iii) to support locally identified rural development activities in the areas surrounding the park and wildlife management areas in order to improve the quality of life for the local population and diminish pressure on the parks; (iv) to encourage sustainable systems of natural resource conservation, management and use, (v) the improve the flow of information and the level of education on biodiversity conservation at both local and national levels; (v) to establish durable ecological monitoring systems, and support ecological research related to management; (vi) to improve basic infrastructure within the parks; (vii) to design and prepare for the establishment of an International Trust Fund to help sustainably finance future wildlife management and biodiversity conservation operations, (viii) to provide support for effective donor coordination, and (ix) to ensure effective program management, monitoring and evaluation.
The operational objectives for which GEF support is requested are: (i) to provide institutional support and capacity building to national institutions responsible for biodiversity conservation, (ii) to support training of staff working for partner agencies, and to support improved communications between them, (iii) to support the studies and field trips necessary to improve scientific understanding of the ecosystems and identify and describe habitats, ecosystems and species of global importance, (iv) the design a financial mechanism capable of providing sustainable financial support to the conservation of biodiversity in Bénin, (v) to support transfrontier cooperation for the conservation of biodiversity in the region, and (vi) to support the review and updating of legislation relating to National Park and Reserve Management, village and commercial hunting, the development of local institutions for the management of natural resources.
The National Parks Conservation and Management Program
Component/Zone Finance US$ Million * % of Total
1)Restructuring National Park Services EU, GTZ, GEF, Bénin 4.64 19
2) Conservation and protection operations
in the National Parks and Wildlife
Management Zones EU, GTZ, Bénin 6.25 27
3) Community-based management of
Projected areas USE, GTZ, Netherlands, Bénin 1.00 4
4)Reinforcement of National Capacity GEF, Bénin 1.78 8
5) Socio-economic investment in Wildlife
Managament areas and buffer zones EU, GTZ, Netherlands Bénin 1.38 6
6) Community-based Natural Resource
Management EU, GTZ, CFD, Netherlands, Bénin 2.15 9
7) Transboundary and regional cooperation EU, GEF, Bénin 0.40 2
8) Publicity and Public Relations for Bénin
Parks GTZ, GEF, Bénin 0.40 2
9) Ecological Monitoring and Research GTZ, Netherlands, GEF, Bénin 1.58 7
10) Program Management GTZ, CFD, Netherlands,
EU, GEF, Bénin 3.10 13
11) Contingency GEF, Bénin 0.40 2
Total 23.08______
* Provisional Costings, to be discussed further with Government
National Parks Conservation and Management Project -- Details of GEF Finance
Component / Indicative Costs (US$M) / % of Total
Institutional support for protected area management
(i) Revision of legal texts and rules
(ii) Support for institutions
(iii) Reorganisation of anti-poaching and stock control units
National and Local capacity building
(i) Diversification of skills
(ii) Training staff, villagers and stakeholders
Transboundary and Regional Cooperation:
(i) Harmonisation of legislation and strategies
(ii) Promotion of international partnership / 0.1
0.3
1.0
1.4
0.6
1.0
1.6
0.05
0.2
0.25 / 23
27
4
Publicity and Public Relations:
Local and international information diffusion and communication on Bénin’s protected areas and biodiversity / 0.10 / 2
Ecological Monitoring and Research:
Establishment of habitat, species and ecosystem monitoring
Ecological studies on habitat, species and ecosystems
Training scientists / 0.3
0.38
0.10
0.78 / 13
Program Management:
(i) Equipment and vehicles
(ii) Short term consultancies
(iii) Program Monitoring
Contingency / 0.52
0.21
0.74
1.47
0.40 / 24
7
Total / 6.00
The Components:
The external donors preparing to support the national program have focused most of their attention on activities in specific protected areas and the associated wildlife management areas and buffer zones. There are, however, a series of activities necessary to ensure the sustainable conservation of biodiversity in the north of Bénin which are not site-specific, are essential to the success of the national program and hence have significant global benefits but to not have direct, certain and monitorable national benefits. GEF assistance will focus on these components, which are summarized below:
I.Institutional Support for Protected Area Management This component will focus on ensuring the suitable legislative and institutional framework for program implementation, and supporting key technical units within CENAGREF. The project will finance the costs of legal specialists, technical consultants and field surveys necessary to review, revise and harmonise laws and regulations relating to protected area management, wildlife utilisation and community-based natural resource management. This work would be undertaken in conjunction with other government agencies and stakeholders working in related fields, and would be closely coordinated with the implementation of the Agricultural Sector Investment Program to ensure that, in combination, they establish a comprehensive and mutually-consistent legal and policy framework for both agricultural development and biodiversity conservation.
The component would also fund a review and a revision of the structure of CENAGREF and the institutional issues related to community participation in the project. The existing systems have not yet been extensively tested under operational conditions and changes would only be made after the existing structures have been tested and there is sufficient experience to justify them. Finally, this component will provide support for the anti-poaching and stock control units of CENAGREF.
II.National and Local Capacity Building The long term sustainability of the national program will depend on the capacity of local and national institutions to plan, implement and monitor park management and biodiversity activities. While CENAGREF is a newly established institution and is still developing its own internal capacity, Benin has a number of trained and experienced specialists in the field of wildlife management and community-based rural development. The strategy of the project will be to mobilise these existing resources while at the same time developing capacity both within CENAGREF and its partners, and at the community level. Experience with community-based natural resource management projects - including biodiversity conservation operations such as the GEF-financed GEPRENAF in Burkina Faso and Cote d’ Ivoire - indicate that initial investment in local and national capacity building provides significant returns in relation to subsequent project implementation
This component would finance training modules, study tours and exchange programs with other projects and countries. Target groups would include CENAGREF staff (who would receive technical and managerial training, and undertake study tours to review wildlife management operations elsewhere in Africa), local communities (who would receive training in community-based rural development, local project planning and implementation, improved village hunting techniques and in a range of skills to enable them to play a more active role in park management and in support of the tourist industry). Other stakeholders, such as environmental NGOs and local consultants, will also receive selected training and support.
Sustainable financial support is another crucial factor in national capacity building. The project will finance the development of the legal and institutional basis for the preparation of an International Trust Fund for Biodiversity Conservation in Bénin. Once rules and regulations acceptable to the Béninoise authorities and the international community have been established, this component would support CENAGREF in the search for donors and supporters at both the national and international levels, and from the private as well as the public sector. The project, however, would not make any financial contribution to a Trust Fund.
III.Transboundary and Regional Cooperation The Pendjari/W area in Benin is part of a larger, transboundary ecosystem and protected area complex which includes important neighbouring wildlife areas in Niger and Burkina Faso. This project will contribute to the conservation of this larger regional ecosystem by financing a Beninois contribution to the studies, consultancies and international meetings required for the harmonisation of key legal texts and regulations necessary for effective transboundary cooperation. It will also help finance the Beninois costs of the operation and maintenance of the transboundary cooperation process. Finally, the component would support the development and adoption of transboundary agreements on the harmonisation of key infrastructural developments within the international protected area complex. The bulk of the actual conservation activities would be financed by a regional program funded by the European Union, based in Ouagadougou.
IV.Publicity and Public Relations The project will finance information, public education and communication activities designed to increase knowledge and awareness of Bénin’s National Parks, biodiversity and wildlife resources. This work would be conducted at local, national and international levels. It would include media campaigns, the preparation and distribution of information, the preparation of videos and theatrical productions, and study tours for the press and tour operators.