Appendix A4 Mid-term Evaluation Report (February 2003) Introduction
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Appendix B6 Partners in implementationAppendix B6 Partners and complementary initiatives 1. Stakeholder involvement Annex 11 of the original Project Document (see Appendix A1) summarizes major stakeholders. The project will involve stakeholders in project planning and implementation, and where necessary will allocate funds for disbursement by stakeholders. Project redesign workshops have been held in Beijing, Yueyang, Nanjing, Chengdu and Harbin, attended by representatives from a wide range of government agencies who are crucial stakeholders in any consideration of water and wetland management. Representatives of civil society conservation organizations, including World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), Conservation International (CI) and Wetlands International (WI) attended many of these meetings, and took a leading role on some occasions. Stakeholders have provided constructive comments on the proposed activities and have expressed support for the project. Arrangements for involvement of partners mentioned below, in project implementation, will be finalized during the inception phase. Project activities at the site, provincial and national levels include consideration of the general public’s “stake” in water, wetlands and biodiversity and ways of increasing civil society participation in wetland management and decision making. Each of the site level “demonstrations” has specific components on public involvement, including simple increase in knowledge, assistance with data collection, consultations, and, participation in policy development. The process for development of new policy and implementation mechanisms at the provincial and national levels will include public consultation. Policy recommendations on environmental governance will emphasize the importance of public participation and accountability of government to the public. It is difficult to persuade certain stakeholders of the aesthetic and cultural value of China’s globally significant wetland biodiversity: economic arguments often hold greater sway. The water resources and functioning wetlands that support wetland biodiversity also provide ecological services and resources that support livelihoods for millions of people. Sound economic valuations of wetland services and the returns on management investment can be persuasive arguments for improved environmental conservation. Many have a stake in developing and implementing policy that will ensure wetland function and avoid or mitigate deleterious effects on the environment now or in the future, nearby or far downstream, but unless there are wide consultations and professional environmental and social assessments there is a danger that certain stakeholders will act in their own short term interests and against the long term interests of the wider population. The project will emphasize inter-agency coordination and cooperation on policy and policy implementation and will explore mechanisms for more incentive based conservation measures. Close collaboration will be maintained with task forces working under CCICED: through this work additional stakeholders are already being identified and involved in the project. There are a number of other large conservation projects (see below) with stakes in training and environmental management with which the project is already in contact or working, and such contacts and collaboration will continue. 2. Partners The project will be based in the State Forestry Administration (see main Project Redesign Document Section 1 Part lllA) and will work closely with the Wetlands Division and the Nature Reserve Division of the Department of Wildlife and Plant Conservation, the Department of International Cooperation, and the Academy of Forest Inventory and Planning (AFIP). Additional partnerships are being developed and will be formalized during the inception phase.. 2.1 Government agencies Much of the work of the project requires consultations with government. This will take place at three main levels – central, provincial and local (county and municipality/prefecture). At the central level the Ministry of Water Resources (MWR), the Ministry of Agriculture (MOA), including the Department of Fisheries, the State Ocean Administration (SOA), the State Environmental Protection Agency (SEPA) and the EPNRCC of the National People’s Congress are vital partners in the project’s work towards an ecosystem approach to wetland management. They are already represented at the Director General level or above on the Project Steering Committee. A ‘point of contact’ staff member on wetland issues has been appointed within each of the PSC member agencies and where appropriate the project will also set up small working groups within these agencies as and when necessary to make recommendations on incorporation of wetland considerations into national policy and legislation. The project will also work with other sectoral agencies (see description of Outcome A in Appendix B1) such as the Ministry of Land and Resources (MLR), the Ministry of Construction (MOC) and the Ministry of Communication, when and where appropriate and it is possible that other agencies will be coopted on to the Steering Committee in the future. The project will work on laws and regulations with the Legislative Office of the State Council and the Environment Protection and Natural Resources Conservation Committee (EPNRCC) of the National People’s Congress (NPC). There will also be activities that involve working with the various river basin organizations (Songliao, Changjiang and Yellow River). When necessary for achievement of project objectives operating funds will be advanced to government agencies other than the Implementing Partner and other partners listed on the signature page of the project redesign document. Much of this liaison work will only be finalised during the first three months of project re-start. There will be a similarly wide range of agencies involved in the project at provincial and municipal/prefectural and county levels. Establishment of effective collaboration with the full range of agencies that have jurisdiction over or effects on wetlands, inside and outside protected areas, at each project site will be one of the keys to project success aa the local level. County and municipal/prefecture level government planning departments in particular, will have to be involved. The project already has well established links with the State Environmental Protection Agency and the Ministry of Agriculture regarding management of individual nature reserves that fall under the remit of those agencies (Honghe NNR, Yancheng NNR and Shouqu PNR). County and prefecture governments have already been consulted at project planning meetings at all levels and formal agreements with relevant agencies will be drawn up during the three month inception period. Allocation of specific responsibilities will also be done during the inception period. The project will also work with other relevant organizations, such as the Jiansanjiang State Farm, the Yancheng Salt Bureau, the East Dongting Lake Management Bureau, including the Reed Management Bureau,, the Jiangsu Province Mudlflat Development Bureau, and the Aba Prefecture Minority Affairs Bureau. Various research institutes of the Chinese Academy of Sciences and some provincial universities and other places of learning, education and research will be involved as required. 2.2 China Council for International Cooperation on Environment and Development (CCICED) CCICED has task forces working in areas of direct relevance to the project. Close links, with representation on relevant task forces where possible, will be maintained with CCICED. The project is already working closely with the task forces on Integrated River Basin Management, on Protected Areas, and on Natural Resources Pricing and Taxation. 2.3. Academic institutions Good policy development includes consideration of accurate and unbiased information. The project includes substantial research and monitoring components that will require collaboration, mainly through subcontracts, at each of the four project sites. This will be conducted through linkages with provincial, national, and international research organizations on specific research and monitoring components.The aims are first to collect data and second to demonstrate the use of data in policy development. 2.4. The media The project operates a website that will be improved considerably in scope and ease of access. Apart from a film based on the project that was produced for BBC World Television’s Earth Report in 2002, and interviews given by project staff to television and radio on occasions there has been relatively little attention to publicity. The redesigned project will be proactive in seeking media outlets for publicizing results, descriptions of activity, discussions of the important problems and possible solutions in policy and practices that affect wetlands and protected areas. Television, radio and print media will all be involved at international, national, provincial, municipal, prefectural and county levels. 2.5. Civil Society Organizations There are a number of civil society conservation organizations with interests that overlap with those of the project. Some of these organizations have been involved with project planning or on project subcontracts already. The project plans to work together with some or all of the following organizations on various aspects of project implementation. In some cases this will involve advancing funds to the organizations for specific activities: in other cases the project and the civil society organization will prepare joint work plans to achieve common results, with funds contributed by both.. Conservation International: The Ruoergai Marshes are included in one of the target areas for the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund managed in China by Conservation International, and the project aims to collaborate closely with the CEPF in involving Ruoergai herders in environmental planning and in demonstrations of mitigation of wetland and grassland degradation (Outcome C – Ruoergai Marshes Component). World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF): An international organization with offices worldwide, WWF are already active in Dongting (and the whole of the Yangtze), the Yellow Sea “Ecoregion”, and Sanjiang (jointly with Russia). They have a wetlands office in Wuhan just downstream from Dongting Lake on the Yangtze River, and are familiar with the project, having bid successfully for the Alternative Livelihoods subcontract that was later canceled. There are plans being formed for jointly funded activities on transboundary conservation at the Sanjiang site, and there will certainly be many opportunities for joint activities and consultations regarding the Dongting Lake and the Yancheng Coastal Marshes sites in particular, and environmental governance regarding wetlands, including public participation, in general. WWF have taken a lead role in the CCICED task force on Integrated River Basin Management of which the current CTA is a member, and this work will lead to production of a technical report on what is effectively the ecosystem approach to river basin management which will provide useful support for the work of the project on wetlands. The Nature Conservancy (TNC): TNC have already contributed significantly to a project planning training workshop in Beijing in July 2003. In the future there is a potential role for TNC in work on environmental governance at the local level, building on TNC’s experience in NW Yunnan. Environmental Education Media Project for China (EEMPC): EEMPC have great expertise in producing and distributing high quality films on environmental topics, and their personnel have already worked with the project on a wetlands film for BBC World's Earth Report first broadcast globally in 2002 and again in 2004. Wetlands International-China (WI-C): WI-C have wide involvement in wetlands conservation throughout China, and are implementing a UNEP/GEF project on Integrated Management of Peatlands for Biodiversity and Climate Change, with case studies in the Ruoergai and Sanjiang sites. WI-C carried out part of one of the project subcontracts (on Public Awareness) until the subcontract was cancelled in 2003. WI-C also coordinated the GEF Project Brief development between 1997-98. The project aims to maintain links with a number of other organizations such as Fauna and Flora International (FFI), the United Nations Educational Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), The World Conservation Union (IUCN), Friends of Nature, Green Earth Volunteers, Beijing Global Village, and Friends of Khingansky who are active in areas relevant to the project. UNESCO manage the Biosphere Reserve system, of which Yancheng NNR is a member. 2.6. General public The main focus for public involvement will be through the local level initiatives – especially those relating to nature reserve interpretation and education. The project will fund activities related to public participation as capacity is demonstrated. Commercial entities will be included in such outreach and participatory activities. 3 Related projects There are a number of relevant projects with which the project is already linked. Further links will be built so that training opportunities are planned jointly, knowledge and experience are exchanged, and policy workshops and research are coordinated. They include:
In addition there are internationally funded projects on aquaculture development and river basin legislation (eg an ADB funded project on a proposed Yellow River Law), a forthcoming project to provide support for environmental legislation, including a nature reserve zone law (ADB, with EPNRCC), and proposals for (a) a major project based on a China Biodiversity Partnership Framework involving the Government of China, GEF, UNDP, European Union (EU), Conservation International (CI), The Nature Conservancy (TNC), United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and the Italian Government, and (b) an EU funded River Basin Strategic Environmental Planning Programme. There are useful lessons to be learned from the experience of the ADB funded project on legislation to support transjurisdictional water pollution management. |