Netherlands-Mongolia Trust Fund for Environmental Reform Phase 2 (NEMO2) Quarterly Report December 31, 2010

Transcription

1 Netherlands-Mongolia Trust Fund for Environmental Reform Phase 2 (NEMO2) Quarterly Report December 31, 2010

2 Quarterly Report NEMO2 (December 31, 2010) Executive Summary The Netherlands-Mongolia Trust Fund for Environmental Reform (NEMO) was established to strengthen and advance the environment and natural resources agenda in Mongolia. This report describes the status of NEMO2 s activities and provides the accompanying financial data. It covers the period from January 1 to December 31, 2010 Year 3 of NEMO Phase 2. Expenditures for Year 3 (in USD) Executing Agency Year 3 Planned Year 3 Actual Percentage Actual/Planned MNET 627, ,029* , ,359* 95 Total 1,232,500 1,145, * Including actual spending on Year 2 (2009) activities in Year 3 The Ministry for Nature, Environment and Tourism (MNET) planned to spend USD 626,900 during Year 3 (2010) on recipient executed activities. The actual amount spent was USD 572,029 of which USD 487,816 was spent on Year 3 activities and USD 84,213 on delayed Year 2 activities. Of the latter, the major payments were related to The Development of a Methodology for Risk Assessment of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals : USD 23,878 and Sustainable Management and Protection of Wildlife Campaign & Law Enforcement : USD 47,800. For more information on Year 2 activities check the end of this report. The numbers were collected from the MNET. The World Bank planned to spend USD 605,500 during Year 3 (2010) on World Bank executed activities. The actual amount spent was USD 573,359. The numbers were collected from the World Bank internal website. Of Year 3 the key remaining activities are: Payment of Ecosystem Services, Socializing the NRM Survey at Household Level, Improving Pastureland Monitoring in Mongolia, and the Improvement and Planning of the Environmental Expenditures. Forecast of Expenditures for Year 4 (2011) Q1 Planned (in USD) Year 3 activities 215,600 Year 4 activities 286,350

3 Executing Agency Budget (in USD) Year 3 Activities 1 Natural Resources Management 1. Sustainable Management and Protection of Wildlife MNET 80, Follow-up on the Rehabilitation of Mining Land MNET 60,000 (3. Awards Program for Rangers) MNET 20, Follow-up on Natural Resources Strategy of the Gobi Region 50, Development of Options for the Payment for Ecosystem Services 50, Monitoring Mongolian Biodiversity: Wildlife Picture Index (2nd of 3 years) 80, Expansion/Completion of the Species Online Tool 25, Translation of Wolf Totem 10, Zoning and Official Mapping of Protected Areas 25, Eight Year Buddhism Environmental Plan 45, Determining a Robust Methodology to Attribute Changes in Pasture Use to Project-level Interventions 10, Workshop on Biodiversity/Environmental Offsets 10, Improvement and Planning of the Environmental Expenditures 30,000 Pollution Management 14. Health Impacts and Economic Costs of Air Pollution 50,000 Environmental Governance 15. Small Grants for Environmental Management MNET 360, Amendment, Formulation and Assessment of Environmental Laws and Standards MNET 30, Methodologies for Evaluation of EIAs MNET 10, Determination of a Practical, Quantitative Set Environmental Management Targets for 2011 and 2015 MNET 10, Capacity Building for Ministry Staff MNET 15, Assistance on Formulating a New Law on Genetic Resources 50, Civil Service Reform for Rangers 40, Follow-up on 2009 NSO Surveys 25,000 1,085,000 Other Management and Travel 70,000 MNET Management (2 coordinators, 1 finance officer) MNET 36,000 Audit and Tripartite Review Meeting MNET 6,000 Contingency 35,500 1,232,500 Carry over from ,000 Total 1,187,500 1 The recipient executed activities are highlighted in green.

4 Year 3 Activities Please note that the amounts disbursed are estimates as of December 31, 2010 and should not be considered as final. Natural Resources Management 1. Sustainable Management and Protection of Wildlife MNET Budget USD 80,000 Amount Disbursed USD 64,310 Expected Completion Date February 2011 This activity continues the implementation of the recommendations of the Silent Steppe report put together under NEMO1. In Year 3, NEMO2 supported (1) a survey of forest ungulates, and (2) a survey of marmots. 1) The former was contracted (SSS) to the same consortium of WWF-Institute of Biology that won the survey contract in The TOR was agreed by all parties (including the co-financier GTZ) for work to be done in the fall (when snow facilitates the recording of ungulate presence). The field study was finished at the beginning of November The midterm report was sent on 22 November. The final report is expected in February 2011 towards the end of the contract. Additionally, a seminar on research methodology was organized by WWF-Institute of Biology on September 2010 where young researchers were trained. 2) The latter has been the subject of much discussion because of the methodology. The NEMO2 Coordinator has conferred with those expected to do the work and Sue Townsend so that only fully defensible, publishable methods were used. The work was contracted to the Mongolian Marmot Conservation Society. The field study has been completed. The final report was delivered on 22 December and discussed at the MNET involving stakeholders. The survey team is revising the report with the feedbacks from the discussion. The report will be put online soon. Additionally, trainings have been organized for the local community members and the rangers on the subject of marmot population monitoring methods. Several community partnerships have been established under this activity.

5 2. Follow-up on the Rehabilitation of Mining Land MNET Budget USD 60,000 + USD 20,000* Amount Disbursed US $62,543 Expected Completion Date January 2011 * USD 20,000 from the Awards Program for Rangers activity This activity follows up on the pragmatic guidelines put together in Year 2 for the rehabilitation of mining lands for smaller mining companies. 1) In Year 3, an inventory and registration was compiled by Sunny Trade LLC for lands damaged due to mining and military usage in six aimags: Darkhan- Uul, Dornod, Dornogobi, Gobi-Sumber, Dundgobi and Sukhbaatar. Further, a feasibility study was conducted for the environmental restoration of damaged military sites. The final reports were discussed and approved on 10 December by the Council of Science and Technology, MNET and will be put online soon. 2) The second contract was awarded to a consortium of Eco-sphere LLC and SEC LLC for conducting rehabilitation works on pilot basis using the new guidelines (2009) and training of stakeholders. The proposed training was organized on July 5-6, 2010 involving specialists in charge of environmental rehabilitation matters from aimag and capital city governor s offices, nature, environment and tourism departments, professional inspection agencies, environmental state inspectors, and relevant representatives of law enforcement authorities. Two sites, one in Zaamar soum of Tuv aimag and the other in Galuut soum of Bayankhongor aimag have been selected for pilot rehabilitation. Technical and biological restoration in these sites has been successfully carried out. Final reports were discussed on 10 December at the meeting of the Council of Science and Technology, MNET. The consultant team has been requested to refine the recommendations on the improvement of the newly developed guidelines. The final report will be put online soon. 3) The budget initially planned for the Awards Program for Rangers was redirected to this activity after a Request for No Objection for a Change in Procurement Plan 2010 by the MNET Vice Minister in the beginning of October. The extra budget of US $20,000 was used for an inventory of an extra three aimags Tuv, Selenge and Bulgan by the Institute of GeoEcology. The final report was discussed and approved on 10 December by the Council of Science and Technology, MNET and will be put online soon. All information on mining derelict areas collected in 2009 and 2010 under NEMO2 is currently being integrated and entered into a national database by the Information and Computer Centre of NAMHEM on request of the MNET. The MNET is planning further actions in order to enforce rehabilitations in accordance with the law and enforce compensation for damages caused to the nature and environment due to illegal operations.

6 3. Awards Program for Rangers MNET Budget (USD 20,000) Amount Disbursed N/A Implementation Status Cancelled The awards program encountered procurement issues and, as seen above, the Vice Minister sent a Request for No Objection for a Change in Procurement Plan The activity was thus dropped and replaced by an addition to activity Follow-up on Natural Resources Strategy for the Gobi Region Budget USD 50,000 Amount Disbursed None Expected Completion Date June 2011 This activity continued the support to the government s attention to development in the southern Gobi. This activity will include an analysis of data on pasture quality changes collected as part of SLP2 by MercyCorps as part of the livestock early warning system. During the preparation of the TOR the World Bank learned that another project had already started similar work. In order to coordinate with the ongoing work the task team had meetings with relevant stakeholders (NAMHEM and MNET) and informed about the planned activities. As a result the TOR has been revised and selection of consultants is ongoing. The activity is expected to be finished by June This task will be carried out in cooperation with the World Bank s Rural Development team. The report Livestock and Wildlife in the Southern Gobi Region, with Special Attention to Wild Ass started under Year 1 has been finalized, translated, and will be published mid January. The report Houbara Bustard and Saker Falcon Surveys in Galba Gobi IBA of Year 2 is being translated and is expected to be published mid February. 5. Development of Options for the Payment for Ecosystem Services Budget USD 50,000 Amount Disbursed USD 1,000 Expected Completion Date May 2011

7 As a follow-up to the Economic Evaluation of the Tuul Study under Year 1 this activity develops options for establishing a system of Payments for Ecosystem Services (PES) connecting Ulaanbaatar and the Upper Tuul. Proposals were made to the National Water Committee but these became diverted away from the purpose intended. A revision has been requested. In September 2010 the PES activities were agreed upon. A working group was established and the first meeting held on 13 December. Theoretical and practical information on PES is being gathered, translated and disseminated among the working group members. A study tour will be organized in the first quarter of 2011 with Vietnam, the USA and the Netherlands as potential destinations. 6. Monitoring Mongolian Biodiversity: Wildlife Picture Index (2 nd of 3 years) Budget USD 80,000 Amount Disbursed USD 79,993 Implementation Status Completed The Wildlife Picture Index uses camera trapping for monitoring animals. The method was piloted in In 2010, the aim was to expand this pilot phase in time and geographical scope to a number of sites throughout Mongolia, and it was agreed that this would support and be complementary to the forest ungulate work (above). In Batshiiret there have been problems with camera traps being stolen but local intelligence is leading the team and local authorities to recover them. In May 2010 a workshop was given by expert Tim O Brien of the WCS. In the summer of 2010 WPI was implemented at 3 different sites resulting in about 20,000 camera trap nights of effort. The team presented their findings at the MNET on 6 October Their presentation can be found online on the NEMO website. This activity will be continued next year in which further implementation at other sites, the development of a web interface for the general public, as well as looking for continued funding are on the agenda. 7. Expansion/Completion of the Species Online Tool Budget USD 25,000 Amount Disbursed USD 25,000 Expected Completion Date February 2011 The online tool devised under Year 1 includes all regionally threatened fish, amphibians, reptiles and mammals. The red listing of the birds of Mongolia is currently being completed. This data will be added to the online tool along with the global Red List status of each species. The online tool has been shifted to the MNET server to provide them with full ownership of the site and its use. This is in response to the Vice Minister s proposal to issue a regulation for using this online tool for

8 future EIAs and similar documents or to integrate this requirement into the new EIA Law. The completion of the 2009 work (publication of the Bird Red List and Action Plan) is scheduled for the first quarter of So far the mapping of the birds has finished, now work is ongoing on writing accompanying texts and making corrections. The draft final version is expected in February. Efforts are being made to determine when the data will be available to put into 8. Translation of Wolf Totem Budget USD 10,000 Amount Disbursed USD 10,000 Implementation Status Completed The novel Wolf Totem depicts the values and benefits of the traditional herder lifestyle and grassland management, typical in Mongolia. Although already translated into 32 languages, it had not been translated into Mongolian yet. This has now been done and the translation was subjected to a literary editing by a popular Mongolian poet in collaboration with the translator. The book was launched at Internom Bookshop on 10 November Around 2000 copies have been printed of which around 1500 have already been sold. The book has been mentioned in more than 7 newspaper articles, 8 websites and 5 different TV and FM radio programs. Wolf Totem has also won the award for Grand Book of the Year 2010 and was the bestselling book of 2010 at Internom. 9. Zoning and Official Mapping of Protected Areas Budget USD 25,000 Amount Disbursed USD 3,000 Expected Completion Date June 2011 This activity originally sought to establish and legalize the geo-referenced boundaries of Mongolia s Strictly Protected Areas prepared unofficially by WWF. However, it became clear that some of this work had already been done. Instead it was proposed that this allocation focus on the immediate needs of Bogd Khan Uul SPA, focus of a new World Bank/GEF project. The money was supposed to be used for defining the TOR for the demarcation work on the outer and inner boundaries. However, the project activity will be revised and agreed with SPAD of MNET, and the activities will be initiated in February and finished in June.

9 10. Eight Year Buddhism Environmental Plan Budget USD 45,000 Amount Disbursed USD 36,000 Implementation Status Completed In November 2009, faith leaders from around the world met at Windsor Castle at an event hosted by HRH The Prince Philip and attended by the Secretary General of the United Nations, Mr. Ban Ki-moon, to discuss and announce their long term initiatives to protect the living planet. The Celebration - a Summit of Religious and Secular leaders - launched hundreds of long-term commitments by all the major faith traditions. The NEMO2 handbook Mongolian Buddhists Protecting Nature A Handbook on Faiths, Environment and Development included an introduction to an Eight Year Plan for sustained development of Mongolian Buddhist actions on environmental protection. Year 3 of NEMO2 is building on all this to construct a series of long term environmental commitments and programs by Mongolian Buddhist communities. Ideas for practical actions from the major monasteries at an event at Gandan Monastery on 19 May 2010 were discussed, expanded and agreed on during a Mongolian Buddhist conference. The development of an eight year environmental Buddhist plan for Mongolia was also discussed. See press release - Currently, smaller projects are ongoing such as cleaning of sacred places, advocacy on blue ribbons (khadag) in trees, and planting trees. The report of the Tributary Fund is expected late January. 11. Determining a Robust Methodology to Attribute Changes in Pasture Use to Project-level Interventions Budget USD 10,000 Amount Disbursed None Expected Completion Date June 2011 Evaluations of the effectiveness of livestock and pasture projects in improving pasture management have been weak. This activity will engage a top-level pasture expert to develop the means of making such evaluations which will later be used to examine the impacts of The -financed SLP1 and 2, the Swiss-financed Green Gold, etc. During the preparation of the TOR the World Bank learned that another project had already started similar work. In order to coordinate with the ongoing work the task team had meetings with relevant stakeholders (NAMHEM and MNET) and informed about planned activities. As a result the TOR has been revised and selection of consultants is ongoing. The activity is expected to finish by June.

10 12. Workshop on Biodiversity/Environmental Offsets Budget USD 10,000 Amount Disbursed USD 10,000 Implementation Status Completed NEMO provided the financial support for the organization of a two day introductory workshop to biodiversity offsets in Ulaanbaatar in April In addition background papers were printed and distributed to the workshop participants. The workshop, in cooperation with BBOP, OT and WCS, discussed and provided options for businesses and others to offset their biodiversity and environmental damages. In May 2010, one month after the workshop, MNET was informed by BBOP that it had been chosen as one of the six BBOP focus countries. In 2011 the MNET will follow up on the BBOP initiative. 13. Improvement and Planning of the Environmental Expenditures Budget USD 30,000 Amount Disbursed None Expected Completion Date June 2011 This activity contributes towards the implementation of priority recommendations outlined in the Environmental Public Expenditure Review carried out in Year 1. The author of the Financing Environmental Expenditures report, Anil Markandya, gave guidance to MNET on how to proceed on understanding and gathering data on environmental expenditures in the public sector. The selection of the consultants has been done. They have started beginning of January 2011 and will deliver the final report by June 2011.

11 Pollution Management 14. Health Impacts and Economic Costs of Air Pollution Budget USD 50,000 Amount Disbursed USD 50,000 Expected Completion Date April 2011 This activity builds on the Air Pollution studies conducted in Year 1 and continued in Year 2. The Year 2 report has been finished and published. Year 3 studies revealed severe health impacts of air pollution in Mongolia. To build on these findings, this activity conducted a willingness-to-pay analysis. The background reports are finished and the final report will be made available and disseminated in the first quarter of Some of the activity s allocation will contribute to an event and conference on air pollution largely paid by the Norwegian government to be held around the same time as the publication of the report.

12 Environmental Governance 15. Small Grants for Environmental Management MNET Budget USD 360,000 Amount Disbursed USD 304,117 Expected Completion Date January 2011 This continued the popular Small Grants Program under NEMO1 and NEMO2 Year 1 and 2. A total of 51 grants on the theme of community-based prevention of forest fire; participatory monitoring on implementation of local environmental protection plans; capacity enhancement in evaluation and monitoring of mining-related law enforcement at local level; development and support of participatory monitoring system on environmental crime and law violation, illegal logging and hunting; protection of topsoil by cultivating endemic plants; protection of desert trees and bushes capable of resisting sand dune expansion, and capacity building for community partnerships and herder groups in conservation and sustainable use of pastureland were awarded in 2010 covering 18 aimags and Ulaanbaatar. An assessment of small grant impacts over the last five years by the Social Science Research Unit of National University was presented at the Tripartite Review. The midterm monitoring report is available and the final monitoring report will be available soon. On 7 December an open day was held at the Open Society Forum to give grant recipients the opportunity to present their projects. Starting from 25 November the new round of grants for 2011 was announced in local media. The application deadline is 7 January Amendment, Formulation and Assessment of Environmental Laws and Standards MNET Budget USD 30,000 Amount Disbursed USD 17,631 Expected Completion Date February 2011 This continued the use of NEMO funds to help MNET hire expert assistance for the amendment of laws. Improvements and developments of following laws and regulations have worked on: 1) Guidelines on water ecological and economic valuation - A team comprising of four individual local consultants has been hired to develop new guidelines and calculate water eco-economic value. The work is completed and has been discussed at the MNET. The final report on the new guidelines and calculated values has been sent for peer review to two scientists selected by the MNET. 2) Law on environmental protection - A local consultant has been hired to incorporate environmental audits, and the return of the inspection function to MNET and away

13 from the State Specialized Inspection Agency. The work is completed. A discussion workshop has been held at MNET. An MP has agreed to propose the amendment bill to the Parliament. 3) Law on CITES A local consultant has been hired. The draft was discussed at the MNET involving stakeholders and revised with feedbacks and comments from the discussion. In accordance with a suggestion by the Ministry of Justice, the bill was revised in cooperation with the Ministry of Finance. After the revision, the concept of the law was approved by the Ministry of Justice. The bill has been submitted to the Cabinet of Ministers for its approval and expected to be discussed in mid January. 4) New standard on general requirements of cultivating rare plants A local consultant has been hired. The new standard has been developed and gone through several discussions. The final draft has been approved by the National Technological Committee on Standardization. 5) New standard on specification with guidance at the project level for quantification, monitoring and reporting of greenhouse gas emission reductions or removal enhancements 1:1 translation of ISO existing standard has been made by a local consultant. Another consultant has been hired to review the translation. The draft has been sent to the sectoral ministries for their reviews. 6) New standard on acceptable concentration level of pesticide in air and soil A revised draft has been reviewed and amended with feedback by the sectoral ministries and has been approved by the National Technological Committee on Standardization. 7) Guide for the inclusion of environmental aspects in product standards A local consultant has been hired to improve the standard. The draft has been sent to the sectoral ministries for their reviews. 8) Standardization system of nature conservation - A local consultant has been hired to improve the standard. The draft has been sent to the sectoral ministries for their reviews. 9) New standard on rehabilitation at the closing of mining As an allocated budget of $2,000 under NEMO2 for this standard development was insufficient, the MNET has been seeking additional funding. Recently, the Mineral Resources Authority has agreed to co-fund the work. TORs for the work have been developed. Selection of a local consultant is under process. 17. Methodologies for Evaluation of EIAs MNET Budget USD 10,000 Amount Disbursed None Expected Completion Date February 2011 This activity is reviewing methodologies used elsewhere and adapt/adopt those most applicable to the Mongolian context. One international (Tom Walton) and three national consultants have been hired for the revision of an existing regulation and improvements. The international consultant mainly provides guidance to the national consultants. On 25 November the new guidelines were discussed with stakeholders. The guidelines are being revised with the feedback from the discussion. They are set to become a regulation which is to be discussed in the Parliament spring session.

14 18. Determination of a Practical, Quantitative Set Environmental Management Targets for 2011 and 2015 MNET Budget USD 10,000 Amount Disbursed USD 3,800 Expected Completion Date January 2011 This activity supported workshops and background papers to feed into the Environmental Master Plan and budget planning, reflecting the move to more programmatic planning within MNET, and to give guidance to donors. A team of Eco-Asia University has been hired to execute the work. A first draft of a set of environmental targets and indicators was submitted for discussion held on 11 November. Revisions have been made with the feedbacks from the discussion. A final draft will be discussed soon. 19. Capacity Building for Ministry Staff MNET Budget USD 15,000 Amount Disbursed None Expected Completion Date June 2011 A proposal was made to the Bank but it appeared to be looking for NEMO2 to substitute normal MNET expenditures. $3,000 of the allocation has been assigned to the development of a handbook on simplified interpretation for the public of newly approved air laws and another $4,000 to organize a two day training workshop for the MNET staff to strengthen their environmental management capacity. The former has already been contracted and was supposed to be finished by the end of However this was not the case and the contract has been extended to the end of January. For the latter the agenda has been developed and must be approved by the state secretary. The workshop is planned for the first quarter of Perhaps in 2011 an internal competition might be set up to gather ideas for Year 4 staff capacity building activities. 20. Assistance on Formulating a New Law on Genetic Resources Budget USD 50,000 Amount Disbursed USD 45,000 Expected Completion Date January 2011

15 The purpose of this activity, by a team of national consultants and a specialist international consultant, it to propose a new draft law on the protection of genetic resources, their sustainable use and equitable benefits sharing. The work has been finalized. A working group was established at the MNET and the main tasks were carried out by a team of two national and one international (IUCN) consultant. At least four consultative workshops/meetings were held and the result was a third draft of the draft law. In December 2010 a Mongolian delegation of seven visited the Philippines as this country adopted an Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) law in 2000 with a revision in On their visit the delegation focused on the following issues: the ABS law implementation design, the coordination among stakeholder organizations and their roles/responsibilities, regulations and procedures related to the ABS law, the provision on fees for access to genetic resources, the provision on benefit sharing issues, and the provisions related to the use of traditional knowledge. A program on genetic resources was broadcasted on the education channel. Also an article about genetic resources was published in the Daily Post at the end of December. International and national consultants have been contacted through video conference on 15 October and through audio conference on 27 December. The final version of the draft law was completed and all the consultants have submitted their reports. The final report as well as the final draft law with the law concept will be submitted to the MNET in January Additionally, the consultant team will hold a press conference on the main results from the project. 21. Civil Service Reform for Rangers Budget USD 40,000 Amount Disbursed USD 16,000 Expected Completion Date May 2011 Following on from, and in cooperation with, PREM work on civil service reform (Towards a High Performing Civil Service) in the 2010 Mongolian Year of the Ranger, this activity gave specific attention to rangers and environmental inspectors by asking what the major constraints limiting the environmental management effectiveness of soum rangers and aimag inspectors are to fulfil their tasks and what the priority actions are to address them. A distinguished international consultant visited Mongolia for three weeks to work with the local consultant and their report has been finalized and is now awaiting comments from peer review. Publication and dissemination is expected at the end of the first quarter of 2011.

16 22. Follow-up on 2009 NSO Surveys Budget USD 25,000 Amount Disbursed USD 12,000 Expected Completion Date March 2011 Year 2 supported nationwide surveys through the NSO on environmental perceptions and conditions. There were money-flow delays but the international consultant completed his report which is now being peer reviewed and translated. This additional allocation will be used to disseminate and socialize the findings, and to propose revisions/improvements to the environmental statistics published by NSO. Information dissemination and the distribution of the report are planned for March This will happen in coordination with the air pollution activity, focusing on different groups such as members from Parliament, universities and the general public including ger areas. The strategy for this will be finished by mid February The working group for the improvement for environment statistics is cooperating with the MNET and their activities are ongoing. The final report is undergoing internal peer review expected to finish mid January At the end of February 2011 a conference/training will be organized on the new statistics methods and the use of it.

17 Year 2 Activities Year 3 Disbursements for MNET Executed Year 2 Activities Disbursed in Year 2 Activities 2010 (in USD) Sustainable Management and Protection of Wildlife Campaign & Law Enforcement 47,800 Rehabilitation of Mining Land 4,000 Development of a Methodology for Risk Assessment of Toxic and Hazardous Chemicals 23,878 Review and Improvements of the Environmental Standards 5,900 Improving Laws under Amendment 2,030 Small Grants for Environmental Management ,213

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