BCRLIP

(Project preparation)

BIODIVERSITY CONSERVATION AND RURAL LIVELIHOOD IMPROVEMENT PROJECT (BCRLIP)

About The Project

The Government of India has received a grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) towards the new project titled the ‘Biodiversity Conservation and Rural Livelihood Improvements Project’(BCRLIP).

This project is being designed at a landscape level where PA, non PA forests, and other land uses intermingle and get addressed together under a single project that addresses local livelihood improvement issues in the context of and in order to promote Biodiversity Conservation. Adopting this people supportive strategy, the projects aims at significantly reducing the threat to Biodiversity in these six high priority landscapes.

The Project Tiger office (PTO) in the MOEF which has been charged with the management of BCRLIP carried out an extensive exercise involving expert government agencies such as the Wild life Institute of India (WII), Botanical Survey of India (BSI) and Zoological Survey of India (ZSI) and several consultations with the state governments to arrive at the following six landscape sites for coverage under the project:

State	Biogeographic Zone	Name of Landscape (LS)	Name of Core PA	LS Area^* (approx) sq km
J&K	Himalaya and Trans Himalaya	Indus Valley	Changtang WLS	10,000
Uttaranchal	Himalaya and Trans Himalaya	Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary	Askot Musk Deer Sanctuary	1300
MP	Deccan Peninsula and Gangetic Plains	Satpura	Satpura NP	4500
Gujarat	Arid and Semi Arid	Little Rann of Kutch	Wild Ass Sanctuary	5000
Mizoram	North East	Dampa	Dampa NP	1100
Kerala – TN	Western Ghats	Intervening LS	Agasthyarmalai BR	9400

^* These suggested area figures are subject to review, as a first step in project designing, on considerations of adequacy of biodiversity coverage and the potential feasibility of attainment of goals of the project over the suggested extent.

THE TASK:

TIME FRAME: Eight (8) months.

a) Confirmation of proposed landscape site: This would involve reaching agreement following consultation with key stakeholders on boundaries of selected landscape sites based on existing information and limited field surveys. Landscape sites would be centered on protected area and include reserved and protected forests, community forests and other habitat types.

b) Holding project design workshops:.

i. Carrying out of socio-economic baseline surveys based on multi-stakeholder consultations, and participatory rural appraisals within the proposed landscape sites to identify pressures and threats on habitats and biodiversity. The survey would also identify poor and underprivileged sections, which are forced to overexploit bio-resources owing to shortage of compatible and alternative livelihoods.

ii. Conducting biological surveys to identify high priority areas for conservation targeted key species needs and establish baseline benchmarks against which project impacts can be monitored.

iii. Assessment of land use planning and development needs and activities within and around landscape sites to determine practical and achievable strategies for introducing conservation oriented land use approaches.

iv. Information collected during (part of) these surveys will be used to identify indicators as a part of the monitoring plan.

c) Institutional Analysis and Capacity Needs Assessment:

(i) Institutional analysis of forestry departments, other agencies, NGO, local government and local community institutions to determine institutional strengths and capacity needs for participatory conservation management as well as to assess the need of any additional local institutions needed for effective project delivery and outputs.

(ii) Developing a training plan including training needs for forestry departments and other key stakeholders for project implementation.

d) Developing Guidelines and Procedures for Implementation of Participatory

Conservation Management Activities:

(i) Improving protected area management that integrates regional rural development considerations, promotes participation and collaboration with key stakeholders in decision-making and management of the protected area.

(ii) Improving micro planning to ensure participation and benefit sharing as well as for enhancement of livelihoods amongst the poorest and forest dependent communities, landless people, tribals.

(iii) Improving fund flow mechanisms so as to raise the efficacy and transparency of village level investments;

(iv) Improving the management, operation and sustainability of village revolving funds and self help groups;

(v) Improving integration of biological and environmental considerations in forest operations, afforestation and local livelihood development programs;

(vi) Ecotourism and financial benefit flow to communities; and

(vii) Conflict resolution

e) Indicative Planning to Design Project Components:

1. Building on the baseline data collection, stakeholder consultation, impact assessment and assessment of land use and development activities, an indicative project plan would be developed.
2. Defining institutional arrangements for project implementation at the local, landscape, state and national levels.
3. Design of log frame and results agreement for project design and project operations manual to guide day to day procedures and a participatory Monitoring and Evaluation framework (that would include potential biological, socio-economic and institutional impact indicators).
4. Preparation of project document and implementation plan.

f) Competitive Small Grants Fund:

Developing guidelines and modalities to establish a competitive small grants mechanism to non-project protected areas and conservation sites to expand participatory conservation approaches.

(g) Projection of Project Cost and Financing:

Base cost estimates by year and disbursement categories, financing plan, procurement, financial management, and audit arrangements (the latter particularly at the PA and village levels).

h) Description of Project Benefits and Justifications:

Financial and economic analysis, sensitivity analysis, impacts on biodiversity conservation, impacts on social groups, especially women and other vulnerable groups, institutional benefits and project risks.

i) Preparation of Project Document:

· Background – This would provide an(d) analysis of the strategic context and rationale for the project

· Project Description – This would include project development objective and key indicators and brief description of project components

· Implementation arrangements for project implementation

· Critical project risks and potential controversial aspects

The Project document would be appraised by the MoEF and WB/GEF and a PAD (Project Appraisal Document) prepared which would then be implemented over a period of 6 years by the respective state governments.

The Project design and preparation work has been assigned competitively to a Consortium led by the PEACE Institute Charitable Trust at Delhi and consists of Samrakshan Trust, Enviro Legal Defence Firm and NR International.

Members of the public are invited to offer comments, suggestions, instances of past good practices etc relevant to the Project.

For comments, suggestions on the Project activities communication may be addressed to:

IGF & Director, Project Tiger at dirpt-r@nic.in