UNDP REDD+ TEAM UNDP GENEVA, INTERNATIONAL ENVIRONMENT HOUSE, 11-13 CHEMIN DES ANEMONES, CH-1219 CHÂTELAINE, GENEVA, SWITZERLAND. @ TIM.CLAIRS@UNDP.ORG WWW.UNDP.ORG

United Nations Development Programme

Environment & Energy Group

READINESS PREPARATION PROPOSAL (R-PP) ASSESSMENT NOTE

ON THE PROPOSED PROJECT WITH PARAGUAY

FOR REDD+ READINESS PREPARATION SUPPORT

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SUMMARY information Outline

Country: Paraguay Project Title: Support the implementation of the REDD+ readiness process in

Paraguay Project Duration (in months): 36 Expected start month: May 2017 Date of R-PP Formulation Preparatory Grant signature (if applicable): Not applicable Number of FCPF Participants Committee Resolution Approving the R-PP: PC/17/2014/25

Country Programming YES NO Project within CPAP, UNDAF Action Plan, One UN Plan etc. HACT macro-assessment available: HACT micro-assessment(s) completed: UNDAF Outcome(s): Outcome 2.1 - Transfer of responsibilities and accountability: Paraguay will have reduced poverty levels, decent work has been established and the improvement of the income of the labor force has been guaranteed.

Output 1.3: National and subnational systems and institutions with the power to make structural changes in productive capacities to achieve inclusive and sustainable development.

o Indicator 1.3.1: A: Number of national and sub-national initiatives implemented to strengthen livelihoods and natural resources.

Output 1.4: Increased number of measures taken for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and implementation of such measures in all, sectors on the basis of strategic tools and multisectoral consensus

o Indicator 1.4.1 B: Initiation and implementation rate of a system of human rights safeguards, social, and environmental rights (in the process of elaboration), with an emphasis on the indigenous population

o Indicator 1.4.1 C: Approval rate and implementation rate of the national deforestation and forest degradation (REDD +) emissions reduction plan.

Project Objective: to support the Republic of Paraguay in completing the preparation phase for REDD+, based on the results of the National UN-REDD Program. Expected Result: Paraguay has fulfilled all UNFCCC requirements to seek results-based payment for REDD+ results, as well as complied with the operational modalities of the entities providing results-based finance for REDD+. Implementing Partner / Executing Entity: PNUD Responsible Parties / Implementing Agencies: SEAM

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Links to UN-REDD Programme YES NO UN-REDD Programme partner country: UN-REDD National Programme (NP): NP under implementation when the R-PP project is expected to start: UN-REDD Targeted Support

Project Financing Data Total R-PP Resources Required: US$ 5.905 M Total R-PP Resources Available from FCPF: US$ 3.8 M Unfunded Budget: US$ 1.93 M

Co-financing: 1. Other Donors

Cash: Parallel: In-kind:

2. Government Cash: Parallel: In-kind:

3. UNDP Cash: In-kind:

Contacts & Clearances

Country Office Contact Person: Veronique Gerard Telephone No.: +59521611980

Email: veronique.gerard@undp.org

Clearances to the Readiness Preparation Proposal Assessment Note:

Resident Representative/Country Director: Cecilia Mercedes Ugaz Estrada Regional Technical Advisor: Marco Chiu Principal Technical Advisor: Tim Clairs

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CONTENTS

ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS ......................................................................................................................... V

I. INTRODUCTION ............................................................................................................................................ 8

A. COUNTRY CONTEXT .............................................................................................................................................. 8 B. SECTORAL AND INSTITUTIONAL CONTEXT ......................................................................................................................... 9

i) Drivers of deforestation .................................................................................................................................... 9 ii) National REDD+ Developments ...................................................................................................................... 15 iii) Institutional Context ...................................................................................................................................... 18

II. PROPOSED PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES ....................................................................................... 28

A. PROPOSED PDO ................................................................................................................................................. 28 B. KEY RESULTS ...................................................................................................................................................... 28

III. PROJECT CONTEXT ...................................................................................................................................... 32

A. CONCEPT ............................................................................................................................................................... 32 i) Description ...................................................................................................................................................... 32 ii) Project Stakeholder Assessment..................................................................................................................... 34 iii) Key Risks and Issues....................................................................................................................................... 37

B. IMPLEMENTING PARTNER ASSESSMENT .................................................................................................................. 38 C. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS ....................................................................................................................... 39

IV. OVERALL RISK RATINGS .............................................................................................................................. 44

V. UNDP QUALITY ASSURSANCE INPUTS ......................................................................................................... 45

A. COMPLIANCE WITH THE COMMON APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS ................................................ 46 B. NATIONAL-LEVEL GRIEVANCE MECHANISM ................................................................................................................... 47 C. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION .......................................................................................................................... 48

VI. ASSESSMENT SUMMARY ............................................................................................................................ 48

A. TECHNICAL ........................................................................................................................................................ 48 B. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ................................................................................................................................... 49 C. PROCUREMENT .................................................................................................................................................. 49

VII. ANNEXES ................................................................................................................................................ 51

Annex 1: preliminary list of ENBCS measures ..................................................................................................... 52 Annex 2: Project Theory of Change .................................................................................................................... 67 Annex 3: UNDP Project Cycle Management Services for FCPF Projects ............................................................. 68 Annex 4: UNDP Social and ENVIRONMENTAL Screening Process ...................................................................... 71 SESP Attachment 1. Social and Environmental Risk Screening Checklist ........................................................... 77

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ABBREVIATIONS AND ACRONYMS

AFD Development Financial Agency (Agencia Financiera de Desarrollo)

AWP Annual Work Plan

BAU Business as usual

BGR Federal Institute for Geosciences and Natural Resources in Hannover

BNF National Development Bank (Banco Nacional de Fomento)

BUR Biennal Update Reports

CAH Habilitation Agricultural Credit (Crédito Agrícola de Habilitación)

CAPECO Paraguayan Chamber of Grain and Oilseed Exporters and Traders (Cámara Paraguaya de Exportadores y Comercializadores de Cereales y Oleaginosas)

CATIE Tropical Agricultural Research and Higher Education Center

CBR+ Community Based REDD+

CD Country Director

CNCC National Commission on Climate Change

Common Approach: The Common Approach provides an overarching framework for the World Bank and development agencies to be Delivery Partners to provide R-PP Formulation and/or Preparation grants to FCPF REDD Country Participants.

CONAM National Environment Council

CSO civil society organization

DCD Deputy Country Director

EAP Economically Active Population

ECLAC Economic Commission for Latin America

ENBCS National Strategy of Forests for Sustainable Growth

ESMF Environmental and Social Management Framework

FAO United Nations Food and Agriculture Organization

FAPI Federation for the Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples (Federación para la Auto-Determinación de los Pueblos Indígenas)

FCPF Forest Carbon Partnership Facility

FIP Forest Investment Program

FREL Forest Reference Emission Level

GCF Green Climate Fund

GDP Gross Domestic Product

GHG Greenhouse Gas

GRM Grievance and Redress Mechanism

ICA Institutional and Context Analysis

ICB Biodiversity Conversation Index

IDB Inter-American Development Bank

INDERT National Land and Rural Development Institute [Instituto Nacional de Desarrollo Rural y de la Tierra]

INDI Paraguay Indigenous Peoples’ Institute [Instituto Paraguayo del Indígena]

INFONA National Forestry Institute

IPCC Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change

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IPTA Paraguayan Institute of Agricultural and Livestock Technology

JICA Japan International Cooperation Agency

LULUCF Land use, land-use change and forestry

MAG Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock

MH Ministry of Finance (Treasury)

MRV Measurement, Reporting and Verification System

NDC Nationally Determined Contributions

NFMS National Forest Monitoring System

NGO non-governmental organization

NJP National Joint Program

OAI Office of Audit and Investigations

OAS Organization of American States

PAC Project Appraisal Committee

PAM Policies and Measures

PB Project Board

PMU Project Management Unit

PNCC National Program on Climate Change

POJOAJU Paraguay Association of NGOs

POPP UNDP´s Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures

POTA Plan for Land and Environmental Use and Regulation

PPV UNDP´s Green Productive Landscapes

QA Quality Assurance

RBLAC UNDP Regional Bureau for Latin America and the Caribbean

RBP Results Based Payment

REDD+ [Policy approaches and positive incentives for…] Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation; the role of conservation, sustainable management of forests, and enhancement of forest carbon stocks

REDIEX Export Promotion Organization

RL/REL Reference Level/Reference Emission Level

R-PIN Readiness Plan Idea Note

RPP Readiness Preparation Proposal

RR Resident Representative

RRNN Natural Resources

RSA Environmental Services Regime

SAS Social Action Secretariat

SEAM Environment Secretariat

SECU Social and Environmental Compliance Unit

SESA Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment.

SESP UNDP´s Social and Environmental Screening Procedure

SIS Safeguards information system

SISNAM National Environmental System

SRM UNDP’s Stakeholder Response Mechanism

STP Technical Planning Secretariat for Economic and Social Development

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TNC The Nature Conservancy

ToR Terms of Reference

UNDAF United Nations Development Assistance Framework

UNDG United Nations Development Group

UNDP United Nations Development Programme

UNEP United Nations Environment Programme

UNFCCC United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change

UNPFII United Nations Permanent Forum on Indigenous Issues

UN-REDD UN-REDD Program

UN-REDD NJP UN-REDD National Joint Programme

USCUSS Land Use, Land Use Change, and Forestry

WWF World Wildlife Fund

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I. INTRODUCTION

As part of its responsibilities as a Delivery Partner for the FCPF, UNDP has been asked to ensure that the FCPF’s activities comply with UNDP’s policies and procedures, and the Common Approach. The purpose of this Readiness Preparation Plan Assessment Note (R-PP Assessment Note) is for UNDP to assess if and how the proposed REDD+ Readiness Support Activity, as presented in the R-PP, complies with the above policies, procedures and approach, discuss the technical quality of the R-PP, record the assistance UNDP has provided to the REDD+ Country Participant in the formulation of its R-PP, and describe the assistance it might potentially provide to the REDD+ Country Participant in the implementation of its R-PP.

A. COUNTRY CONTEXT

Paraguay has a surface area of 406,752 km2, and a total population of 6,273,103 inhabitants, 58.8 percent of whom live in urban areas and 41.2 percent in rural areas. The Republic of Paraguay’s territorial, political, and administrative system comprises 17 departmental governorships and 225 municipal governments. The country has an Average Human Development (0,669), and a Gross National Income per capita of US$ 4.497 in 2012 (2005 PPP$). Despite an increasing development of policies in health, education and social protection, a third of the population (32.4%) still lives under the poverty line, especially in rural areas. Landlocked Paraguay has a small and open economy, heavily dependent on energy production and commodity exports, in particular soy and beef, which account for close to 50 percent of exports. In terms of production of electric energy, this amounts to approximately 60,000 GWh/h/yr - one of the highest of the world’s per capita production. While less than 16% is used in Paraguay, the rest is exported to the binational dams’ partner countries (Brazil and Argentina). The economy is also distinguished by a large informal sector, featuring re-export of imported consumer goods to neighboring countries, as well as the activities of thousands of microenterprises and urban street vendors. A large percentage of the population, especially in rural areas, derives its living from agricultural activity, often on a subsistence basis. 1 After a long term economic stagnancy, the GDP has grown steadily the last decade. This is matched by favorable macroeconomic indicators such as a fiscal surplus, low inflation and debt, and international reserves. The forecast is for continued strong economic growth at reasonable rates over the next years, which should be reflected in growth of investments and productive activities as well as consumption, which will generate new activities and products that undoubtedly will affect the climate and will contribute to global warming and climate change in the country. With relative progress on some MDGs (education, gender equity), the main challenge of the country lies in its complex inequalities: a high concentration of land (Gini 0, 94) and income (Gini 0,520) persist.2

1 CIA (2014). Paraguay. 25/11/2014

2 UNDP (2014). Paraguay en breve. http://www.py.undp.org/content/paraguay/es/home/countryinfo/

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Social policies are under development, but generally with low coverage. Fiscal redistributive policies remain insufficient to address equity. Despite its recent improvement, governance indicators remain weak. The country’s agricultural productive structure has a marked dichotomy, with two basic sectors engaged in a discrete and conflictive relationship. One—the modern business sector—concentrates productive assets and works on a larger scale. The other—the traditional agricultural sector of the small farmers and native peoples—firmly maintains a different sociocultural pattern. While the modern agricultural sector contributes to GDP and revenues from export, and own 85.5 percent of the land, the family farming accounts for 90 percent of the productive farms in Paraguay and is a “strategically important sector” for reducing by half the rate of 19 percent of the Paraguayan population that lives in poverty. Family farms occupy 6.6 percent of the national territory and produce 60 percent of Paraguay’s food. This sector is characterized by: (a) sub-employment on the farm; (b) low productivity in the use of the factors of production; (c) limited market penetration; (d) predominance of production for home use; (e) little use of technology; (f) low income; (g) reduced education level; (h) weakly organized for production and marketing; (i) does not fully use available land; (j) income comes mainly from sugarcane, cotton, sesame, and cassava; (k) uses basically family labor. According to the Census of Population and Housing – Indigenous Peoples in Paraguay (2012), the indigenous population is 117,150 persons distributed in 19 indigenous groups across 13 of the 17 departments of Paraguay and amounting to about 2% of Paraguay’s total population.

B. Sectoral and institutional context

Paraguay can be divided into two major natural regions: the eastern region and the western region (Chaco), each of which has markedly different features. The Paraguayan Chaco, in the West, is part of the Grand South-American Chaco, one of the largest remaining of dry forest in the world, and the second largest forest ecosystem in Latin-America, after the Amazon. A part of the Alto Parana forest is located in Eastern Paraguay, a subtropical forest with a huge biodiversity.

Paraguay has about 11 million hectares of forest, covering 24% of the surface. Despite of officially protecting 15% of this surface, Paraguay is experiencing one of the highest deforestation rates in Latin-America. According to the official data of the Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL) submitted by Paraguay to the UNFCCC on the 4th of January 2016, the average annual deforestation between 2000 and 2015 was 366.319 hectares causing annual emissions of 60.388.964 tCO2 on average.

i) Drivers of deforestation

The Readiness –Preparation Proposal (R-PP) presents a very comprehensive overview of the drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, explaining in details the institutional framework and some underlying factors leading to deforestation and forest degradation. It also identifies areas which require further studies in order to develop effective and efficient policies. New deforestation analyses have been conducted in 2016 with support from the UN-REDD Programme, which results will be used to inform further REDD+ readiness activities in the country. Paraguay´s deforestation rate is closely linked to the relatively recent development of the export of agricultural commodities. From the 1960s and 1970s, the expansion of the agricultural frontier coupled

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with an intensive settlement process essentially based on logging and extensive farming including pasture cultivation, generated drastic and extensive changes in land use. This resulted in a significant reduction and deterioration of the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forests, Paraguay’s largest continuous forest formation, which has been reduced to small, degraded forest remnants, as well as the deterioration of the natural resources and loss of biodiversity. In the last decades, the deforestation pattern has shifted from the eastern region, to the Chaco in the West. Current forest cover indicates that 84.3 percent of the forests are located in the western region and the remaining 15.69 percent in the eastern region. Paraguay’s FREL has shown that up to 1,000 hectares per day are being deforested in the Chaco. These alarming figures highlight the seriousness of the situation in this fragile region and the urgency for taking measures to find viable solutions for conserving these forests of great value for the preservation of biodiversity and the Chaco’s environment. The western region, has a much more fragile ecosystem. According to the data analyzed, referred to in the R-PP, current land use in Paraguay has the following breakdown: 43 percent is in native forests, 29 percent is for livestock (pastures), and 18 percent is for agriculture. For 1990, taken as the base year by the National Forest Inventory, the country’s estimated forest area was 21,929,253 hectares; for 2011, it was 16,623,387 hectares, a decline of 5,305,866 hectares. This is a loss of 252,660 hectares per year. Preliminary results of the Inventory of Forests and Carbon indicate that the eastern identified forest area declined by 2,095,395 hectares between 1990 and 2011, a deforestation rate of 99,780.7 ha/year. In the western region, the decline during the same period was 3,210,471 hectares, a deforestation rate of 152,880 ha/year. Table No. 1 shows the area of coverage (forest and non-forest) in Paraguay. It reveals that 40.9 percent of the area is forest (16,623,387 hectares), and 59.1 percent is non-forest (24,051,813 hectares).

Table 1: Estimate of the Forest Area Broken Down by Regions

Region Area (ha) % forest

% of the country

Eastern region 2,607,420 15.7 6.4

Western region 14,015,967 84.3 34.5

Total 16,623,387 100.00 40.9

Source: UNREDD-NJP, 2014 The reforested area in Paraguay is 66,000 hectares, including the different types of incentives implemented in recent decades (National Forestry Institute, in the R-PP). Exotic species account for 90 percent of the reforestation (Eucaliptus grandis, Eucaliptus camaldulensis, Pinus taeda, Pinus elliotti y Melia azedarach). Most of the plantations are in the eastern region. Reports of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) show that deforestation has an important effect on climate change in Paraguay by reducing the amount of surface water, affecting the diversity of flora and fauna, increasing the levels of GHG, and favoring the propagation of diseases such as malaria, leishmaniosis, and epidemics of dengue caused by the Aedes aegypti mosquito that migrates to the urban areas because of the disappearance of its forest habitat as a result of deforestation.

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Direct causes of deforestation: The direct causes of deforestation in Paraguay are identified as the expansion of the agricultural frontier (mainly for soy cultivation), the expansion of pastureland for the production of beef and dairy products, the demand for firewood for fuel, and the opening of new areas for peasant farmer settlements. Soy production According to the National Agricultural Census for 2008, the cultivation of soy increased from 552,657 hectares in 1991 to 2,464,510 hectares in 2008, and covered more than 3,000,000 hectares in 2013. Much of the expansion has been at the expense of forests and this growth in the cultivated area coincides with the rates of deforestation during the same period. The annual growth in soya cultivation in the eastern region is closely related to the historic rates of deforestation, affecting primarily the Alto Paraná Atlantic Forest, which contains the country’s best forests. Beef production Ranching is a traditional activity in Paraguay and has assumed an important role in the economy in the last decade. Between 2008 and 2012, livestock increased by 27 percent, from 10.5 million heads to 13.3 million heads, with an average annual increase of 500,000 heads. 60 percent of the herd is in the eastern region and 40 percent in the western region or Chaco. The Agricultural Census of 2008 recorded an increase of more than 5 million hectares of pasture in comparison with the census of 1991. The greatest growth rates, both in number of cattle and pasture area in recent years, were in the western region of Paraguay or Chaco. The expansion of soy in the eastern region, which has displaced livestock in some zones in the region, is linked to the low price of the land, and the absence of social conflicts (invasions and rustling) has been a key factor in this growth. The highest growth rates in the number of cattle have varied from 50-70 percent in the Chaco in comparison with 28-33 percent in the eastern region. Wood for energy use On the use side, 46 percent of the final energy consumption in the country comes from biomass, 38 percent from fossil fuels—primarily petroleum, while electricity (generated almost exclusively by hydropower), is only 16 percent. The high percentage of biomass in the final consumption causes major environmental problems in terms of deforestation and soil degradation, because the biomass comes almost exclusively from wood obtained from non-sustainable crops (deforestation). The country is actually in a state of wood emergency because of the lack of solid biomass in all sectors. The supply of sustainably produced wood is insufficient to cover the current demand. The demand for firewood originally came from the peasant farmers. The situation has changed, however, and now most of it comes from the soy sector for maintenance of silos, and in the western region for cold storage for the livestock sector. This means that firewood from forest use, legal and illegal clearing, and native forest is an input for the production of beef and soy. This is another source of significant deforestation and at the same time an opportunity for the incentive for energy plantations in the country. Institutions and policies having an impact (direct or indirect) on deforestation and forest degradation Financing of production

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Between 2006 and 2013 (April) the financial system’s portfolio of loans to the livestock sector increased from US$166 million to US$1.1 billion, an increase of 581 percent. The livestock sector accounts for 12 percent of the total loan portfolio. The private sector provides 92 percent of the financial resources, while the public sector is responsible for the remaining 8 percent. Credit available to the agricultural and forest sector in Paraguay in recent decades has been limited to a simple financing mechanism for foreign-exchange producing agricultural activities. So far there has been no policy focused on specific rural development objectives, much less a policy for sustainable development of forest resources. Financing of agricultural production assumed significance in the 1970s with an expansionist approach of institutional loans to stimulate more agricultural cultivation and pastures for livestock at the expense of conversion of land with forest coverage. Agricultural policies and rural development The various stages of Paraguay’s agricultural development have been the extraction of natural resources, with land as an abundant factor of production. Major structural changes began to occur in the 1970s, with highway infrastructure works that integrated vast areas to the country’s economy, which together with the policy of distribution of public land led to a large internal migration of peasant farmers, including some from neighboring countries, especially southern Brazil, beginning in fact to create a national agrarian economy that impacted land tenure structure and forest conservation. This process led to the rapid colonization of a region of vast natural forests in a zone of great agricultural growth in a period of only 20 years, with major negative environmental impact on the conservation of forest resources, biodiversity, and the environment in general. The factors that accelerated this short-term process were the same land distribution policies, the credit policy, the lack of a suitable tax policy, and the failure to implement restrictions to guarantee the sustainable use of renewable natural resources. Energy policies Neither the business sector nor the rural communities are sufficiently aware of the importance of efficient use of these energy resources, nor do they understand how to carry out rational exploitation of their forest resources. Controls on the utilization of firewood in the forests are very weak and ineffective, which can have serious consequences for the sustainability of forest resources, aggravating the degradation of the forests. Lack of coordination and land use planning Historically there has been little coordination between government agencies responsible for rural and agricultural development and its environmental sustainability. Neither the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) nor any of the various independent agricultural entities have developed effective capacities for connecting with the territorial government levels; reactive and unconnected bureaucratic centralism remains the basic characteristic of management. The following tables give a schematic overview of the drivers of deforestation in Paraguay, as well as the related agents, proposed actions and the region where the deforestation takes place. The table (no 13 in the R-PP) does not differentiate between direct and underlying drivers, e.g. with reference to the price of commodities, which is determined in the international market and impacts the expansion of the agricultural frontier and the expansion of pasture land.

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Table 2: Principal Agents and Drivers of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Paraguay

Drivers Related agents Proposed actions Eastern region

Western region

1. Expansion of the agricultural frontier

Agricultural corporations

Increase productivity in land use

X -

2. Expansion of pastureland

Ranchers Increase productivity in land use

- X

3. Establishment of agricultural settlements

Peasant farmers Rural land-use planning X -

4. Legal and illegal timbering

Lumberjacks and other actors

Simple and efficient control and compliance mechanisms

X X

5. Use and production of firewood and charcoal

Various actors, agricultural corporations, farmers

Energetic, large-scale reforestation and forestation

X X

6. Illegal occupation of forest areas

Landless peasant farmers/squatters

Improve control and rural titling/ promote alternative agriculture

X -

7. Illegal cultivation Peasant farmers and other actors

Improve control and suppression of illicit arrangements

X X

8 Urban expansion Development companies

Improve land-use planning X -

9. Forest burning Ranchers Plan for management and control of pasture burning

X X

10. Increased price of commodities

Farmers and ranchers

Economic incentives for forests, schemes of transferrable permits for land

X X

11. Infrastructure (highway, power, etc.)

Various actors Mitigation of impacts X X

Source: Prepared by the authors of the R-PP, 2014

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Table No. 3 Direct and Underlying Causes of Deforestation and Forest Degradation in Paraguay

UNDERLYING CAUSES

Economic factors

Demographic factors

Political and institutional factors

Technical factors Cultural factors

Market trends Population growth

Institutional weakness

Access to new technologies

Better access to education

Low value of the forest

Migration Lack of leadership Inefficient technology

Better access to education

High opportunity cost

Limited control capacity

Lack of environmental parameters for production

Little appreciation of the forest

Land speculation Inconsistent

public policies New cultural patterns

Restrictive logistics

Perverse incentives

Lack of land-use planning

Source: Prepared by the authors of the R-PP, 2014 Comments received on R-PP by FCPF independent reviewers (I)

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The R-PP suggests several studies necessary to increase the understanding of the underlying causes of deforestation. Given that the main causes of deforestation are transformation of forest to agricultural land, it is important to know how the farmers and investors make their economic choices, e.g. which factors influences their investment choice. Such a study is mentioned in the R-PP, but not reflected in the budget. It could also be given more attention to how fiscal and credit policies contribute to deforestation, as well as the relationship between land tenure and deforestation. In the R-PP, there is only a reference to the construction of highway and opening up of roads under a section on land use policies. In view of the comments above, the implementation of the FCPF grant will assess the deforestation drivers´ analysis presented in the R-PP (tables 2 and 3 above), together with a most recent analysis conducted in 2016 with support from the UN-REDD Programme, and determine potential gaps of information. If gaps are identified and as dimmed appropriate, in the context of the multi-stakeholder process (Product 1) to develop a revised version of the first “National Strategy of Forests for Sustainable Growth” (ENBCS in Spanish), such gaps will be addressed. Additionally, the FCPF grant will facilitate a revision of the two deforestation drivers´ assessments mentioned above. If necessary, an adjustment of those assessments will be conducted, with a view to prevent circular logic in the analysis. As appropriate, such adjustments will then be reflected in the ENBCS´s theory of change, as part of the process of defining/adjusting REDD+ Policies and Measures (PAMs), included in the ENBCS. Similarly, as part of the implementation strategies of the FCPF Project, synergies will be fostered with initiatives that pursue similar objectives in the country, and that are addressing some of the comments above. An example of this is UNDP´s Green Productive Landscapes (PPV in Spanish) Project, under which linkages of deforestation with fiscal and credit policies are being assessed. The findings of the activities developed with support of the PPV Project will be incorporated in the process to reach Product 1 of the FCPF Project.

ii) National REDD+ Developments

The objective of a REDD+ National Strategy is to contribute to the vision of development of Paraguay with elements that permit it to mitigate climate change through the rational use of natural resources, reduce poverty, and stop and/or reverse the loss of forest ecosystems. This will require the identification of financial mechanisms, projects, measures, and policies for comprehensive management at the national level, in the current national and international legal framework. This construction process will be accomplished in the Development Plan for 2015-2030. The R-PP states that the Strategy is planned to be a set of actions and/or policies to reduce emissions from deforestation and forest degradation and conserve and increase carbon stocks. To achieve this objective, the strategy must analyze the direct and indirect causes of deforestation and degradation and propose alternatives for reducing their impact, supporting the construction of a vision of sustainable development over time. This will be constructed in a participatory manner, involving indigenous peoples and residents who make their living from the forest. This will be consistent with the Development Plan and work with a 15-year time horizon to 2030.

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It´s been proposed in the R-PP that the development of the Strategy will involve government entities responsible for planning, financial, and sector management associated with natural resource management, and the agricultural, livestock, energy, and forestry sectors, among others. The construction of the Strategy also involves indigenous peoples and forest dependent communities. The process is planned to be participatory and transparent. There will be constructed mechanisms for participation and efficient interagency coordination among the public and private sectors and civil society, ensuring informed participation by the indigenous and peasant farmer sectors. Capacity building is referred to as an important part of the development process in order to create technical capacity, management, and innovation to deal with complex themes such as REDD+ as part of a country’s overall development strategy. The key elements for the construction of the REDD+ National Strategy are identified in the R-PP as follows:

Identifying the economic impact of the measures in the short, medium, and long terms.

Working closely with the agricultural and livestock sector in the country, and with populations dependent on the forests, such as indigenous peoples, peasant farmers, women, and youth.

Establishing a phased scheme of proposals for measurement, testing, and economic impact. The R-PP highlights that civil society (nongovernmental organizations representing youth, women, indigenous peoples, and peasant farmers) will be involved to guarantee that the process addresses questions of gender or unequal benefits that could block the well-being of social groups (especially communities that depend on the forests, women, youth, and peasant farmers). The Government of Paraguay recognizes the importance of the key groups, and therefore they will be sure to be adequately represented. Comments received on R-PP by FCPF independent reviewers (II) The exact process of development of the Strategy with the different milestones and inputs are not clearly described in the R-PP documents. The strategic options referred to also include studies needed for developing the Strategy, and cannot be interpreted as strategic options per se. The process of developing of the Strategy should be better specified in the project document. In view of the comment above, the FCPF Project expects to build on the progress achieved by UN-REDD on the development of the ENBCS. There is a first draft of the ENBCS, which is considered a potential basis for the development of a national Strategy that will follow a multi-stakeholder inclusive process; including the necessary steps towards the formal adoption/endorsement of such document or its elements, as part of the national policy framework. This process will be supported with the FCPF grant, and the precise elements of such process defined as part of the grant implementation. In addition, other inputs provided by UN-REDD will be considered, as the REDD+ stakeholder mapping. Status of Implementation Paraguay has actively participated in the international REDD+ negotiations process from the outset in 2005, and was one of nine countries selected to pilot national UN-REDD programming efforts, following a request from the Paraguayan Government in August 2008. It submitted a draft R-PIN to the World Bank in 2008 as well, in the context of the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF). The experience gained in preparing the draft R-PIN has helped validate Paraguay’s participation in the UN-REDD Programme, thus paving the way for a more effective preparation of this R-PP.

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The UN-REDD National Joint Program (UN-REDD NJP) was signed in July 2011 for a three-year period ending in July 2014. Various political changes at the country level have impacted the effective implementation of its activities. As a result, a request to extend the completion date at no cost was submitted in July 2014. A mid-term review was conducted, which led to the reformulation of the project. The findings of the mid-term review has to a large extent contributed to the content of the R-PP. The UN-REDD NJP closed in September 2016. Key areas where progress was made with support from the UN-REDD NJP are:

1. REDD+ National Strategy/Action Plan: a first draft of the so-called Paraguay´s National Strategy of Forests for Sustainable Growth (ENBCS in Spanish) was developed. This is an internal document that will serve as the basis to develop a revised strategy, following a participatory and inclusive approach.

2. A deforestation (national level) Forest Reference Emission Level (FREL) was submitted (January 2016) to the UNFCCC and analyzed by UNFCCC experts (process that ended in December 2016). As part of the technical analysis process Paraguay submitted a deforestation revised FREL (May 2016) to the UNFCCC.

3. A National Forest Monitoring System was designed and associated data can be viewed in a geoportal. http://snmf.infona.gov.py:8091/portal/

4. A number of studies and technical analysis have been produced, which have produced inputs for the development of the ENBCS, FREL and early analysis towards the development of a safeguards information system (SIS).

a. Legal Aspects: Two presentations on results, an analysis were done of the types of land tenure in Paraguay and legal aspects of carbon ownership. Also, there was timely support for aspects linked to environmental services, five draft resolutions presented, one draft decree, all promulgated.

b. Mapping of Ancestral Territories: a first approximation was done which will later be incorporated into a special map, one presentation before the FAPI plenary (12 indigenous organizations).

c. Analysis of land tenure and indigenous territories. d. National Forest and Carbon Inventory. A methodology was developed and a pilot phase

of the inventory was carried out incorporating spreadsheets with environmental and socioeconomic criteria.

e. Determination of the opportunity costs of land use: An analysis of the opportunity costs of the main sources of deforestation and degradation was carried out. Two presentations made, agricultural activities of 17 departments analyzed.

f. Base maps: several maps were developed/compiled and should serve to determine future deforestation scenarios.

g. Future Deforestation Scenarios. The process for determining scenarios commenced with the use of base maps.

h. Multiple Benefits: progress was made with the production of a potential deforestation map, compiling information worldwide and relating it with the benefits prioritized nationally. A geographic multiple benefit analysis was developed.

i. Analysis of the causes of deforestation and forest degradation: Study that has been the basis for the National REDD+ Action Plan/Strategy. Information was expanded with an analysis of each driver of deforestation, which has been the basis for the R-PP.

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j. Analysis of land use change (1990-2011) and the formulation of deforestation scenarios in Paraguay (CATIE).

5. Mapping of the requirements for the implementation of a complaints and dispute resolution mechanism at the national level was carried out, taking into account national and regional experiences.

6. An international workshop was conducted on environmental, social, and human rights safeguards where two working groups convened: one on safeguards and another on conflict resolution, involving more than 100 persons, where 55 percent of participants registered were women and 45 percent men.

7. Several information-sharing workshops with indigenous peoples and information-sharing workshops with local governments were conducted, as part of the capacity building efforts.

iii) Institutional Context

National Legal Framework Paraguay has a legal framework that includes laws, decrees, and regulations on such areas as the environment, indigenous peoples, gender, agrarian reform, and the establishment of institutions and agencies. The national legal framework contains several laws that are indirectly related to aspects of climate change, in particular vulnerability, adaptation, and mitigation. They are well referred to in the R-PP, including the framework that guarantees traditional user rights and autonomy to indigenous peoples in their own territories. The National Constitution recognizes the right of the people of Paraguay to live in a healthy and ecologically balanced environment, and declares the preservation, conservation, and improvement of the environment, and its reconciliation with overall human development, to be of social interest. It also recognizes the equal rights and opportunities of all of Paraguay’s inhabitants. Law No. 1561/2000 established the National Environmental System (SISNAM), which is composed of two bodies: (i) the National Environment Council (CONAM), the consultative and deliberative body responsible for defining the national policy on the environment; and (ii) the Environment Secretariat (SEAM), an executive body responsible primarily for formulating, coordinating, executing, and supervising the national policy on the environment. In 2001, SEAM’s National Climate Change Programme was approved by Executive Decree N°14,943 with the purpose to implement actions related to the UNFCCC, and included the creation of the National Climate Change Office and of the National Climate Change Commission. This commission is a multi-stakeholder platform that includes various government entities, as well as civil society organizations. SEAM holds its presidency and the Ministry of Foreign Affairs its Vice Presidency. This Commission will be ratified as part of the endorsement of Paraguay´s Climate Change Law (currently under review of the Congress). With respect to international instruments under which Paraguay has assumed significant international commitments, there are various conventions and agreements. The previous includes commitments in free market processes and regional agreements, among which the most important are the MERCOSUR commitments and the agreements approved at the Third Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, such as the Rio Declaration on Environment and Development; Convention on Biological Diversity; United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and the Principles on Ranking and Sustainable Development of Forests. Because these commitments are legally binding instruments they were

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subsequently ratified by the National Congress. In all these agreements forests play a key role and their principles have been considered in the process of drafting national forest policy and the strategic planning for sustainable forest development. Several other international commitments relate indirectly to forests. Law No. 3001/06 “on Assessment of and Compensation for Environmental Services” seeks to encourage the conservation, protection, recovery, and sustainable development of biological diversity and the country’s natural resources through assessment and fair, timely, and adequate compensation for environmental services. It also seeks to contribute to compliance with the international obligations assumed by the Republic of Paraguay. The decrees that regulate the application of the above law are Decrees No. 10.247/07 and No. 1.202/13 and the resolutions of the Secretariat that have regulated the arrangements for assessment and compensation because there was no methodology for it. The number of hectares certified so far is 162.622,52; where 75.151,52 hectares are located in the eastern region, and 87.471 hectares in the western region. The R-PP also includes the regulatory framework governing the right to traditional uses by indigenous peoples, granted in the Paraguayan Constitution. Relevant policies Paraguay is a member of the UNFCCC since 1993. In view of the progress made in international negotiations and the Kyoto Protocol flexible mechanisms, regulations with respect to the Clean Development Mechanism, SEAM submitted a draft decree to the executive for the establishment of a National Program on Climate Change (PNCC). This decree, which was promulgated by the Executive Branch as Decree No. 14.943 of October 9, 2001, aims to implement the PNCC under SEAM. The National Policy on Climate Change, which represents the framework outlining the activities to be executed by the public and private sectors, and civil society in general, was drafted in 2011. The drafting process for this policy sought to establish a broad, inclusive consensus-based national process involving the public and private sectors and civil society, with a view to proposing lines of action, policies, and strategies as a basis for the strengthening of the PNCC and its potential incorporation into the National Development Plan. The National Policy on the Environment (PAN), which was approved in May 2005, seeks to “...conserve and manage the use of Paraguay’s natural and cultural assets to guarantee sustainable development, equitable benefits distribution, environmental justice, and quality of life to present and future generations.” The PAN establishes its implementation instruments: the strategic environmental assessment, the environmental audit, quality standards, a control and surveillance system, citizen participation and social control, and economic, financial, and promotional instruments. The National Strategy and Action Plan for Biodiversity Conservation, the development of the National Program on Climate Change, and the formulation of a Five-Year Climate Change Plan (2008-2012), which includes the promotion of natural forest regeneration aimed at covering 10 percent of Paraguay’s surface area, are some of Paraguay’s key strategic accomplishments. The National Action Plan to Combat Desertification is at the validation stage. Paraguay has also prepared a National Forest Action Plan as part of the forest policy. Other initiatives include the establishment of the Chaco Environmental System, the Eastern Region Environmental System, debt-for-nature swaps, and land management plans in the Chaco region.

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The R-PP list several relevant laws in addition to the ones mentioned in this section. According the R-PP, the lack of monitoring and implementation of these strategies and laws is a major weakness. A new element in the national policy framework not mentioned in the R-PP is Paraguay´s Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), developed in the context of UNFCCC´s Paris Agreement, and endorsed nationally on October 2016, through Law Nº 5.681. Paraguay´s NDCs determine a commitment to deviate 20% of GHG emissions, compared to a 2030 projected BAU scenario (10% unconditional, and 10% conditional to receiving support) in a period between 2014 and 2030. This commitment is at the national level and involves all gases and sectors established in the Kyoto Protocol (it does not establish targets by sectors or gases). Paraguay´s NDCs objectives and lines of action are those of the National Development Plan 2015 – 2030. Those objectives relevant to REDD+ are the following: Effective control of deforestation; and increase the area of protected forests and its biomass. There is one corresponding line of action that is stated as follows: promote the sustainable use of forests ecosystems, and foment reforestation activities aiming at conservation and generating income, as well as at reducing loss and degradation of native forests. According to Paraguay´s Biannual Update Report (BUR) – 2015, that includes a GHG-I of 2011 (last public official emissions estimate), the LULUCF sector is the most relevant in the country, in terms of emissions (See figure 1 below).

Figure 1: Paraguay´s GHG emissions – Year 2011.

Source: Paraguay´s first BUR (2015)

UNDP is currently supporting the development of Paraguay´s NDC Implementation Action Plan. As mentioned above, currently, Paraguay´s NDC do not establish targets by sectors. However, the development of the action plan has led to a discussion in the country, in which 33 measures have been prioritized (out of 110 identified) to implement Paraguay´s NDCs (22 for mitigation and 11 for adaptation), addressing 9 sectors. 10 of the 22 mitigation measures correspond to the agricultural sector,

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whereas, 5 correspond to the LULUCF sector. This process includes the definition of specific emission reduction targets for each measure (in progress). As defined at present, all measures for the LULUCF and agriculture sectors have been based on the draft ENBCS (See the preliminary list of ENBCS measures in annex 1). Table 4 below, illustrates the prioritized NDCs measures, as they have resulted from a multi-stakeholder process at the national and sub-national levels. Table 4: Prioritized measures to be considered at Paraguay´s NDC Implementation Action Plan

Mitigation Adaptation

ENERGY 1. Enhance the provision and efficiency on

distribution 2. Promote re-newable energy (hydro, solar, wind,

geothermic, and bioenergy) 3. Energy efficiency at buildings and hoseholds 4. Implement energy efficiency at all industrial

sectors

CITIES AND INFRAESTRUCTURE 1. Sustainable development plans and

land-use planing

LULUCF 1. Sustainable manegement of forests 2. Promote reforestation 3. Promote environmental services 4. Reducing deforestation 5. Integral rural development

ECOSYSTEMS 1. Integral management of public and

private conservation units 2. Management of watersheds, forests,

and water flow regulation associated vegetation

3. Promote creating additional conservation units and protected areas

AGRICULTURE 1. Enhance farming techniques and cattle manure

management to reduce methanes emmissions: promote biotechnology use

2. Provide technical assistance to producers, incorporating technology

3. Sustainable cattle ranching 4. Reducing fire use 5. Enhancement of farming land management and

cattle grazing to increase carbon storage in soils 6. Degraded soil restoration: nationan

coordination, control of environmental policy complicance (penalized), budger adequacy for environmental policy

7. Enhancement of nitrogen fertilizers application techniques

8. Promote specialized crops for biofuel 9. Schedulled cattle grazing 10. Enhancing crop productivity

AGRICULTURE 1. Conservation of biodiversity at

agricultural landscapes 2. Promote agro-forestry and agro-cattle

ranching techniques: technical assistance – extensionism, promote silvopastoral systems

3. Productive systems 4. Pasture management: agro-ecologic

zoning, agriculture insurance

TRANSPORT 1. Integral manament of the transport sector

RISK MANAGEMENT 1. Enhancement of capacities on

emergency and disaster response:

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information systems to support decision making, sectoral risk management plans

2. Local risk management before emergencies in departments and cities: Enhancement of the institutional set up and technical capacities

WASTE 1. Enhancement of integral waste management 2. Leverage the genetic potential of residues

HEALTH 1. Enhancement of health systems

In view of the draft NDCs measures for the LULUCF (mitigation) and ecosystems (adaptation) sectors, it is clear that 4 of the 5 REDD+ activities have been prioritized. Forest degradation is the only REDD+ activity that has not been considered. The draft ENBCS also includes measures related to the same 4 REDD+ activities. Therefore, the future implementation of the ENBCS, has the potential to directly contribute to Paraguay´s NDCs implementation. The FCPF grant resources will be used to facilitate the revision, dialogue, and endorsement process of the ENBCS. Alignment to the NDCs will be a critical criterion to guide such process to enhance the potential for its direct contribution to Paraguay´s NDCs implementation. It is to be noted that Paraguay´s FREL submitted to the UNFCCC address deforestation emissions at the national level. The FCPF grant resources will be used to address comments from the UNFCCC technical review; however, it will not be enough to include other REDD+ activities. As mentioned above, the implementation of the FCPF grant has included in its activities the process towards developing the ENBCS following a participatory and inclusive approach (Product 1), as well as the process towards its official endorsement (Product 5). A capacity building and engagement process of relevant stakeholders (Product 6) will accompany these two processes, including formalizing the work of one or various platforms in which various stakeholders gather to discuss and reach consensus on the ENBCS. In view of the above, it results relevant to explicitly promote the linkage between an effective ENBCS and the accomplishment of Paraguay´s NDCs, considering that the LULUCF sector emissions are the highest in the country. Such linkage will be promoted with support of the FCPF grant, on the processes outlined earlier. Institutional arrangements for REDD+ implementation Bearing in mind the crosscutting nature of the REDD+ issue and existing intersectoral coordination challenges, the establishment of a comprehensive, multidisciplinary coordination structure with a view to sustainable development in Paraguay is being proposed in the R-PP. This structure is just a proposal at this stage and will be consolidated with the support of the FCPF Project (Products 1 and 6). As such, it is important to distinguish between these proposed institutional arrangements for REDD+ implementation at the national level and the specific project management arrangements described below in section C. The institutional arrangements for REDD+ implementation are meant to spearhead the process at the national level, where secretariats collaborate with sector entities to take the ambitious steps toward a consensus-based REDD+ National Strategy that is in line with development and poverty reduction priorities in Paraguay. It has been proposed that the National Commission on Climate Change (CNCC in Spanish) be the platform in which the national institutional arrangements should be based upon for REDD+ readiness and implementation.

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The following four goals for the establishment of an institutional arrangement are needed to facilitate the implementation of the REDD+ program in Paraguay:

a) The establishment of a national coordination mechanism with adequate decision-making authority and the instruments needed to ensure interinstitutional coordination and the mainstreaming of the REDD+ National Strategy into national, regional, and sectoral plans.

b) An institutional anchoring for the REDD+ National Strategy to ensure that its plans and activities are supported and aligned with the activities and programs of the various government sectors and levels (national, regional, and local).

c) A coordination mechanism that will ensure the participation of all key public and private institutions owing to their roles and responsibilities in the design and subsequent implementation of the draft strategy for the REDD+ readiness preparation phase.

d) Effective coordination and efficient management of various sources of financing. At the political and technical level, and with respect to execution, the following institutions are identified in the R-PP to participate in and spearhead the process based on their respective capacities and areas of expertise: SEAM, INFONA, STP, MH, MAG, INDI, FAPI, and POJOAJU. At the government level, in accordance with Law No. 1561/00, the Environment Secretariat (SEAM) is the national authority in the environment and natural resources sector, and is specifically in charge of the National Climate Change Programme. It shall therefore be responsible for coordinating the implementation of REDD+, in close collaboration with other State bodies, civil society, the private sector, peasant farmer and indigenous organizations, and other relevant stakeholders.

The following bodies will play a key role during the preparation and implementation of REDD+, mainly through a REDD+ Policy Committee or working group under the CNCC:

The National Forestry Institute (INFONA) will participate in the implementation of the strategy in its capacity as the entity responsible for the policy on forests and forest resources.

The Technical Planning Secretariat for Economic and Social Development (STP) is the lead planning government institution responsible for coordinating, evaluating, designing, and promoting activities for the sustainable development of Paraguay, providing guidelines, studies, information, and technical assistance to formulate and implement plans and public policies designed to improve the welfare of the Paraguayan people, in accordance with the principles of equity, participation and social responsibility.

The Ministry of Finance (Economy Under Secretariat) is responsible for conducting regular assessments and monitoring the country’s economic situation, analysis of national accounts and the effects of economic policy measures on the general economy and public finances, in coordination with the institutions based on their respective areas of expertise. It reviews the prioritization of public investments and drafts macroeconomic guidelines for preparing the public sector budget, in coordination with the Technical Planning Secretariat for Economic and Social Development in the Office of the President. It contributes to the development of the National Economic Program, and ensures that the economic programs of the nonfinancial public sector are consistent with the monetary program of Paraguay’s Central Bank.

The mandate of the Ministry of Agriculture and Livestock (MAG) is to govern sector policy and promote sustainable agrarian development, thus helping improve the living conditions of the Paraguayan people. The MAG’s objectives are as follows: strengthen family, community, and

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indigenous farming; promote the increased competitiveness of the agrarian sector, adopting a diversified, sustainable, and inclusive approach; promote the use of alternative agro-energy sources with sustainable socioeconomic development impacts; and strengthen the system’s capacity, based on efficient and transparent administration and management of institutional services. The Agrarian Strategic Framework for 2009/2018, developed by the MAG to spur the country’s agrarian development with a long-term horizon, has as an essential component the “development of adequate sector institutions and the redesign and restructuring of the MAG,” underscoring that this must be part of a systemic institutional approach joined with integrated area projection. This strategic framework also includes the “Strategic Policy for Sustainable Forest Development and the Production of Environmental Services.”

The Paraguay Indigenous Peoples’ Institute (INDI) is a self-sufficient legal entity with its own assets, whose relations with the Executive Branch shall be maintained through the Ministry of Education and Culture; it, however, has the autonomy to establish direct links with other branches of government or national government agencies. Although the legal domicile of INDI shall be in Asunción, this entity may also establish regional offices. INDI currently has offices in Asunción only.

The representative for the indigenous sector and NGOs is the Federation for the Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples (FAPI), an NGO and autonomous representative indigenous federation composed of 12 organizations of indigenous peoples from the country’s regions: the eastern region and the western (Chaco) region.

The Paraguay Association of NGOs (POJOAJU) is a non-profit legal entity established in 1998 with a view to linking, by means of a coordination body, Paraguay’s NGOs and NGO networks. This association’s technical representative is ROAM, a member of the National Climate Change Commission. ROAM is a network of civil society organizations that address issues related to the environment and sustainable development. They are members of POJOAJU.

The National Commission on Climate Change (CNCC) constitutes the platform in which Paraguay´s NDCs Implementation Action Plan is being discussed, under the leadership of SEAM´s Climate Change National Office. SEAM is the final responsible of developing Paraguay´s NDCs Implementation Action Plan; however, the actual implementation lies under the responsibility of the different sectoral entities. Therefore, in Paraguay a multi-stakeholder process (engaging public entities, academia, civil society, Indigenous Peoples, private sector, and media) is taking place to develop the NDCs Implementation Action Plan, scheduled to be finalized towards the end of 2017. It´s been suggested that the CNCC will then submit the NDC´s Implementation Action Plan, under the leadership of SEAM´s Minister, to the President´s Office, for endorsement at the President´s Ministers Cabinet.

As mentioned earlier, it´s been argued that the CNCC will be also the platform under which the first draft of the ENBCS be discussed. A multi-stakeholder process is also envisioned with support of the FCPF grant resources. A similar path for endorsement will take place, also with support of FCPF (Products 1 and 5). Being the CNCC the same platform to discuss the NDCs Implementation Action Plan, as well as the ENBCS, and being 2017 a year in which the two instruments will be assessed, there is a great opportunity to facilitate the synergies and corresponding feedback between the two instruments. FCPF resources will be crucial to facilitate such process.

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Foreseen national coordination structure (as presented in the R-PP 2014)

Figure 2: Foreseen National REDD+ Coordination Structure

Source: Prepared by the authors of the R-PP, 2014

The R-PP proposed the following structures/bodies, as those that should be involved in REDD+ discussions (Figure 2). However, the latest thinking on this issue is to use as the main platform for coordination and decision making, the inter-institutional National Commission on Climate Change. Further discussion will be in place as part of the FCPF Project inception phase.

The National Environment Council (CONAM) provides a platform for consultation on, and the discussion and definition of, the national policy on the environment, and the Environment Secretariat (SEAM), the primary objective of which is to regulate the performance of the institutions tasked with preparation, standardization, coordination, execution, and control activities pertaining to the environment. The REDD+ Policy Committee, through SEAM, shall submit regular reports to CONAM on the activities conducted in the context of implementation of REDD+ activities at the national level.

The REDD+ Policy Committee: The members of this committee shall be the Executive Secretary and Minister of SEAM, the President of INFONA, the President of FAPI, the President of INDI, the Minister of Finance, the Minister/Executive Secretary of STP, the Minister of the MAG, and a high-level representative from the POJOAJU network. The Policy Committee will provide the strategic direction for the national policy and development vision to the National REDD+ Technical Group, and may include other organizations and institutions deemed relevant in a phase-based plan in accordance with the level of progress made by Paraguay with respect to REDD+ readiness and

RE

DD

+ N

ati

on

al P

latf

orm

REDD Policy Committee

SEAM

INFONA FAPI INDI MH MAG STP POJOAJU

REDD Technical Group

SEAM

INFONA FAPI INDI MH MAG STP POJOAJU NETWORK

REDD Eastern Regional Platform

REDD Western Regional Platform

CONAM

Advisory Groups

REDD+ Operational

Unit

PN

CC

SESA Group

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implementation in the near future. The representatives of international cooperation agencies that are supporting national REDD+ initiatives will participate in the REDD+ Policy Committee as observers.

The National Program on Climate Change (PNCC), which is the national entity under the authority of SEAM tasked with implementing the provisions in the National Policy on Climate Change, and its National Climate Change Office (ONCC) shall serve as a technical advisory body to the REDD+ Technical Group.

The National REDD+ Technical Group: This Group is composed of representatives from SEAM, INFONA, FAPI, INDI, MH, STP, and MAG, ROAM representing civil society, and the Rural Network. This Group shall define technical guidelines for the REDD+ Operational Unit.

The National REDD+ Platform: This platform is a forum for participatory dialogue aimed at providing recommendations for the implementation of the National REDD+ Strategy. It will work in conjunction with the regional platforms, the Advisory Group with support from the REDD+ Operational Unit, and the National Technical Group. Platform participants shall be the institutions belonging to CONAM, the Forest Advisory Council, and INFONA, which include representatives from government development entities (ministries and decentralized entities), civil society organizations, and the private agricultural and livestock sector. Indigenous communities, peasant farmer organizations, women’s groups, young people, academia, and other relevant stakeholders for the REDD+ process will also participate in this platform.

REDD+ Regional Platforms: Two regional platforms have been proposed—one each for the eastern and western regions. These platforms will provide to the National Platform and the REDD+ Policy Committee technical criteria and guidelines pertaining to the formulation and implementation of the National REDD+ Strategy. The specificities of each region will be presented to the National Environment Council. A representative from each region will serve on the National Platform.

Advisory Groups: These Groups perform the following functions: advise the National REDD+ Platform on social and environment decisions; compile the initiatives and proposals from the groups they represent; generate inputs to develop and monitor the National REDD+ Strategy; prepare proposals on sector and territorial level programs and measures that must be adopted in order to ensure the appropriate implementation of the REDD+ program in the country, and which will be submitted to the National Environment Council.

National Green Commodity Platform (GCP) (not referred to in the R-PP): The UN-REDD (UNDP) and UNDP´s Green Commodity Programme will collaborate on the creation and operation of National Commodity Platform (GCP). The GCP supports supply chain stakeholders and helps coordinate policy action for sustainable commodity production. This entails the review of existing policy and the analysis of how new policies can incentivize sustainable agricultural, with emphasis on reducing rural poverty and environmental degradation. It also entails strengthening capacity for planning, particularly effective land-use planning mechanisms used by national and local government authorities that can optimize agricultural production while simultaneously protecting fragile production ecosystems, and reducing deforestation.

The CNCC is a platform that is not mentioned in Paraguay´s R-PP. However, as referred earlier, the CNCC is currently playing a critical role in the development of Paraguay´s NDCs Implementation Action Plan. The same platform has also been suggested to be the space to discuss and prepare the ENBCS for endorsement of the President´s Ministers Cabinet. Like the multi-stakeholder process undertaken to develop Paraguay´s NDCs Implementation Action Plan, the ENBCS will also take a similar approach. The set-up of such process, including the relationship between the CNCC and stakeholders not included in the CNCC but relevant to the ENBCS, will be developed with support of

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the FCPF (product 1), and will take into account the ideas proposed in Paraguay´s R-PP presented above.

Relevant stakeholders Stakeholders are listed in the R-PP without further precision on their roles and relationships with the REDD+ process. Under the UN-REDD-NJP, REDD+ stakeholders were identified. The Project will consider this initial mapping of stakeholders, which will be revised and broadened in a participatory manner during the Project inception phase. Comments received on the R-PP by FCPF independent reviewers In general, the R-PP lists many actors, groups and institution. It remains unclear who has the exact responsibility for doing what, as well as the governability and coordination mechanisms. The R-PP document doesn´t refer to an analysis of existing government bodies and their capacities, which could have helped identifying the setup of the governance structure for REDD+. A clarification on the roles and areas of responsibility would be recommended before executing any activity. As stated above, the implementation of FCPF grant activities will support addressing the issues raised in relation to coordination, responsibilities, and governance for REDD+ readiness and future implementation. Such support will be deployed mainly around the process of revising and adopting the REDD+ National Strategy (or ENBCS), but can certainly be used as the basis to support structuring the institutional context for completing the readiness phase and transitioning towards REDD+ implementation.

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II. PROPOSED PROJECT DEVELOPMENT OBJECTIVES

A. PROPOSED PDO

The objective of the Project has been stated as to support the Republic of Paraguay in completing the preparation phase for REDD+, based on the results of the National UN-REDD Program. As indicated above, the UN-REDD national Programme has developed important milestones in the readiness process in Paraguay. The proposed Project results and products (see below) reflect consideration of such developments, and proposes a clear way forward towards completing the REDD+ readiness phase in Paraguay. The Project will fund only a portion of the R-PP activities, taking as a basis the readiness progress in the country. The Project will not finance any implementation of REDD+ activities on the ground (e.g., investments or pilot projects).

The Project aim is that Paraguay finishes the REDD+ readiness process, even though there is no clear delineation of such status at the international level; although, preparation towards accessing a REDD+ Results Based Payment (RBP) modality could be conceived as a proxy. It´s been argued that the UNFCCC Warsaw Framework for REDD+ will be used as a basis to complete such readiness process. However, during the implementation of the Project it will be important to note the latest developments under the Green Climate Fund (GCF) to operationalize REDD+ RBPs, in order to adjust the design of this Project, to also reflect on the RBPs operationalization structure under the GCF.

Paraguay developed and submitted an R-PP, which has been endorsed by the FCPF Participant Committee through resolution PC/17/2014/25. The R-PP stated a need for financial resources of US $ 5.905 million. The readiness financial resources available for Paraguay between UN-REDD and FCPF surpasses such budget requirement; however, SEAM has indicated that the R-PP financial figures need to be revised. This REDD+ Readiness Preparation grant will provide funding, additional to the UN-REDD resources, to support the Country in carrying out the activities outlined in its R-PP. It is envisioned that Paraguay would be able to engage in REDD+ results-based action and receive RBPs sometime after closure of the current Project.

Regarding other relevant policy instruments governing the intervention of UNDP in Paraguay, it is clear that the objectives of the Project are aligned to the different elements of such instruments (see corresponding outputs and indicators of the Country Programme at the beginning of this R-PP Assessment Note).

Similarly, the applicable Outputs from the UNDP Strategic Plan are the following:

Output 1.3. Solutions developed at national and sub-national levels for sustainable management of natural resources, ecosystem services, chemicals, and waste.

Output 1.4. Scaled up action on climate change adaptation and mitigation across sectors which is funded and implemented.

Output 2.5. Legal and regulatory frameworks, policies, and institutions enabled to ensure the conservation, sustainable use, and access and benefit sharing of natural resources, biodiversity and ecosystems, in line with international conventions and national legislation.

B. KEY RESULTS

Table 5 below summarizes the key results and products of the Project. As indicated above, this results and products have been defined in consideration of the progress in the country regarding the REDD+ readiness process, compared to the UNFCCC Warsaw Framework for REDD+. They also have been

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identified with a view of facilitating the creation of enabling conditions for the future implementation of REDD+ Policies and Measures (PAMs). Table 5: Summary of Projects results and products

Results Products Product indicators

Paraguay positioned for an effective implementation of REDD + and access climate financing

Consensus among relevant institutions of Government and civil society on the ENBCS content, achieved

Number and percentage of viable and gender responsive strategic options and/or PAMs that have been identified for the implementation of REDD+ in Paraguay

ENBCS´s implementation plan in Paraguay finalized and agreed

Number of national, provincial and local institutions involved in the development and validation of the ENBCS, including its plan of implementation (disaggregated by type of organization and sector) and percentage of those who focus on marginalized groups

Percentage and number of women, men and young people (aged 15-24 years) who have participated in the development and validation of the ENBCS, including its plan of implementation (data disaggregated by sex and age group)

Percentage and number of gender indicators included in the ENBCS´s results and monitoring frameworks

Relevant institutions have information and capabilities to improve their emissions reference by deforestation, according to suggestions of the technical evaluation of the UNFCCC.

Reference level of emissions from deforestation with improved information, attending reviews of the technical evaluation of the UNFCCC, prepared for submission to the UNFCCC

Government officials and other relevant stakeholders with the capacity to continuously improve the deforestation FREL (data disaggregate by sex)

Public officials trained to estimate emissions from deforestation following the relevant methodological protocols, to be presented at the next BUR in 2017 (data disaggregate by sex)

Relevant institutions have the capabilities to maintain the system of forest monitoring

Actors at relevant public entities with the capacity to maintain the NFMS

Number of strata with improved information for GHG anthropogenic emissions and/or removals estimations for LULUCF

Information system on social and environmental safeguards developed, operational, and with a gender focus

Proposed summary of information on Paraguay's approach to address social and environmental safeguards for REDD+, to be submitted to the UNFCCC

Number and percentage of women, men, and youth (aged 15-24 years) who have been consulted about the SIS and the GRM (data disaggregated by sex and age group)

Public officials at relevant entities with capabilities to manage Paraguay´s SIS (data disaggregated by sex)

Module in the portal of the National Environmental Information System, or equivalent, with information that shows how Paraguay respects and addresses REDD+ safeguards

ESMF measures resulting from SESA, integrated into Paraguay´s SIS and/or ENBCS

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a. Grievance and redress mechanism for REDD+ accessible and in operation

b. Number of people that know the GRM and who have capacities developed for its use

Framework for the future implementation of REDD + in Paraguay developed

National forests for sustainable growth strategy adopted officially

Public policy instrument/s that formally adopt the ENBCS and/or associated PAMs

Relevant institutions have instruments and tools necessary for the implementation of the ENBCS or PAMs

Number of legal and institutional arrangements for ENBCS implementation developed

Financial strategy for the implementation of ENBCS and/or PAMs developed

Specific proposals to leverage financial resources for the implementation of REDD+ and/or PAMs, submitted to relevant financial institutions

Financial mechanism for the implementation of the ENBCS and/or PAMs developed

a. Number of plans of communication and capacity building to support the implementation of the ENBCS and/or PAMs developed gender.

b. Number of women, man and youth (aged 15-24 years) who benefited from the communication and capacity-building plans, oriented to support the implementation of the ENBCS and/or PAMs (data disaggregated by sex and age group)

Number and percentage of women, men and youth (aged 15-24 years) involved in the development and validation of the communication and capacity building plan, aimed at facilitating the implementation of the ENBCS and/or PAMs (data disaggregated by sex and group of age)

Percentage of recommendations of marginalized groups (e.g. women, young people, indigenous people - including the organizations that represent them) integrated into the communication and capacity building plan to facilitate the implementation of the ENBCS or PAMs

Enabling conditions created for the future implementation of prioritized PAMs in Paraguay

Relevant institutions strengthen their capacity to exercise effective control, monitoring, and enforcement of the legal framework that prevents the conversion of land-use

Number of public officials (men and women) of the relevant entities with strengthened capacities on the legal framework applicable to crimes in the forestry and environmental sector (data disaggregated by sex).

Number of records with prioritized information for the detection and tracking of crimes on illegal land use change, systemized and available in digital format

Number of relevant public entities at the local level, that have received equipment to improve their capacity to monitor and control environmental crimes related to illegal land use change

Potential beneficiaries and relevant institutions strengthen their capacity for the effective implementation of the

Diagnosis of the land tenure situation of indigenous peoples, developed at prioritized sites, with a gender focus

Number of potential beneficiaries are informed about Paraguay´s environmental services regime (data disaggregated by sex, age group, and interest group)

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Environmental Services Valuation and Remuneration Law

Percentage of potential beneficiaries who understand Paraguay´s environmental services regime (data disaggregated by sex, age group, and interest group)

Number of hectares of indigenous communities, with potential to be integrated into the environmental services regime, identified

Number of new or adjusted legal and technical instruments that strengthen the capacity to implement the environmental services regime

Relevant institutions and potential beneficiaries have the necessary instruments for the future implementation of prioritized PAMs

Number and percentage of women, men, and youth (aged 15 - 24 years) who have benefited from information on alternative mechanisms to replace the biomass as a source of energy (data disaggregated by sex and age group

Number and percentage of women, men, and youth (aged 15 - 24 years) who have received training and technical assistance on farm-level productive alternatives to promote rooting and prevent displacement that generate deforestation (data disaggregated by sex and age group)

Number and percentage of training events designed and implemented using a gender perspective to facilitate the implementation of PAMs (data disaggregated by type of event)

Consensus reached on a proposed protocol for the implementation of FPIC, in a participatory manner

Number and percentage of people (men and women) and indigenous communities that have participated in the development of the FPIC Protocol (data disaggregated by sex, age group and community)

Percentage of women, men, and youth (ages 15-24) who have evaluated the FPIC Protocol as satisfactory (data disaggregated by sex and age group)

Technical documents (reports of knowledge exchanges and publications) on ancestral knowledge applied for the development of livelihoods and environment friendly production

Number of documents/technical tools that facilitate the future implementation of land use planning activities consistent with REDD+ PAMs

Taking into account the current REDD+ readiness status in the country, it can be confirmed that the readiness milestones, as defined in the Cancun Agreements as well as in the Warsaw Framework for REDD+, are in progress in Paraguay. The first outcome of this Project is aimed at completing such readiness efforts, whereas outcomes two and three are supporting the installment of an implementation framework, as well as creating the enabling conditions for the future implementation of REDD+ PAMs. This design is pertinent and reflects some lessons learned from readiness efforts in other countries in the region (like supporting the mobilization of resources for REDD+ Phase II, as well as the need to create enabling conditions for PAMs implementation, as part of the REDD+ implementation framework). The current design also shows a clear way forward towards REDD+ RBPs, and shows space for light adjustments, if necessary, to reflect future developments under the RBPs operationalization process under the GCF. The design reflects and ambitious but feasible plan, as long as some key elements are in

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place, including good inter-sectoral coordination, inclusiveness of all relevant stakeholders, and political commitment at the high level (see more on risk matrix).

III. PROJECT CONTEXT

A. CONCEPT

i) Description

The national REDD+ readiness process encompasses all issues related to REDD+ readiness in Paraguay. The overall amount of funding available is US$ 5.9 million. The activities identified in the grant agreement are a subset of an overall readiness effort laid out in the UN- REDD NJP. The FCPF grant activities are basically taking the readiness status left by the UN-REDD NJP efforts, and based on that, develop a conceptual framework (see annex 2) oriented to fill gaps and address other remaining issues to seek at finalizing the readiness process in Paraguay and facilitate enabling conditions for the future implementation of prioritized REDD+ PAMs. The FCPF grant is taking the REDD+ Warsaw Framework as the reference to assess to what extent the country accounts with readiness elements in place (see a summary of the proposed results framework on table 5 above). The FCPF grant will be implemented through a Project designed to be developed in 3 years (June 2017 – June 2020). Status and lessons learned from REDD+ Readiness initiatives in Paraguay: Paraguay’s REDD+ readiness planning is supported by:

UN-REDD (US $ 4,720,001) Government of Japan (US $ 40,000) Government of Paraguay (US $1 million)

Table 6: Initiatives supporting REDD+ implementation in Paraguay

Outcome Major supporting frameworks

Government of Paraguay

UN-REDD FCPF Government of Japan

Outcome 1: Organize and consult stakeholders.

XX X X

Outcome 2: Prepare the Paraguay REDD+ National strategy.

X X XX

Outcome 3: Development of a national emission reference level or a national forest emission level.

X XX X X

Outcome 4: Design of a national forest monitoring system and information on safeguards.

X XX X X

Outcome 5. Schedule and Budget X X XX

Outcome 6: Monitoring and Tracking X X XX XX: principle role

X: secondary role

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The UN-REDD NJP was initiated in 2010. The Programme was supposed to be closed in 2014, but because of the political circumstances, the implementation of activities has been delayed. A no-cost extension was agreed in 2014, until December 2015. The UN-REDD Programme is operationally closed since September 2016 and will financially close in the second quarter of 2017. The presence and support of UN-REDD since 2010 has accumulated experiences and lessons learned that will be taken into account in the design and implementation of the FCPF Project. Table 7 list the main lessoned learned and how they are addressed in the FCPF Project. Table 7: Lessons learned from REDD+ readiness initiatives, mainly the UN-REDD National Programme

Lessons learned Actions taken for the FCPF project

The active participation of CSO (FAPI) into implementation and decision-making processes of the NP contributed greatly to the continuity of the NP, despite the permanent political and institutional changes.

It is envisioned for FAPI to play a role in the FCPF Project, particularly for activities related to RR-PP´s Outcome 1: Organize and consult stakeholders.

Seating together 3 institutions (SEAM, INFONA, and FAPI) with no previous experience of collaboration, to implement such a program was a huge challenge and a very ambitious target. The decision-making process is still imperfect but improving significantly.

Given the challenges, the Project implementation is designed differently in the FCPF project; SEAM will be the implementing partner and INFONA and other entities will work in coordination with SEAM.

Although the positive effect of engaging in the decision-making body different relevant entities, there was a negative effect that translated into a lengthy decision making process (due to changes in opinion or lack of consensus), which in turn caused serious delays on implementation of activities.

Simplify the implementation arrangements, in particular the decision-making body. The FCPF Project will have a smaller decision-making body, attached to an advisory working group, in which relevant stakeholders will participate.

Complex initiatives, as those of the REDD+ readiness process, are intense in workload and time consuming from the programmatic and procurement perspectives, as well as very specialized from the technical perspective.

To broaden the opportunities to secure high technical capabilities to guide the Project implementation, the procurement process for the PMU technical coordinator will be opened for international candidates.

Dedicated staff at UNDP CO will be placed to assist on the Project implementation and enhance the procurement plan to avoid delays.

The involvement of the highest political instances for the implementation of the NP is critical to generate clear orientation to the technical team and the PMU.

This is taken into consideration in the design of the REDD+ national platform. Further reflection needs to consider means to engaged high level political leaders.

All the efforts achieved so far on communication and training have been useful. But there is a need now to progress on the definition of the national

The stakeholder mapping developed by UN-REDD will be taken by the FCPF Project as a basis, with the view to

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REDD+ strategy, in order to make a better use of the available resources and target more accurately the topics and audience groups according to REDD+ options.

develop a strategy and target more accurately the topics and audience groups. The design of the REDD+ NS/AP will be completed with support from the FCPF grant.

REDD+ is an opportunity to mobilize funds which will contribute to the implementation of the national development plan 2030.

Collaboration with green commodity projects, working on other Funding mechanisms.

The interest of Paraguay to work with cattle ranchers and soy producers, in the framework of the Green Productive Landscapes Project, is an opportunity to generate platforms such as the one on responsible soy, which will in turn contribute to REDD+.

Will be taken into consideration for the implementation of the FCPF grant.

In addition to due consideration of the UN-REDD NJP results, as a baseline of the REDD+ readiness progress in the country, other initiatives are identified in the Project Document of the FCPF grant, in order to foster linkages and implement coordination platforms. Two of the most relevant initiatives in this context are the already mentioned Green Productive Landscapes Project (PPV in Spanish), and Promesa Chaco. The first Project has defined a set of activities oriented towards working with the Government and the private sector in strengthening capacities and fostering instruments/tools that facilitate the adoption of measures towards reducing deforestation from commodities. The main lessons from the first year of implementation of that Project have served as the basis to develop a second Project named IAP Chaco (reducing deforestation from soy and beef production), that looks at fostering the same type of measures focused in the Chaco region, targeting beef and soy production. Promesa Chaco meanwhile promotes the implementation activities to pilot REDD+ projects. In the first case, the FCPF grant activities will be coordinated with the PPV Project (and IAP Chaco in the near future) to promote that the initiatives already in implementation by PPV oriented to reduce deforestation are considered as REDD+ measures under the ENBCS framework. It is also envisioned to collect lessons from their implementation in order to inform the refinement of REDD+ PAMs, as well as to fine tune ways and means to implement them. In the second case, the FCPF grant activities will look at coordination with Promesa Chaco to promote a consistent framework for REDD+ implementation at the national level, in a way that this type of initiatives can be accommodated in the national framework. Both, PPV and IAP Chaco are initiatives implemented by UNDP in close coordination with SEAM, which facilitates that linkages are identified and put in practice. Promesa Chaco is an initiative implemented by Conservation International and other local partners, also in collaboration with SEAM.

ii) Project Stakeholder Assessment

The development of REDD+ in Paraguay will involve a wide number of stakeholders. A thorough understanding of these groups, their influence, their interests and how they will be involved and/or impacted by any potential activities for REDD+ is important for the future mechanisms to deliver results in an efficient, effective, and equitable manner. Such an assessment has been conducted through an Institutional and Context Analysis (ICA), and was supplemented with the Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis, developed with support from UN-REDD.

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While a large number of stakeholders are mentioned in the R-PP, the Stakeholder Mapping and Analysis provides further information for the selection and prioritization of stakeholders, assess key stakeholder groups, their importance within the REDD+ process in relation with their priorities, interests and influence. In addition, a stakeholder engagement plan will be developed as part of the inception phase of this Project, as a result of the application of UNDP´s Social and Environmental Standards. Government institutions and agencies The Government agencies are responsible for policy, regulatory, planning and implementation tasks related to the REDD+ Readiness Phase. This includes enforcement of legislation and regulations, conflict resolution, service delivery, and ensuring that necessary capacity and technical assistance are available for development. Although Paraguay’s policy framework is very extensive, the R-PP underscores that the regulatory and institutional framework still requires major adjustments, owing to the non-existence of regulations or procedures to ensure application of many of the current environmental laws and to inadequate coordination and harmonization of current regulations. There is also a lack of clarity regarding the application of the legal framework relating to the use of forest products by indigenous communities, as well as weak enforcement of international conventions and agreements on forests and the environment. Historically there has been little coordination between government agencies responsible for rural and agricultural development and its environmental sustainability. Neither the MAG nor any of the various independent agricultural entities have developed effective capacities for connecting with the territorial government levels; reactive and unconnected bureaucratic centralism remains the basic characteristic of management. Despite the existing institutional shortcomings, the Government of Paraguay is taking steps to overcome these barriers and create an enabling environment. Since its establishment in 2008, INFONA has launched a process to revise forest regulations aimed at enhancing institutional and sector performance. INFONA has also collaborated with SEAM to revise regulations of relevance to both institutions, with a view to improving these regulations and their effective implementation. At the government level, both institutions have spearheaded the establishment of collaborative relationships with environmental NGOs to improve the level of implementation of their activities.

The Coordination of government bodies and other actors will be critical to the success of REDD+. The R-PP identify the establishment of 8 different groups or committees for REDD+. The exact role and the function of these groups remain unclear. It seems necessary to do an assessment of the different group and the relationship between them to identify strengths and weaknesses as well as to assess and identify how they can work well together. The ICA questioned the establishment of the National REDD+ Committee (CONAREDD), referring to two distinct already existing fora dealing with climate change and the environment, with many of the same members. They are the “Consejo Nacional del Ambiente” (CONAM), which is chaired by the Environmental Secretary (SEAM) and the National Commission for Climate Change (CNCC), which is an inter-institutional body set up to advise the government on Climate Change policies. This raised the question of whether creating yet another advisory body for the UN-REDD programme would add value or whether it would not make more sense to use one of the bodies previously mentioned. The ICA further suggests that CONAM’s functioning is inadequate to fulfill its mandate, and that neither the CONAM nor the CNCC are seen as decision-making bodies with adequate

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representation. One argument to create CONAREDD as an additional body is because the REDD+ goes beyond issues of Climate Change and includes specific questions related to land tenure, human rights, and others that are not within the mandate of the existing bodies.

Civil society and Indigenous Groups The agency responsible for indigenous affairs is the Indigenous Peoples’ Institute (INDI), an independent public entity that despite its hierarchical ranking has its existence questioned each year and has severe limitations for carrying out its assistance programs to Indigenous Peoples, with little remaining resources for topics as climate change.

Private Sector A dialogue with private sector, particularly within the agro-industrial sector is a key for the viability of REDD+ activities in Paraguay. The ICA found that the dialogue and cooperation with the private sector had been limited during the implementation of the NP. At the same time, the mission has found that there is a high awareness of the negative impact of climate change among other stakeholders interviewed, in terms of the consequences of climate change for environmental sustainability, forestry, hydric resources, livestock and agricultural production, affecting both small and large scale producers. Statements by stakeholders interviewed indicate that they may not engage with the UN-REDD Programme, not for lack of interest or appropriate arguments, but rather because i) they are not aware of the Programme itself or ii) they not interested because they do not see the three main national implementing partners as credible or strong enough to lead it, or iii) for political reasons.

Several representatives of the private sector (met informally during the ICA mission) were all aware of the need to take measures on climate change mitigation, as it threatens their own interests. In this sense, they would be willing to engage and support the Programme as long as they can see the possibility of benefitting from REDD+ payments themselves down the line, for the areas they are obliged by law to preserve. The National Green Commodity Platform (GCP) fostered by PPV Project, will be instrumental in constructing a dialogue between REDD+ and the private sector, and the development of a Stakeholder Strategy is also expected to provide inputs on how to improve the dialogue and get the private sector on board in the design and implementation of REDD+ activities. Knowledge Institutions With respect to forest education and research the most important institutional program is the Forest Engineering Curriculum of the Agricultural Sciences Faculty of the National University of Asunción, which trains human resources at the university level with a degree as Forest Engineers and conducts forest research programs. There is also the Instituto Paraguayo de Tecnología Agropecuaria (Paraguayan Institute of Agricultural and Livestock Technology- IPTA), established by Law No. 3788/09, which will carry out forest research policies and programs.

At the international cooperation level, the national government has received bilateral cooperation from Japan in the Forest Preservation Initiative, which has benefited SEAM, INFONA, and the National University of Asunción in activities related to the strengthening of the environmental information system, supplying equipment and vehicles for the regional offices for monitoring and collecting

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information for the National Forest and Carbon Inventory, and construction of a laboratory for the analysis of geographical information on climate change, REDD+, water, and biodiversity.

iii) Key Risks and Issues

The ICA define the following risks in relation with the context and institutional analysis, which will also impact the implementation of the FCPF grant agreement:

The possibility that the programme is viewed with hostility in rural areas unless it is seen as a means to resolve issues related to land tenure and conflicts involving IPs;

The possibility that the programme ends up benefitting those who are already well off and not the poorest and most vulnerable communities; There are no current climate change mitigation programmes that are aimed at poverty reduction;

Deterioration of the current collegial atmosphere among implementing partners, which would make programme implementation difficult;

The newly proposed CONAREDD becomes another ‘talking shop’ and suffers from the same reputation for ineffectiveness as CONAM (Consejo Nacional del Ambiente), which is led by SEAM and only meets when the Minister calls a meeting;

Lack of agreement on what constitutes a ‘forest’ may make it difficult to conclude forest inventory;

Lack of credibility of partners: There are claims that SEAM does not apply the “Water Law”, that it issues permits that allow deforestation and changing the use of soil in the Region Occidental (affecting IPs negatively) and lacks credibility to implement the programme; and that INFONA does not apply the deforestation incentives, and that FAPI does not represent all IPs. These claims, accurate or not, hurt the image of the programme vis-à-vis some stakeholders.

Lack of capacity to implement the program per schedule with deliverable of sufficiently robust quality.

The viability of establishing partnerships with key players from other ministries and the private sector has yet to be established.

From UNDP´s Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) conducted as part of the design of this Project (see Annex 4), some risks have been identified. A summary of those risks is the following:

Human rights, gender o Marginalization/discrimination of stakeholder groups, including indigenous peoples, local

communities and women during the stakeholder engagement process and identification of beneficiaries

o Insufficient capacity of duty bearers and rights holders o Potential for conflict among/between stakeholders

Biodiversity / Forests o While the project itself will likely not have direct impacts on biodiversity, forests, critical

habitats, etc., the national strategy and PAMs that will be revised/developed through the Project could have adverse impacts if not assessed against and designed with safeguard requirements in mind

Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Heritage, Displacement/Resettlement o While the project itself will likely not have direct impacts on the lands, territories, resources

of IPs, the national strategy and PAMs that will be revised/developed through the project

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could have adverse impacts if not assessed against and designed with safeguard requirements in mind

Annex 4 provides elements to address the above mentioned potential risks. The Social and Environmental Strategic Assessment (SESA) and the resulting Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) are key instruments to address those risks (Product 4). The SESA and ESMF will be developed as part of the ENBCS revision process. They will also determine potential actions to be taken, which are relevant to address the Cancun Safeguards. Similarly, as part of product 4, a grievance and redress mechanism (GRM) will be developed, to be implemented hand in hand with the ENBCS implementation, as well as during the implementation of the FCPF Grant, therefore the development of the GRM will be one of the initial activities to be implemented by the Project.

B. IMPLEMENTING PARTNER ASSESSMENT

The Environment Secretariat (SEAM) is the Implementing Partner, in close collaboration with other Government entities with mandates in topics relevant to REDD+. SEAM acts as the country focal point to the FCPF. SEAM has requested UNDP to use the Direct Implementation Modality (DIM). This request implies that UNDP assumes overall management responsibility and accountability for the Project implementation, while as a funding agency UNDP is accountable to the FCPF Participants Committee and the FCPF Trustee in accordance with the signed Transfer Agreement for all aspects of its operations. According to UNDP´s Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP) there is a set of criteria that guides the decision to use DIM. Table 8 below illustrates such criteria and the specific situation for this Project in Paraguay. Table 8: UNDP´s criteria to select a project implementation modality

UNDP´s criteria Context in Paraguay for this Project

a) The host government requests UNDP to directly implement project activities.

Requested to UNDP during the design stage of the Project

b) Project implementation requires speedy delivery and decision-making, such as in crisis situations;

N/A

c) National authorities are unable to function or their capacity has been severely reduced, such as in cases of natural disasters or conflict;

N/A

d) Project implementation would add an administrative burden to government and other implementation options would be inefficient in such cases as projects with small delivery, one-output projects, projects in support of the resident coordinator system;

Administrative burden was the argument used by SEAM to request the use of DIM

e) The relevant regional bureau has determined that the concerned country office has adequate capacity to carry out the project;

RBLAC will review country office capacity to implement the Project under DIM during the pre-PAC, as set out in the POPP, and under request of UNDP Country Office

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f) Project is part of a UNDP global or regional programme.

N/A

Regarding literal a) on table 8, SEAM’s request is based on the working experience with ongoing DIM projects. The request also takes into account the following: i) upcoming April 2018 presidential elections could represent delays in project implementation; and ii) given the scope of the Project, the variety of stakeholders involved (public institutions, private sector, small and medium size producers, local governments, campesino and indigenous populations, amongst others) and their potentially opposing stances, a neutral organism such as UNDP is essential to facilitate the required process of dialogue. In consideration of the above, DIM has been seen by the counterparts, as well as UNDP Country Office, like an appropriate implementation modality for this Project. The main argument is that relevant national authorities will suffer from additional administrative burden to carry out the Project, in view of the recent experience of implementing the UN-REDD NP and the financial management capacity assessment of the counterpart. Other arguments include that the Project will develop activities in a complex institutional context, given that the mandates and jurisdictions are located in different Government entities; the need to expedite the administrative process for an effective implementation in due time; and the need to ensure neutrality in a context where the interests of various stakeholders are at play.

C. IMPLEMENTATION ARRANGEMENTS

Figure 3: Proposed Organizational Structure of the Project

A. Oversight of FCPF Activities. The FCPF activities will be supervised by a Project Board with the

support of a Technical Committee.

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a. Project Board

The Project Board (PB) is the highest level of analysis and decision making in relation to programming and supervision of the Project. The PB plays a key role in supervising actions of monitoring and evaluation of the project, based in a Result Based Management approach. With the aim of ensuring the final accountability of UNDP in accomplishing Project´s results, the decisions made by the PB will be taken based on the standards that guarantee management for development of results, best value for money, equality, integrity, transparency, and effective national and international competence. The members of the PB will include the Executive Secretary (Minister) of the SEAM, taking into account its roles and responsibilities as lead national agency in charge of the regulation of issues related to environment, as REDD+ focal point to the UNFCCC, and as operational and political focal point of the FCPF. It will also include the UNDP Resident Representative; the Vice Presidency of the Climate Change National Commission (CNCC is Spanish), as a platform that gathers entities from the public and private sectors, as well as academia and civil society at the national level, in the context of actions related to climate change. The representative from the CNCC will have the responsibility of creating an advisory working group at the national level, including representatives from civil society and Indigenous Peoples organizations, in the context of the implementation of this Project; as well as the responsibility of bringing points of view from these stakeholders to the PB, including any supporting documentation. This arrangement could be revised and up-dated during the inception phase, as deem appropriate by UNDP and the counterpart. The PB can request technical advice to a Technical Committee (TC) on issues related to the Project, for which the TC will be supported by the Project Management Unit (PMU). The PB members will be convened by the Presidency. Its operations will be logistically supported by the PMU. The PB will meet at least twice a year, keeping an option opened to meet four times during the implementation of the first annual work plan (AWP). Responsibilities of the Project Board: The PB will provide all the guidelines for the project throughout its implementation; the PB will specifically be responsible of:

a) Approving the work plan and annual Budget; b) Promote coordination among relevant Government agencies c) Guide the implementation process to ensure alignment with the relevant local and national

planning processes, including those related to green production, sustainable use of resources, and conservation policies, among others.

d) Ensure the participation of key stakeholders in the consensus building process; e) Guide and supervise, if necessary, the work of the PMU. f) Monitor the progress and effectiveness of the Project implementation.

b. Technical Committee

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The Technical committee (TC) will include representatives from the institutions and organizations that

will have an active role in the implementation of the Project; which could be members of the CNCC. The TC will provide technical support in order to achieve the results of the Project and will also provide technical advice to the Project Board with support from the PMU. The TC will meet (virtually or in person) at least once every month, with the objective of learning about the progress made on the implementation of the Project, and also for providing inputs to the products that are within their technical competence. A representative from the TC designated by its members will report to the PB when requested. The creation of the TC will take place during the inception phase of the Project, as well as the definition of its operational rulebook. Responsibilities of the Technical Committee.

a) Review and provide inputs to the products and/or results in their respective areas of work. b) Participate and provide inputs for the preparation of the work plans and/or any other necessary

information in order to achieve the agreed results. c) Provide recommendations for any adjustment to the Project work programmes and/or annual

operation plans in case a need is identified. d) Review and offer inputs of agreement to terms of reference and Technical specifications e) Participate, if convenient, in the selection process of consultants directly or through designation

of representatives. f) Contribute to the revision of monthly reports for monitoring, mid-term, annual and final reports

prepared by the PMU. g) Contribute to the monitoring of the implementation of the Project.

Management of FCPF Activities. The FCPF activities will be managed by the Project Management Unit. Project Management Unit (PMU) The PMU will be established within UNDP and under the supervision of UNDP. The PMU will be responsible for the management and daily coordination of the Project through adequate work plans, terms of references, and carefully designed administrative arrangements that will be reviewed and approved by the PB. The PMU will be comprised by the following members: - Technical Coordinator: Will have under his/her responsibility the day to day management of the

Project as well as ensuring the achievements of results under required quality standards and within the specific time and cost limits. The PMU Technical Coordinator will have to demonstrate technical experience related to the scope of the Project, in addition to excellent management skills. He/she will provide all the technical guidance for the delivery of key results as part of his/her functions. Furthermore, he/she will provide leadership for the project working closely with institutions represented in the PB, the Technical Committee, and other key actors. The procurement process for this position will be open at the international and national levels.

- Administrator: will be responsible, together with the PMU Technical Coordinator, of the management and administration of the Project, as well as of providing logistical support to the technical components of the Project.

- Technical Assistant: will provide technical support to the PMU coordination. Likewise, he/she will support the duties of the technical results responsible-persons. He/she will be responsible for

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managing the project monitoring and evaluation framework, as well as for delivering all regular required reports.

- Administrative Assistant: will provide administrative support to the Project Administrator. In addition, he/she will provide administrative and logistical support to the technical components of the Project.

- Senior Technical/Political Advisor: will provide strategic political advice for the different aspects linked to the Project, stablishing the corresponding links to issues related to Climate Change and Sustainable Development. The Advisor will support the SEAM and the other institutions that are part of the Project Board, on the strategic direction of the Project. The Advisor will also facilitate the meetings of the Technical Committee, in collaboration with the PMU Technical Coordinator.

- Communications and knowledge management specialist: Will be responsible to carry on all communications duties related to the Project, internally and externally. Will be also responsible to undertake all knowledge management activities within the scope of the Project activities.

- 3 technical specialists: They will be responsible for the technical components of the Project (one each). They will be responsible for the accomplishment of every result and product, as defined in Project document for each component. They will be in charge of the day to day technical duties, including the relationship with the counterparts, as well as with other stakeholders relevant for the Project implementation, including the technical service providers. They will be responsible for the development of all technical activities needed for the accomplishment of all outputs and outcomes in each component. They will provide technical inputs for developing the regular reports, as well as for the monitoring and evaluation framework.

The responsibilities of the PMU are as follows:

a) Develop and facilitate the actions to achieve the results and objectives of the Project. b) Manage the daily implementation of the Project, coordinate the activities of the Project in

accordance with UNDP´s rules and procedures and considering the overall guidelines provided by the PB.

c) Provide the coordination and implement the Project´s monitoring and evaluation framework. d) Provide technical contributions to accomplish the results and products, as appropriate. e) Coordinate with the Project´s stakeholders, as well as with regional/national programmes,

relevant to the Project. f) Ensure together with UNDP that the specific tasks are awarded to adequate service providers

and/or international consultants through a competitive procurement process. In this sense, the responsibilities of the PMU include the preparation of procurement and terms of reference documents.

g) Organize workshops and meetings for the Project, for example the inception workshop, Project Board meetings, and Technical Committee and Local committees’ meetings, among others.

h) Closely work with the UNDP offices, both at the national level, as well as the regional and global levels to facilitate the delivery of technical assistance. Also, the PMU will organize and provide technical and logistical support and coordination of all missions and tasks by the national and international consultants.

i) Prepare all reports required in the context of the Project. j) The daily management of the different components will be under the responsibility of the

“technical specialists” to accomplish all results and products. They will be responsible for the daily management of all products under each component.

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UNDP will have a role in the oversight of the project implementation. A Delegation of Authority for the implementation of the Project will be processed in due time. Such Delegation of Authority includes a UNDP Project Cycle Management Services for FCPF Projects (Annex 3). During Project implementation UNDP Country Office will have the following responsibilities and will take the following actions, under the facilitation of a dedicated staff (from current available human resources or new recruitment):

a) Apply relevant provisions of the Programme and Operations Policies and Procedures (POPP) and UNDP Monitoring & Evaluation Handbook

b) General oversight and monitoring, including the provision of UNDP project assurance as set out in the POPP

c) Monitor progress of key activities as defined in AWPs d) Perform oversight functions through field visits and periodic audits e) Liaise with UN Country Team counterparts to ensure the coordination of activities f) Support the project’s systems, IT infrastructure, branding, knowledge transfer g) Prepare and revise the AWP with the national implementing partner h) Prepare progress reports as required i) Conduct budget revisions, verify expenditures, issue delivery reports, and ensure no over‐

expenditure of budget j) Ensure necessary audits k) Provide other information on the status of implementation as may be requested by UNDP

REDD+ team l) Coordinate harmonized UNDP positions in advance of PB meetings and other key in‐country

meetings m) Facilitate and support PB meetings if necessary and agreed with the Regional Technical Advisor

(RTA) n) Initiate and support missions of REDD+ team o) Arrange mid‐term review: prepare TOR, hire personnel, plan and facilitate mission / meetings /

debriefing, circulate draft and final reports p) Ensure translation of mid‐term review into English q) Prepare management response to midterm review

Specific quality assurance measures during implementation:

a) Calls on REDD+ team’s support (a) regularly; and (b) as per an agreed set of project milestones b) Participate in quarterly discussions with REDD+ team to agree the quality assurance elements

connected to technical assistance inputs c) Undertakes the project management quality assurance as per the UNDP POPP d) Responsible for updating the Risks and Issues Logs e) Apply the Guidance Note on Dispute Resolution as necessary f) Responsible for the fiduciary accountability of UNDP’s FCPF funds

Similarly, during the project implementation the UNDP REDD+ Team at regional and global levels will have the following responsibilities and will take the following actions:

a) Review AWPs, in order to ensure FCPF requirements are met and provide written clearance on all technical matters of quality assurance

b) Provide technical support services to CO and National Implementing Partner c) Prepare regular Mission Reports

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d) Work with the FCPF Management Team and UN-REDD Programme (if appropriate) to ensure the coordination of activities at the global and regional levels

e) Contribute lessons and experiences from other UNDP REDD+ related programming and from other REDD+ initiatives

f) Provide operational guidance on FCPF requirements g) Prepare technical analysis, compilation of lessons, dissemination of technical findings for the

FCPF h) Review and clear any reports to be submitted by UNDP to the FCPF i) Coordinate harmonized UNDP positions in advance of FCPF meetings j) Contribute to management response to mid-term review k) Follow-up on matters regarding the Transfer Agreement between UNDP and FCPF

Specific quality assurance measures during implementation:

a) Participate in quarterly discussions with the CO to agree the quality assurance elements connected to technical assistance inputs and to assess risks

b) Undertake regular reviews of the Risk and Issues Logs and provide feedback to the CO regarding technical issues and social/environmental risks

c) Make recommendations to the CO for the management of technical issues and social/environmental risks

d) Provide guidance to the CO and national counterparts on the application of the “common approach” for social and environmental issues

e) Undertake regular missions, in consultation with CO to review the implementation risks and agree adaptive management actions with the CO and national counterparts

Administration of FCPF Activities. The PMU has administrative responsibilities for the implementation of Project´s activities. The Project will be implemented under the Direct Implementation Modality (DIM). This will be the norm for FCPF activities. UNDP rules and procedures will apply for procurement and general management of the Project. UNDP will also provide technical assistance to the PMU and counterparts for the implementation of Project activities, and the UNDP Regional Service Center will participate in specific key procurement processes, as well as will provide quality assurance for all Project outputs (also supported by the global pull of experts). IV. OVERALL RISK RATINGS The REDD+ Readiness process presents a moderate to high level of risk, as it depends directly on a series of institutional changes and a conducive governance environment. A successful REDD+ environment involves important changes to the existing institutional framework and touches sensitive issues, such as land tenure rights and revenue distribution across government levels. In addition, the program has high visibility internationally, due to the high stakes of REDD+ for various stakeholders (including vulnerable forest-dependent communities). In the specific context of Paraguay, the high share of export revenues and GDP contribution from soy and beef exports increase the complexity of REDD+. The expansion of the agricultural frontier at the cost of the forests, highlights the need for adjustments in government policies if the objective is truly a country with sustainable growth and greater social equity. For this to happen, it is necessary to identify policies that will cause the economic stakeholders and the various social groups to adapt to the dynamic of a new vision of sustainable development.

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Social and environmental risk and impacts will be identified and managed through a number of tools and measures, including as relevant, UNDP’s Social and Environmental Screening Procedure and a SESA resulting in an ESMF and specific management plans, where appropriate. See section below for more details. The implementation of those activities will draw on the following documents:

Guidelines issued by the Federation for the Self-Determination of Indigenous Peoples (FAPI) for implementing the National Joint Program (NJP) in indigenous territories (UN-REDD).

The Proposed Protocol for a Consultation and Consent Process with the Indigenous Peoples of Paraguay.

FCPF/UNREDD Guidelines on the involvement of REDD+ stakeholders emphasizing the participation of indigenous peoples and forest-dependent communities.

UNFCCC requirements on safeguards.

Previous work undertaken by Paraguay to address and respect the UNFCCC requirements on safeguards (e.g. review of policies, laws and regulations).

Previous work undertaken by Paraguay to assess the sources of potential grievance risks related to REDD+; and possible institutions/mechanisms to address those grievances.

UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards and associated policies and procedures and Guidance Notes.

FCPF Common Approach.

UN-REDD guidelines on FPIC. During the elaboration of the Project document, the potential risks and issues have been discussed with the national counterparts. This information will be taken into account for the project implementation phase and have been the basis to identify measures to lower such risks. The risk matrix identifies Project implementation related risks and mitigation measures to be fostered across all activities of the Project. Similarly, annex 4 illustrates risk and measures associated with the nature of the activities to be implemented by the Project. Section III, A), iii) above summarizes those risks identified by using the UNDP SES procedure. V. UNDP QUALITY ASSURSANCE INPUTS UNDP has been supporting the REDD+ preparation phase in Paraguay since 2010, through multiple missions, participation in steering committee meetings, and mid-term reviews. The UN-REDD support was reviewed and rewritten in 2014 by the UNDP team, and the FCPF grant agreement is designed to create synergies with previous and ongoing support. The following are mandatory requirements:

UN-REDD Programme operational guidance must be applied during the implementation of the project

If changes are made at the output or activity level, they may be agreed by the Steering Committee/PEB. Before such changes are contemplated they must be discussed with and approved by the Regional Technical Advisor and Principal Technical Advisor.

If changes are proposed at the Outcome/result level, they must be discussed with the UNDP/REDD+ Principal Technical Advisor before being approved by the Regional Technical Advisor

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The project is subject to a final evaluation conducted according to Terms of Reference established by UNDP.

Funds will be audited in accordance with UNDP Financial Regulations and Rules and audit policies.

A mid-term review may be undertaken if requested by UNDP’s Environment and Energy Group

A. COMPLIANCE WITH THE COMMON APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL SAFEGUARDS

Implementation will ensure compliance with the FCPF Common Approach to Environmental and Social Safeguards. UNDP’s Social and Environmental Policies and Procedures that ensure compliance with the Common Approach include the following elements: UNDP’s Social and Environmental Standards (SES) The objectives of the Standards are to: (i) strengthen the social and environmental outcomes of UNDP projects; (ii) avoid adverse impacts to people and the environment affected by projects; (iii) minimize, mitigate, and manage adverse impacts where avoidance is not possible; (iv) strengthen UNDP and partner capacities for managing social and environmental risks; and (v) ensure full and effective stakeholder engagement, including through a mechanism to respond to complaints from project-affected people. For more information, see the Social and Environmental Standards. Social and Environmental Screening Procedure (SESP) The objectives of the SESP are to: (a) Integrate the SES Overarching Principles (human rights, gender equality and environmental sustainability); (b) Identify potential social and environmental risks and their significance; (c) Determine the Project's risk category (Low, Moderate, High); and (d) Determine the level of social and environmental assessment and management required to address potential risks and impacts. The results of the screening for Paraguay’s FCPF grant project is shown in annex 4. UNDP’s Social and Environmental Compliance Review In October 2012, the UNDP Administrator revised the Charter of the Office of Audit and Investigations (OAI) to include the mandate to investigate UNDP’s compliance with applicable social and environmental policies and procedures. In February 2013 OAI established the Social and Environmental Compliance Unit (SECU) to respond to complaints that UNDP may not be meeting its social and environmental commitments during the interim phase. The main purpose of the compliance review will be to investigate alleged violations of UNDP’s environmental and social commitments in a project financed, or to be financed, by UNDP or any other project where UNDP policies apply. The compliance review may result in findings of non-compliance, in which case recommendations will be provided to the Administrator about how to bring the Project into compliance and, where appropriate, mitigate any harm resulting from UNDP’s failure to follow its policies or procedures. In carrying out its compliance review functions, the compliance unit will need full access to UNDP personnel, policies and records. It will also need the authority to conduct site visits of UNDP-supported projects in order to carry out its fact-finding function. For more information, see the Standard Operating Procedures for UNDP's Social and Environmental Compliance Unit. UNDP’s Stakeholder Response Mechanism (SRM) The SRM provides an additional, formal avenue for stakeholders to engage with UNDP when they believe that a UNDP project may have adverse social or environmental impacts on them; they have raised their

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concerns with Implementing Partners and/or with UNDP through standard channels for stakeholder consultation and engagement; and they have not been satisfied with the response. The SRM provides a way for UNDP to address these situations systematically, predictably, expeditiously, and transparently. Through the SRM, UNDP Country Offices, Regional Bureaus and Service Centers and Headquarters collaborate in a thorough, good faith effort to resolve outstanding concerns to the satisfaction of all parties, and to document the results to ensure accountability and promote organizational learning. Given their proximity to the project, relationships with relevant actors and understanding of country context, Country Offices are generally best placed to lead in responding to complaints that come through the SRM. It is expected that the Resident Representative will identify a member of the Country Office management team to oversee and manage the SRM on a regular basis. For more information on the SRM, see: UNDP’s Stakeholder Response Mechanism: Overview and Guidance.

B. NATIONAL-LEVEL GRIEVANCE MECHANISM

In addition to addressing the above institutional requirements, UNDP will be responsible for supporting Paraguay to establish a national-level grievance mechanism (see summary results framework – product 4) to address issues related to REDD+ (the Project Board could also provide this function at first). Grievance redress mechanisms (GRM), as opposed to stakeholder engagement, are at the reactive end of the engagement process. GRMs should be developed to be accessible, predictable, fair, legitimate, rights-compatible, transparent, and have sufficient capacity. It should not replace formal legal channels and should not address major complaints that are outside of its mandate.

The main purpose of a GRM is to identify, anticipate and resolve issues in a timely and cost-effective manner to eventually improve REDD+ outcomes and promote accountability.

Lessons from around the world have shown that in establishing a GRM for REDD+ it is important to identify the sources of conflicts, to assess existing systems and to look into how these systems can be strengthened. In Paraguay, many REDD+ activities may have positive as well as adverse impacts at the local level, especially in indigenous and peasant farming communities, and the agricultural and livestock sectors responsible for most of the deforestation in the country. More specifically, impacts are expected on land tenure, sources of income, the traditional uses of resources, use of wood for energy production, among others.

The work on GRM in Paraguay will be supported by UNDP in line with the FCPF/UN-REDD Guidance Note for REDD+ Countries: Establishing and Strengthening Grievance Redress Mechanisms.

Finally, UNDP, to ensure compliance with the Common Approach, will apply the following Guidance:

FCPF/UN-REDD Guidelines on Stakeholder Engagement

UN-REDD Programme Guidelines on Free, Prior and Informed Consent (FPIC)

Given that Paraguay holds indigenous uncontacted groups within its territory, and in the case that any activity related to this Project might have a unintended consequence or indirect effect on such groups, then the Project will also follow recommendations provided in the following document on indigenous peoples on voluntary isolation: http://www.oas.org/en/iachr/indigenous/docs/pdf/report-indigenous-peoples-voluntary-isolation.pdf.

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C. DISCLOSURE OF INFORMATION

UNDP is, and will continue publishing relevant information on its national website (http://www.py.undp.org/) in compliance with the common approach. This includes progress reports, project document (grant agreement equivalent), mission reports, mid-term review, etc. In addition, the national counterpart has also decided to ensure that all relevant information is publicly available at SEAM´s website, to continue a practice of actively sharing relevant information.

VI. ASSESSMENT SUMMARY

A. TECHNICAL

Taking into account the findings of the ICA, the overall results framework for REDD+ readiness in Paraguay, and the contributions made by other REDD+ readiness initiatives, the proposed project is considered technically feasible. Risks to feasibility arise primarily from this macro-economic context and the political by-in of changing this model. Indeed, taking into consideration that around 50 % of export revenues of the country come from soy and beef, substantial innovation will be necessary in order to shift away from the current agricultural model based on extensive systems driving massive deforestation, towards more sustainable systems. The challenge for the proposed project is to demonstrate that sustainable supply chain initiatives, domestic policies, and finance, and international finance for REDD+ can be integrated in a coherent package of policies and measures (PAMs), which seeks the transition to sustainable productions systems through both certification and traceability for deforestation-free products. This will require national political support from the very highest level of the Government, as well as support from the private sector. This means that the Project works more with private sector than what has been done on the REDD+ readiness process until now, in the national context, but also globally. UNDP will take advantage of the Green Commodity Programme, implemented with the SEAM, as well as the specific projects focused on green landscapes to reinforce a dialogue with the private sector. Taking these risks into account, the Project strategy is being designed with a view of maximizing cost efficiency and effectiveness. The strategy has been suited to the objective and specific results described in the results framework (project document will be available in the short term). The main aim is to take advantage of synergies with other existing programmes and projects. The Project´s ToC (Annex 2) provides the basis to ensure efficiency and effectiveness. The ToC clarifies how the results framework is developed in consideration of the current REDD+ readiness status in the country; it also reflects efforts to illustrate the alignment with the national development priorities. Synergies have been identified with other initiatives, UNDP funded or not. For instance, this Project has been designed considering the bases set out by the UN-REDD NP. Similarly, other initiatives have been identified to pursue closed coordination. Two of those initiatives are the Productive Landscapes Project, and the IAP Chaco Project (Support to reducing deforestation from commodity production). In the same way, actions will be coordinated with other REDD+ related initiatives like “Promesa Chaco” Project, implemented by SEAM with support from Guayra Paraguay, and Conservation International.

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B. FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

The Project will use the Direct Implementation Modality (DIM) to ensure an impartial consensus. The Project will be executed by UNDP in close collaboration and consultation with SEAM, and other Project Board members who have generic responsibilities. UNDP will supervise and manage the Project Budget. UNDP will be responsible of supervising implementation, notifying in due course progress to UNDP HQ, and FCPF, as well as carrying out mandatory and complementary reviews and assessments, as appropriate, and based on needs. UNDP will provide general and specialized technical support, engaging technical staff from the Country Office, as well as technical advisors at the regional and global levels. The details of the specialized support and associated costs will be reflected in the Project´s budget. UNDP will also support the coordination and collaboration with other related initiatives. The project will be also subjected to the annual Audit, including interim audits or spot check in between following UNDP Financial Regulations and Rules and applicable Audit policies as per DIM procedures. Findings will be referred to the project team for response and appropriate remedial action.

C. PROCUREMENT

UNDP’s procurement rules and processes will apply. Administrative personnel will be hired with project funds to support the UNDP Country Office in ensuring efficient and effective implementation of the Project through the development of effective systems. Specifically, the Officer’s role will focus in on:

Providing support to Programme Planning and Coordination

Developing, implementing and improving Accounting and Reporting Procedures

Ensuring strong financial and operational control

Conducting Bank reconciliation

Developing Procurement processes and Inventory Register

Supporting programme administration

D. SOCIAL AND ENVIRONMENTAL (INCLUDING CONSULTATION, PARTICIPATION, DISCLOSURE, AND SAFEGUARDS)

The FCPF Readiness Preparation grant complies with UNDP social and environmental policies and procedures. This grant will support the country’s activities to identify the potential risks associated with REDD+ mitigation options. The FCPF will use a Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA) to integrate key environmental and social considerations into the ENBCS, including analytical and participatory approaches. The SESA allows: (i) social and environmental considerations to be integrated into the REDD+ readiness process, in particular the ENBCS; (ii) stakeholder participation in identifying and prioritizing key issues, assessment of policy, institutional and capacity gaps to manage these priorities and recommendations, and disclosure of findings in the REDD+ Country’s progress reports on readiness preparation; and (iii) an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) to be put in place to manage environmental and social risks and to mitigate potential adverse impacts.

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During the elaboration of the project document, the realization of the SESA process has been discussed and resources allocated to conduct SESA and the corresponding ESMF. The formulation of the SESA in itself will largely result from the outputs, objectives, and measures of the ENBCS and from the participative process agreed upon stakeholders in Paraguay. This process will be developed and described in detail during the inception phase of the Project.

Social (including safeguards)

Key assessments of social risks and the Country’s capacity to manage these risks will be undertaken by the country through a SESA, as detailed in the R-PP. Conceptual and programmatic alignment will be pursued when developing SESA and when envisioning the Safeguards Information System, including the means and ways in which Paraguay will address and respect the REDD+ safeguards, defined in the UNFCCC Conference of the Parties (COP16) in 2010.

The SESA will be a responsibility shared by the implementing partner (SEAM) and the national platform where REDD+ will be discussed (to be defined and strengthened with support of the Project). The active involvement of stakeholders in this process will be essential; thus, the project will support continuous capacity building for effective decision making. Special emphasis will have the full and effective participation of representative members of IPs and other marginalized groups.

Environmental (including Safeguards)

Key assessments of environmental risks and the Country’s capacity to manage these risks would be undertaken by the country through a SESA, as described in the R-PP. The same process as for social risks will be followed (see above section).

Consultation, Participation, and Disclosure

The background experience in the country for an effective participation of stakeholders in the REDD+ readiness process constitutes the implementation of the UN-REDD National Programme. In such experience a national indigenous organization (FAPI) was engaged in the implementation of the National Programme, from its design to implementation. This includes the active participation in the technical committee in charge of assessing and providing feedback for the development of outcomes and outputs, participation in the National Project Board, and active engagement in the implementation of the Community Based REDD+ (CBR+) initiative. It is expected that Indigenous Peoples representatives will be part of the Project Board (through the National Climate Change Commission), as well as INDI to be an active Government entity engaged in the project implementation.

Similarly, a stakeholder mapping was developed with support from UN-REDD. This exercise included not only the identification of key stakeholders that represent a particular interest around REDD+, but also a characterization of them, including the motivation of their interests and relative power in the readiness process. The stakeholder mapping constitutes and important background document to inform the setting up of a platform where key stakeholders (including right holders) in the country gather to discuss the REDD+ readiness process, the critical policy instruments at stake, and the options and issues towards REDD+ implementation. The FCPF grant will support the setting up of such platform. Similarly, considering the characteristics of the Projects, and in full compliance with UNDP´s social and environmental standards (see Annex 4), a stakeholder engagement plan will be developed as part of the inception phase of the Project, which will cover in scope not only the Project activities but other readiness critical elements, like the discussion of the ENBCS as part of its endorsement process.

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On consultation, FAPI has lead a process to develop a protocol to implement FPIC in the country. The national entity with mandate to regulate indigenous affairs (INDI) has taken this protocol as an input of a process in which various protocols need to be assessed and articulated as part of the national policy framework (process that will be supported by the FCPF Project).

Regarding disclosure of information, UNDP has up-load all relevant documents to its website for public disclosure, in line with the common approach and UNDP specific policies on this matter. SEAM has shared the same commitment. As of today, SEAM´s website is being re-designed; however, previously a specific site has been set up to up-load all relevant information on the project. It is expected that SEAM´s new website will also include a specific space for sharing relevant information on the Project, as well as on REDD+. VII. ANNEXES

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Annex 1: preliminary list of ENBCS measures

REGION ORIENTAL

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Tala Ilegal

Disminuir pérdida y degradación de bosques mediante la incorporación de criterios e indicadores de prácticas y manejo sostenible

Prórroga de la Ley 2524/2004 “De prohibición en la Región Oriental de las actividades de transformación y conversión de superficies con cobertura de bosques

Cabildeo ante el Congreso de la Nación para obtener la prórroga de la Ley 2524/2004 por 5 años adicionales a partir del año 2018.

Realizar cabildeo con parlamentarios para promover la prórroga de la Ley 2524/2004.

Política Nacional

Ambiental(SEAM)

Mejorar los sistemas de monitoreo y control de la SEAM, INFONA y Ministerio Público.

Adquirir equipos de monitoreo satelital.

Compra de imágenes satelitales y pago de membresías

Capacitación a funcionarios y operarios

Compra de vehículos para monitoreo

Contratación funcionarios técnicos para realizar tareas de monitoreo y control

Compra de equipos con sistemas de posicionamiento geográfico

Articular con el Poder Judicial sobre los delitos ambientales y la aplicación efectiva de las normas vigentes, a través firma de acuerdos y compromisos formales.

Elaborar un plan de trabajo para coordinar los trabajos con el Poder Judicial

Asignar a un personal responsable del Plan de Trabajo

Generar mecanismos de penalización efectivos y rápidos para sanciones ambientales y forestales.

Coordinación Interinstitucional entre actores relevantes del sistema ambiental y forestal (reuniones)

Control cruzado entre instituciones, a través de bases de datos integradas (equipamiento informático y técnicos)

Establecer mecanismos de auditoria y rendiciones de cuenta periódica sobre implementación de sanciones.

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Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Incorporar superficie boscosa bajo el régimen de servicios ambientales (Ley 3001/06).

Elaborar mapas de usos del suelo actual y de cambios de uso del suelo potencial a futuro, en fincas pilotos usando imágenes satelitales.

Visita a las fincas, entrevistas a los productores, evaluar el aporte a la conservación, bajo los escenarios de uso actual y futuro en cada finca, mediante la aplicación del Índice de Conservación de la Biodiversidad (ICB)

Determinar posibles áreas de superficies boscosas, estimar el monto a ser recibido bajo el RSA, lograr el compromiso del propietario de ingresar al RSA.

Facilitar y agilizar el cumplimiento de los requisitos técnicos para lograr la certificación al RSA.

Crecimiento de la Agricultura y Ganadería

Promover la producción agrícola y ganadera competitiva mediante el manejo sostenible de los recursos naturales sostenibles.

Sistemas de producción sustentables

Mayor difusión y apoyo para la adopción de buenas prácticas productivas agrícolas, ganaderas y forestales

Coordinar y articular entre el sector público, los gremios de producción, las instituciones crediticias, y las instituciones del sector ambiental y forestal.

Política Nacional Ambiental(SEAM)

Brindar asistencia técnica especializada en BPA a productores (Costos a cargo de servicios de extensión y capacitación del MAG, SEAM, INFONA y otros)

Evaluar en forma periódica la aplicación efectiva de las buenas prácticas productivas agrícolas, ganaderas y forestales.

Conformar un consejo público-privado para determinar necesidades y demandas de asistencia técnica a productores para el desarrollo sostenible y conservación de áreas boscosas.

Aprobar por decreto un Consejo Público-Privado que ayude a determinar participativamente las necesidades de demanda de asistencia técnica.

Realizar estudios para estimar necesidades y demandas de asistencia técnica a productores (diagnóstico)

Elaborar un plan de acción en base al diagnóstico de necesidades de asistencia técnica en sistemas de producción sustentable.

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Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Fortalecer las instancias de investigación de Facultades y centros de investigación para los procesos de desarrollo sostenibles basado en el bosque

Crear alianzas con Centros de Investigación internacional, especialmente a nivel regional

Fomentar las investigaciones sobre producción teniendo en cuenta las necesidades de los productores agropecuarios de la Región Oriental

Implementar fincas modelo en centros de investigación agropecuaria de la región Oriental

Designar equipo responsable de la investigación (Con cargo al presupuesto del IPTA y el INFONA)

Desarrollar e incentivar procesos productivos a través de la implementación de modelos: agro forestales, silvopastoril de producción y manejo de bosques.

Realizar investigaciones sobre diferentes modelos productivos en centros de investigación agropecuaria.

Implementar fincas modelo en centros de investigación agropecuaria de la región Oriental, con énfasis en modelos: agro forestales, silvopastoril de producción y manejo de bosques

Bajo valor del bosque entre otras actividades

Promover la producción agrícola y ganadera competitiva mediante el manejo sostenible de los recursos naturales sostenibles.

Disminuir pérdida y degradación

Promoción de los Servicios Ambientales, Valoración del capital natural y de los servicios ambientales en todas sus modalidades y mecanismos de adquisición

Identificar áreas potenciales para implementación de pago por resultados bajo el mecanismo REDD+

En coordinación con el sector privado, identificar potenciales fuentes de financiamiento.

Política Nacional Ambiental(SEAM)

Desarrollar y establecer mecanismos para evaluar y notificar los bosques que podrían formar parte de este Régimen.

Prospección de nuevos nichos para productos con baja huella en carbono (en sinergia con manejo de bosques, por ejemplo). (a cargo de REDIEX)

Desarrollar mecanismos y procesos de mejora para aumentar la implementación de la Ley 3001/06 de Pago por Servicios Ambientales.

Realizar un compendio actualizado sobre las normativas que rigen el Régimen.

Establecer mecanismos de acceso fácilmente comprensibles para potenciales oferentes y demandantes de servicios ambientales.

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Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

de bosques mediante la incorporación de criterios e indicadores de prácticas y manejo sostenible.

Implementar la certificación directa del título valor para agilizar transacción en el mercado de valores.

Acelerar los procesos de “mercado” para la adquisición de Servicios Ambientales (conectar oferta y demanda, transparentar y simplificar trámites).

Formalizar, unificar y automatizar los trámites vinculados al RSA, incluyendo una plataforma web para acceder a información y realizar gestiones on-line.

Fortalecer los sistemas de monitoreo y mapeo de las áreas certificadas para el Régimen de Servicios Ambientales

Adquirir de equipos informáticos (hardware y software)

Incorporar Técnicos especializados en mapeo y monitoreo

Promover el pago por los servicios ambientales en las comunidades indígenas con un mecanismo diferenciado (como actividad inicial se deberían catastrar las tierras indígenas y realizar la titulación)

Incorporar promotores de servicios ambientales para comunidades indígenas

Combustible, movilidad y viáticos

Regularizar la titulación de tierras

Establecer un registro que permita contabilizar déficit de bosque

Adquirir equipos informáticos y software

Incorporar Técnicos especializados

Establecer un sistema de Gestión de Certificados Ambientales

Realizar un estudio para diseñar el sistema de gestión mejorado

Implementar de Sistema de Gestión Mejorado

Reglamentar la Ley 3001/ 06 en sus otras modalidades

Designar equipo responsable de la investigación (Salarios anuales)

Apoyar el desarrollo de regulaciones específicas para planes de manejo de bosque a certificar bajo la Ley 3001/2006 que integren los criterios y mapas definidos

Elaborar mapas de usos del suelo actual y de cambios de uso del suelo potenciales a futuro, en fincas pilotos usando imágenes satelitales,

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Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Fortalecer la certificación de Áreas Protegidas en el marco de la Ley 3001/06

Delimitar las Áreas Silvestres Protegidas a través de la SEAM

Asistir a los propietarios de fincas a ser incorporadas bajo el RSA, para regularizar la titulación de sus propiedades.

Realizar los estudios de evaluación ecológica rápida u otros estudios en el marco del RSA

Definir mecanismos eficientes y transparentes de Certificación de Servicios Ambientales

Incorporar superficie boscosa como ser corredores biológicos bajo el Régimen de Servicios Ambientales (Ley 3001/2006)

Elaborar mapas de usos del suelo actual y de cambios de uso del suelo potenciales a futuro, en fincas piloto usando imágenes satelitales.

Entrevistar a los productores, evaluar el aporte a la conservación, bajo los escenarios de uso actual y futuro en cada finca, mediante la aplicación del Índice de Conservación de la Biodiversidad (ICB)

Determinar posibles áreas de Corredores biológicos, lograr el compromiso del propietario de ingresar al RSA, calcular monto a ser recibido bajo el RSA

Facilitar y agilizar los requisitos técnicos para lograr la certificación al RSA.

Aplicar efectivamente los incentivos previstos en las normativas para los propietarios de bosques

Desarrollar los mecanismos para la aplicación efectiva

Reglamentar la Ley de Recursos Hídricos

Conformar un Comité de Reglamentación de la Ley

57

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Promocionar los productos no maderables provenientes de los bosques como alternativas encaradas por la comunidad internacional

Articular con el organismo de promoción de exportaciones (REDIEX), dependiente del Ministerio de Industria y Comercio, las ventas de productos no maderables provenientes del bosque.

Utilización de la biomasa

como fuente de energía

(leña y carbón)

Potenciar el uso sostenible del bosque fortaleciendo el patrimonio natural y cultural de las comunidades indígenas

Uso Sostenible del bosque

Adoptar instrumentos financieros adecuados para inversiones forestales. (Subsidios, créditos a largo plazo y con tasas de interés accesible)

Difusión de los instrumentos financieros disponibles en instituciones financieras públicas (BNF) y privadas (Bancos privados a través de AFD).

Política Forestal Nacional

Realizar negociaciones con el Poder Legislativo (Lobby) para aprobar fondos necesarios pagar subsidios establecidos en la Ley 536/95.

Desarrollar programas de mejora de especies nativas y programas de cultivos forestales de renta (como el establecimiento de viveros a nivel municipal, gobernación, introducción de cultivo de yerba mate bajo monte, por ejemplo)

Fortalecer los programas de investigación a cargo del IPTA y con respaldo del INFONA y otros centros de investigación forestal público y privado.

Establecer nuevos viveros y reactivar viveros existentes para producción, venta y distribución de plantines

Promover programas de eficiencia energética en el uso doméstico, industrial y productivo de la leña proveniente principalmente de bosque nativo

Brindar asistencia técnica y crediticia orientada mejorar la eficiencia energética del sistema productivo y los hogares.

Implementar programas de adopción de tecnologías que promueven la eficiencia energética, tales como como fogones mejorados, enriquecimiento de bosques nativos con especies con potencial de generación energética.

Fomentar alianzas público-privadas para reducir costos ambientales y forestales.

Generar espacios de diálogo con el sector privado a través de los gremios de producción maderera (FEPAMA)

Planes de sustitución de leña provenientes de plantaciones, incluyendo la gradualidad para su

Identificar comunidades para proyectos pilotos y superficies reforestadas

58

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

implementación para pequeños productores

Implementar bosques multifuncionales

Mejorar planes de reforestación, evitando la homogeneización de especies con vistas a lograr la multifuncionalidad de los bosques.

Identificar posibles proyectos piloto con bosques multifuncionales.

Mejorar la inversión en investigación forestal.

Desarrollar mayor investigación en el ámbito forestal

Proteger las poblaciones de árboles semilleros

Coordinar las acciones de propietarios de predios forestales, usuarios de bosques y encargados de gestión forestal

Utilización de la biomasa

como fuente de energía

(leña y carbón)

Potenciar el uso sostenible del bosque fortaleciendo el patrimonio natural y cultural de las comunidades indígenas

Fomento a la Forestación y Reforestación

Revisar la matriz energética para aplicar una política energética basada en la diversificación.

Diagnóstico de la matriz energética, con énfasis en la utilización de biomasa a nivel nacional.

Política Nacional

Energética

Implementar un plan nacional de reducción del uso de leña y carbón a nivel doméstico, comercial e industrial.

Reemplazar braseros y cocinas a leña por fogones eficientes, en lugares donde todavía se dispone de leña.

Reemplazar braseros y cocinas a leña por cocinas a gas o a inducción eléctrica, en lugares donde ya no existe leña.

Promover el uso y difusión de energías renovables.

Campañas de socialización sobre beneficios de usos de energías renovables.

Establecer incentivos económicos para el uso de energías alternativas, tales como co-financiamiento de proyectos de reconversión, tasas de interés subsidiadas, entre otros.

59

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Promover programas de eficiencia energética en el uso doméstico, industrial y productivo de la leña proveniente de reforestación.

Proyecto de difusión e implementación del Decreto 4056/2015 que obliga al uso de leña certificada en industrias a nivel Departamental.

Establecer en la Banca Pública y privada instrumentos financieros para programas de reconversión industrial de fuente energética (por ejemplo: de leña o carbón a electricidad)

Realizar prospección de mercado para productos diferenciados provenientes del bosque

Realizar estudios de mercado para los productos diferenciados que provienen del bosque

Brindar asistencia técnica y capacitación al sector privado para lograr la certificación de madera reforestada.

Asignar personal especializado en la promoción de reforestación y certificación de bosques a través de asistencia técnica, capacitación y apoyo a las gestiones ante organismos responsables.

Promover mecanismos alternativos para reemplazar la biomasa en comunidades urbanas como rurales, campesinas, pueblos indígenas y otros.

Brindar capacitación y asistencia técnica a productores campesinos y comunidades indígenas

Migración, Colonizaciones

Promover el ordenamiento territorial a nivel municipal para determinar el uso del suelo vinculado a las áreas boscosas

Adoptar Políticas de Arraigo

Ordenar el sistema de catastro, legalización y unificación de datos estadísticos sobre las tierras distribuidas bajo las políticas de Reforma Agraria, para la preservación de áreas boscosas y su manejo sostenible.

Realizar un censo de beneficiarios de la reforma agraria, así como catastro de los asentamientos y colonias y comunidades indígenas.

Plan Nacional de Desarrollo 2030

Desarrollar base de datos que permitan realizar seguimiento a los expedientes de acceso a la tierra.

Apoyo a la regularización de la situación legal de tierras en disputa y a la titulación de Comunidades Indígenas, cuando estas deseen incorporarse al RSA.

60

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Mejorar la planificación la mitigación al cambio climático en el sector USCUSS

Implementar políticas y estrategias de desarrollo rural que mejoren el nivel de vida y fomenten el arraigo y el manejo sostenible de los recursos naturales.

En base al enfoque de desarrollo territorial y en coordinación con los actores relevantes del territorio, promover los planes de desarrollo departamental y distrital, así como los Planes de Ordenamiento Territorial y Ambiental (POTA) elaborados participativamente con apoyo de la STP y en coordinación con el Plan Nacional de Desarrollo.

Implementar iniciativas que promuevan del desarrollo rural a través de la inserción de las unidades productivas a las cadenas de valor existentes en cada territorio.

Promover la asociatividad entre los productores de pequeña escala, a fin de facilitar a los productores el acceso a los servicios de asistencia técnica y crediticia, y facilitar la comercialización de sus productos, a través de las iniciativas y proyectos promovidos desde las instituciones públicas que promueven el desarrollo rural, tales como el MAG, el MIC, la STP, y los gobiernos departamentales y locales.

Diversificar fuentes de ingreso y sistemas productivos sustentables, incluyendo el aprovechamiento de los beneficios múltiples del bosque.

En coordinación con el Ministerio de Agricultura y Ganadería, promover el desarrollo rural sustentable, promoviendo el cultivo de rubros de consumo y de renta.

Articular con la STP, en el marco de PND 2030, los programas y proyectos de desarrollo del gobierno nacional.

Coordinar con el sector privado a fin de consolidar cadenas de valor que permitan la inserción efectiva al mercado formal de los productores rurales, con énfasis en los productos de origen forestal, tales como la leña y el carbón.

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Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Facilitar el acceso a sistemas crediticios para adopción de mejores tecnologías de producción para contribuir con la reducción de emisiones.

Diseñar instrumentos financieros a ser aplicados por la banca pública (BNF y CAH)

Diseñar instrumentos financieros adecuados en la AFD y canalizar los mismos al sector productivos a través de la banca privada, incorporando incentivos para clientes que demuestren el cumplimiento voluntario de buenas prácticas ambientales y forestales.

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REGION OCCIDENTAL

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Crecimiento de la ganadería

Promover la producción agrícola y ganadera competitiva mediante el manejo sostenible de los recursos naturales sostenibles.

Sistema de Producción Sustentables

Conformar un equipo multidisciplinario público-privado para determinar necesidades y demandas de asistencia técnica a productores para el desarrollo sostenible y conservación de áreas boscosas

Aprobar por decreto un consejo público-privado para determinar las necesidades de demanda de asistencia técnica.

Política Nacional Ambiental(SEAM)

Determinar participativamente necesidades y demandas de asistencia técnica a productores (diagnóstico)

Elaborar un plan de acción en base al diagnostico

Fortalecer las instancias de investigación de Facultades y centros de investigación de la región del Chaco para sistemas silvopastoriles.

Crear alianzas con centros de investigación de la Región del Gran Chaco americano

Fomentar las investigaciones sobre producción teniendo en cuenta las necesidades de las Cooperativas

Implementar fincas modelo (50 Ha) en fincas seleccionadas

Designar equipo responsable de la investigación (Salarios anuales)

Desarrollar estrategias, herramientas y sistemas de gobierno para apoyar la transparencia (en el cumplimiento de la normativa ambiental) y la trazabilidad de la carne y/o las cadenas de suministro.

Asignar personal del sector público para implementar sistema de trazabilidad (1 SENACSA y 1 MAG)

Combustible, movilidad y viáticos

Impulsar la producción sustentable de fincas a través de la implementación de modelos agro forestales y silvopastoriles de producción y el manejo de bosques

Brindar a productores asistencia técnica a través de las instituciones del estado y entidades privadas (cooperativas)

Definir y diseñar instrumentos financieros adecuados para la implementación de modelos agroforestales y silvopastoriles

63

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Incorporar estos instrumentos financieros en las instituciones financieras públicas y privadas

Mayor difusión y apoyo para la adopción de buenas prácticas productivas

Asignar personal del sector público para difusión y asistencia técnica

Combustible, movilidad y viáticos

Incrementar las inversiones en investigación agropecuaria, forestal y ambiental orientadas a mejorar resiliencia y productividad de rubros productivos estratégicos.

Crear alianzas con centros de investigación de la Región del Gran Chaco americano

Fomentar las investigaciones para mejorar resiliencia y productividad de rubros estratégicos.

Designar equipo responsable de la investigación (Salarios anuales)

Incorporar superficie boscosa bajo el Régimen de Servicios Ambientales, como corredores biológicos.

Elaborar mapas de usos del suelo actual y de cambios de uso del suelo potenciales a futuro, en fincas pilotos usando imágenes satelitales,

Visita a las fincas, entrevistas a los productores, evaluar el aporte a la conservación, bajo los escenarios de uso actual y futuro en cada finca, mediante la aplicación del Índice de Conservación de la Biodiversidad (ICB)

Determinar posibles áreas de Corredores biológicos, lograr el compromiso del propietario de ingresar al RSA, calcular monto a ser recibido bajo el RSA

Facilitar y agilizar los requisitos técnicos para lograr la certificación al RSA).

Fomentar el apoyo del sector privado en cuanto al otorgamiento de créditos financieros.

Promover y facilitar el acceso a créditos ofrecidos por la banca pública (BNF) y privada (a través de la AFD) para proyectos forestales.

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Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Bajo Valor del Bosque

Promover la producción agrícola y ganadera competitiva mediante el manejo sostenible de los recursos naturales sostenibles.

Disminuir pérdida y degradación de bosques mediante la incorporación de criterios e indicadores de prácticas y manejo sostenible

Promoción de los Servicios Ambientales, Valoración del capital natural y de los servicios ambientales.

Establecer mecanismos y procesos de mejora para aumentar la implementación de la Ley 3001/06 de Pago por Servicios Ambientales.

Modificar la normativa vigente para permitir la certificación directa del título valor, para agilizar transacción en el mercado de valores

Política Nacional Ambiental (SEAM)

Regularizar la situación de los avales a cargo del Ministerio de Hacienda para impulsar las transacciones en el mercado de valores

Acelerar los procesos de “mercado” de la adquisición de Servicios Ambientales (conectar oferta y demanda).

Invertir en la difusión y promoción del Régimen de Servicios Ambientales

Fortalecer los sistemas de monitoreo y mapeo de las áreas certificadas para el régimen de Servicios Ambientales

Adquirir de equipos

Incorporar Técnicos especializados en mapeo y monitoreo

Promover el pago por los servicios ambientales en las comunidades indígenas con un mecanismo diferenciado (delimitación y titulación de tierra)

Incorporar Técnicos especializados en promoción de servicios ambientales en Comunidades Indígenas

Combustible, movilidad y viáticos

Regularizar la titulación de tierras

Desarrollar regulaciones específicas para planes de manejo de bosque a certificar bajo la Ley 3001/2006 que integren los criterios y mapas definidos

Contratar un consultor para desarrollar regulaciones especificas en el marco de la Ley 3001/2006

Establecer un registro que permita contabilizar los pasivos ambientales y un sistema de certificados ambientales

Adquirir equipos informáticos y software

Incorporar Técnicos especializados

Incorporar superficie boscosa como ser corredores biológicos bajo el Régimen de Servicios Ambientales (Ley 3001/2006)

Invertir en la difusión y promoción del Régimen de Servicios Ambientales

Brindar asistencia técnica a productores

65

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

Registrar las propiedades que aprueben el ingreso al RSA

Identificar áreas potenciales para implementación de pago por resultados bajo el mecanismo REDD+

Contratar Técnicos especializados

Combustible, movilidad y viáticos

Reglamentar la Ley 3001/ 06 en sus otras modalidades

Contratar una consultoría para proponer reglamentación de la Ley 3001/2006

Fortalecer la certificación de Áreas Protegidas en el marco de la Ley 3001/06

Contratar con técnicos de campo para promover certificaciones

Difundir los beneficios múltiples que representa para los propietarios la producción con adicionalidad ambiental

Invertir en la difusión y promoción sobre beneficios múltiples

Incluir los palmares para la certificación en el marco de proyectos REDD+

Elaborar proyecto de modificación de la reglamentación de la Ley 3001/2006

Aplicar efectivamente los incentivos previstos en las normativas para los propietarios de bosques

Desarrollar los mecanismos para la aplicación efectiva

Impulsar la reglamentación de la Ley de Recursos Hídricos

Conformar un Comité de Reglamentación de la Ley

Promocionar productos no maderables provenientes de bosques

Articular con el organismo de promoción de exportaciones (REDIEX/MIC), las ventas de productos no maderables provenientes del bosque.

Tala ilegal

Disminuir pérdida y degradación de bosques mediante la incorporación de criterios e indicadores de

Promoción de hábitats adecuados y sistemas productivos sustentables

Aprovechar RRNN y servicios ambientales / prácticas / valores sociales y culturales de los pueblos indígenas y su interdependencia con los bosques y promoción de los servicios ambientales en su territorio

Aprobar por decreto un consejo público-privado para determinar las necesidades de demanda de asistencia técnica. Política Nacional

Ambiental(SEAM) Determinar participativamente necesidades y demandas de asistencia técnica a productores (diagnóstico)

66

Causa de la Deforestación

Objetivos Estratégicos

Medidas Acciones Actividades Política

(Respaldatoria)

prácticas y manejo sostenible.

Potenciar el uso sostenible del bosque fortaleciendo el patrimonio natural y cultural de las comunidades indígenas

Aprobar por decreto un consejo público-privado para determinar las necesidades de demanda de asistencia técnica.

Promover la consulta para lograr el Consentimiento Libre Previo e Informado a nivel comunitario y territorial por INDI en las comunidades indígenas para el manejo sostenible de los boques.

Designar equipo responsable de la investigación (Salarios anuales)

Implementar fincas modelo (50 Ha) en Cruce Pioneros

Crear alianzas con centros de investigación de la Región del Gran Chaco americano

Fomentar las investigaciones sobre producción teniendo en cuenta las necesidades de las Cooperativas

Promover sistemas productivos y conservación de los bosques / ecosistemas a través del conocimiento tradicional y las innovaciones de los Pueblos Indígenas y comunidades locales.

Financiar proyectos de desarrollo integral para mejorar los medios de vida de las comunidades indígenas, especialmente para garantizar la seguridad alimentaria.

Coordinar acciones entre instituciones a nivel central y local para promover el desarrollo sustentable de las comunidades indígenas

Promover la integración e intercambio de saberes y conocimiento ancestral y local al desarrollo de sus medios de vida y producción amigable con el entorno

Organizar visitas de intercambios de conocimientos entre comunidades

Fuente: Propuesta de Plan de Implementación de Políticas, Acciones y Medidas, diciembre 2016 - PNC ONU-REDD, SEAM/INFONA/FAPI

67

Annex 2: Project Theory of Change

68

Annex 3: UNDP Project Cycle Management Services for FCPF Projects

69

70

Annex 4: UNDP Social and ENVIRONMENTAL Screening Process

Project Information

Información sobre el proyecto

1. Título del proyecto Estrategia REDD+ II (Towards the Implementation of the National Strategy on Forests for Sustainable Growth)

2. Número del proyecto 00092546

3. Ubicación (mundial/región/país) Paraguay

Part A. Integrating Overarching Principles to Strengthen Social and Environmental Sustainability

QUESTION 1: How Does the Project Integrate the Overarching Principles in order to Strengthen Social and Environmental Sustainability?

Briefly describe in the space below how the Project mainstreams the human-rights based approach

The project will seek to enhance participation, capacities and representation of marginalized populations in decision making processes that may affect them, related to e.g. the design of the national REDD+ Strategy and associated Policies and Measures (PAMs), the Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment and Management Framework, and other safeguards related activities (SIS, SOI, etc.). The project will also engage relevant stakeholders in the design of the NFMS, looking for opportunities and interest in incorporating a participatory monitoring approach. The Stakeholder Engagement Plan will be developed and implemented with input from and engagement with relevant stakeholders. The grievance mechanism for the project will provide an opportunity for local stakeholders to voice their concerns about the REDD+ process in the country and will provide a means to constructively address those concerns.

Briefly describe in the space below how the Project is likely to improve gender equality and women’s empowerment

72

Special consideration will be provided to ensuring women are equally represented in the stakeholder engagement process described above. The Stakeholder Engagement Plan will provide more detail on how women’s interests and participation will be enhanced and ensured throughout the project cycle.

In addition, different specific references have been made along the entire project document, in order to ensure that the project is fully gender-responsive in its implementation strategy, as well as to reflect such approach in critical elements of the project like the results framework. Given the strong Project´s focus on capacity development, special provisions have been set out to ensure proper accountability of integrating the gender approach in all capacity building activities (like recording sex disgragated data of participants, keeping consideration of measures to facilitate participation of women in different capacity building, dialogues, and consultation-type of events).

Briefly describe in the space below how the Project mainstreams environmental sustainability

The project seeks to develop a strategy for the country to address the main causes and drivers of deforestation and forest degradation, thereby reducing one of the main sources of GHG emissions in the country and protecting forests that provide multiple benefits to communities and production sectors. It is fully consistent with UNDP’s Environmental Standards 1 (Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management) and 2 (Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation) as well as with the environmental safeguards for REDD+. It recognizes that sustainable management, protection, conservation, maintenance and rehabilitation of natural habitats and their associated biodiversity and ecosystem functions are fundamental to UNDP’s efforts to support countries in developing and implementing sustainable development pathways.

73

Part B. Identifying and Managing Social and Environmental Risks

QUESTION 2: What are the Potential Social and Environmental Risks?

Note: Describe briefly potential social and environmental risks identified in Attachment 1 – Risk Screening Checklist (based on any “Yes” responses). If no risks have been identified in Attachment 1 then note “No Risks Identified” and skip to Question 4 and Select “Low Risk”. Questions 5 and 6 not required for Low Risk Projects.

QUESTION 3: What is the level of significance of the potential social and environmental risks?

Note: Respond to Questions 4 and 5 below before proceeding to Question 6

QUESTION 6: What social and environmental assessment and management measures have been conducted and/or are required to address potential risks (for Risks with Moderate and High Significance)?

Risk Description Impact and Probability (1-5)

Significance

(Low, Moderate, High)

Comments Description of assessment and management measures as reflected in the Project design. If ESIA or SESA is required note that the assessment should consider all potential impacts and risks.

Human rights, gender - marginalization /

discrimination of stakeholder groups, including indigenous peoples, local communities and

I = 3

P = 3

Moderate

The project will include a stakeholder engagement plan to assess and address potential risks.

74

women during the stakeholder engagement process and identification of beneficiaries

- insufficient capacity of duty bearers and rights holders

- potential for conflict among / between stakeholders

The project will include a strategic environmental and social assessment (SESA) that will review these potential risks. The SESA will result in safeguards considerations being streamlined into the National Strategy, PAMs and the development of an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF).

The project will also include a grievance mechanism to address potential grievances related to these risks.

Biodiversity / Forests

- while the project itself

will likely not have direct impacts on biodiversity, forests, critical habitats, etc., the national strategy and PAMs that will be develop thru the project could have adverse impacts if not assessed against and designed with safeguard requirements in mind

I = 3

P = 3

Moderate

The project will include a strategic environmental and social assessment (SESA) that will review these potential risks. The SESA will result in safeguards considerations being streamlined into the National Strategy, PAMs and the development of an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF).

The project will also include a grievance mechanism to address potential grievances related to these risks.

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Indigenous Peoples, Cultural Heritage, Displacement/Resettlement

- while the project itself

will likely not have direct impacts on the lands, territories, resources of IPs, the national strategy and PAMs that will be develop thru the project could have adverse impacts if not assessed against and designed with safeguard requirements in mind

I = 3

P = 3

Moderate The project will include a strategic environmental and social assessment (SESA) that will review these potential risks. The SESA will result in safeguards considerations being streamlined into the National Strategy, PAMs and the development of an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF).

The project will also include a grievance mechanism to address potential grievances related to these risks.

[add additional rows as needed]

QUESTION 4: What is the overall Project risk categorization?

Select one (see SESP for guidance) Comments

Low Risk ☐

Moderate Risk X

High Risk ☐

QUESTION 5: Based on the identified risks and risk categorization, what requirements of the SES are relevant?

Check all that apply Comments

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Principle 1: Human Rights X

Principle 2: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

X

1. Biodiversity Conservation and Natural Resource Management

X

2. Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

☐

3. Community Health, Safety and Working Conditions

☐

4. Cultural Heritage X

5. Displacement and Resettlement X

6. Indigenous Peoples X

7. Pollution Prevention and Resource Efficiency

☐

Final Sign Off

Signature Date Description

QA Assessor UNDP staff member responsible for the Project, typically a UNDP Programme Officer. Final

signature confirms they have “checked” to ensure that the SESP is adequately conducted.

QA Approver UNDP senior manager, typically the UNDP Deputy Country Director (DCD), Country Director (CD),

Deputy Resident Representative (DRR), or Resident Representative (RR). The QA Approver cannot

also be the QA Assessor. Final signature confirms they have “cleared” the SESP prior to submittal to

the PAC.

PAC Chair UNDP chair of the PAC. In some cases PAC Chair may also be the QA Approver. Final signature

confirms that the SESP was considered as part of the project appraisal and considered in

recommendations of the PAC.

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SESP Attachment 1. Social and Environmental Risk Screening Checklist

Checklist Potential Social and Environmental Risks

Principles 1: Human Rights Answer (Yes/No)

1. Could the Project lead to adverse impacts on enjoyment of the human rights (civil, political, economic, social or cultural) of the affected population and particularly of marginalized groups?

Y

2. Is there a likelihood that the Project would have inequitable or discriminatory adverse impacts on affected

populations, particularly people living in poverty or marginalized or excluded individuals or groups? 3 Y

3. Could the Project potentially restrict availability, quality of and access to resources or basic services, in particular to marginalized individuals or groups?

N

4. Is there a likelihood that the Project would exclude any potentially affected stakeholders, in particular marginalized groups, from fully participating in decisions that may affect them?

Y

5. Is there a risk that duty-bearers do not have the capacity to meet their obligations in the Project? Y

6. Is there a risk that rights-holders do not have the capacity to claim their rights? Y

7. Have local communities or individuals, given the opportunity, raised human rights concerns regarding the Project during the stakeholder engagement process?

N

8. Is there a risk that the Project would exacerbate conflicts among and/or the risk of violence to project-affected communities and individuals?

Y

Principle 2: Gender Equality and Women’s Empowerment

1. Is there a likelihood that the proposed Project would have adverse impacts on gender equality and/or the situation of women and girls?

Y

2. Would the Project potentially reproduce discriminations against women based on gender, especially regarding participation in design and implementation or access to opportunities and benefits?

Y

3. Have women’s groups/leaders raised gender equality concerns regarding the Project during the stakeholder engagement process and has this been included in the overall Project proposal and in the risk assessment?

N

4. Would the Project potentially limit women’s ability to use, develop and protect natural resources, taking into account different roles and positions of women and men in accessing environmental goods and services?

For example, activities that could lead to natural resources degradation or depletion in communities who depend on these resources for their livelihoods and well being

N

Principle 3: Environmental Sustainability: Screening questions regarding environmental risks are encompassed by the specific Standard-related questions below

Standard 1: Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Natural Resource Management

3 Prohibited grounds of discrimination include race, ethnicity, gender, age, language, disability, sexual orientation, religion, political or other opinion, national or social or geographical origin, property, birth or other status including as an indigenous person or as a member of a minority. References to “women and men” or similar is understood to include women and men, boys and girls, and other groups discriminated against based on their gender identities, such as transgender people and transsexuals.

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1.1 Would the Project potentially cause adverse impacts to habitats (e.g. modified, natural, and critical habitats) and/or ecosystems and ecosystem services? For example, through habitat loss, conversion or degradation, fragmentation, hydrological changes

Y

1.2 Are any Project activities proposed within or adjacent to critical habitats and/or environmentally sensitive areas, including legally protected areas (e.g. nature reserve, national park), areas proposed for protection, or recognized as such by authoritative sources and/or indigenous peoples or local communities?

N

1.3 Does the Project involve changes to the use of lands and resources that may have adverse impacts on habitats, ecosystems, and/or livelihoods? (Note: if restrictions and/or limitations of access to lands would apply, refer to Standard 5)

Y

1.4 Would Project activities pose risks to endangered species? N

1.5 Would the Project pose a risk of introducing invasive alien species? N

1.6 Does the Project involve harvesting of natural forests, plantation development, or reforestation? N

1.7 Does the Project involve the production and/or harvesting of fish populations or other aquatic species? N

1.8 Does the Project involve significant extraction, diversion or containment of surface or ground water?

For example, construction of dams, reservoirs, river basin developments, groundwater extraction N

1.9 Does the Project involve utilization of genetic resources? (e.g. collection and/or harvesting, commercial development)

N

1.10 Would the Project generate potential adverse transboundary or global environmental concerns? N

1.11 Would the Project result in secondary or consequential development activities which could lead to adverse social and environmental effects, or would it generate cumulative impacts with other known existing or planned activities in the area?

For example, a new road through forested lands will generate direct environmental and social impacts (e.g. felling of trees, earthworks, potential relocation of inhabitants). The new road may also facilitate encroachment on lands by illegal settlers or generate unplanned commercial development along the route, potentially in sensitive areas. These are indirect, secondary, or induced impacts that need to be considered. Also, if similar developments in the same forested area are planned, then cumulative impacts of multiple activities (even if not part of the same Project) need to be considered.

Y

Standard 2: Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation

2.1 Will the proposed Project result in significant4 greenhouse gas emissions or may exacerbate climate change?

N

2.2 Would the potential outcomes of the Project be sensitive or vulnerable to potential impacts of climate change?

N

2.3 Is the proposed Project likely to directly or indirectly increase social and environmental vulnerability to climate change now or in the future (also known as maladaptive practices)?

For example, changes to land use planning may encourage further development of floodplains, potentially increasing the population’s vulnerability to climate change, specifically flooding

N

Standard 3: Community Health, Safety and Working Conditions

3.1 Would elements of Project construction, operation, or decommissioning pose potential safety risks to local communities?

N

4 In regards to CO2, ‘significant emissions’ corresponds generally to more than 25,000 tons per year (from both direct and indirect

sources). [The Guidance Note on Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation provides additional information on GHG emissions.]

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3.2 Would the Project pose potential risks to community health and safety due to the transport, storage, and use and/or disposal of hazardous or dangerous materials (e.g. explosives, fuel and other chemicals during construction and operation)?

N

3.3 Does the Project involve large-scale infrastructure development (e.g. dams, roads, buildings)? N

3.4 Would failure of structural elements of the Project pose risks to communities? (e.g. collapse of buildings or infrastructure)

N

3.5 Would the proposed Project be susceptible to or lead to increased vulnerability to earthquakes, subsidence, landslides, erosion, flooding or extreme climatic conditions?

N

3.6 Would the Project result in potential increased health risks (e.g. from water-borne or other vector-borne diseases or communicable infections such as HIV/AIDS)?

N

3.7 Does the Project pose potential risks and vulnerabilities related to occupational health and safety due to physical, chemical, biological, and radiological hazards during Project construction, operation, or decommissioning?

N

3.8 Does the Project involve support for employment or livelihoods that may fail to comply with national and international labor standards (i.e. principles and standards of ILO fundamental conventions)?

N

3.9 Does the Project engage security personnel that may pose a potential risk to health and safety of communities and/or individuals (e.g. due to a lack of adequate training or accountability)?

N

Standard 4: Cultural Heritage

4.1 Will the proposed Project result in interventions that would potentially adversely impact sites, structures, or objects with historical, cultural, artistic, traditional or religious values or intangible forms of culture (e.g. knowledge, innovations, practices)? (Note: Projects intended to protect and conserve Cultural Heritage may also have inadvertent adverse impacts)

Y

4.2 Does the Project propose utilizing tangible and/or intangible forms of cultural heritage for commercial or other purposes?

N

Standard 5: Displacement and Resettlement

5.1 Would the Project potentially involve temporary or permanent and full or partial physical displacement? N

5.2 Would the Project possibly result in economic displacement (e.g. loss of assets or access to resources due to land acquisition or access restrictions – even in the absence of physical relocation)?

N

5.3 Is there a risk that the Project would lead to forced evictions?5 N

5.4 Would the proposed Project possibly affect land tenure arrangements and/or community based property rights/customary rights to land, territories and/or resources?

Y

Standard 6: Indigenous Peoples

6.1 Are indigenous peoples present in the Project area (including Project area of influence)? Y

6.2 Is it likely that the Project or portions of the Project will be located on lands and territories claimed by indigenous peoples?

Y

6.3 Would the proposed Project potentially affect the human rights, lands, natural resources, territories, and traditional livelihoods of indigenous peoples (regardless of whether indigenous peoples possess the legal

Y

5 Forced evictions include acts and/or omissions involving the coerced or involuntary displacement of individuals, groups, or communities from homes and/or lands and common property resources that were occupied or depended upon, thus eliminating the ability of an individual, group, or community to reside or work in a particular dwelling, residence, or location without the provision of, and access to, appropriate forms of legal or other protections.

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titles to such areas, whether the Project is located within or outside of the lands and territories inhabited by the affected peoples, or whether the indigenous peoples are recognized as indigenous peoples by the country in question)?

If the answer to the screening question 6.3 is “yes” the potential risk impacts are considered potentially severe and/or critical and the Project would be categorized as either Moderate or High Risk.

6.4 Has there been an absence of culturally appropriate consultations carried out with the objective of achieving FPIC on matters that may affect the rights and interests, lands, resources, territories and traditional livelihoods of the indigenous peoples concerned?

N

6.5 Does the proposed Project involve the utilization and/or commercial development of natural resources on lands and territories claimed by indigenous peoples?

N

6.6 Is there a potential for forced eviction or the whole or partial physical or economic displacement of indigenous peoples, including through access restrictions to lands, territories, and resources?

N

6.7 Would the Project adversely affect the development priorities of indigenous peoples as defined by them? Y

6.8 Would the Project potentially affect the physical and cultural survival of indigenous peoples? Y

6.9 Would the Project potentially affect the Cultural Heritage of indigenous peoples, including through the commercialization or use of their traditional knowledge and practices?

Y

Standard 7: Pollution Prevention and Resource Efficiency

7.1 Would the Project potentially result in the release of pollutants to the environment due to routine or non-routine circumstances with the potential for adverse local, regional, and/or transboundary impacts?

N

7.2 Would the proposed Project potentially result in the generation of waste (both hazardous and non-hazardous)?

N

7.3 Will the proposed Project potentially involve the manufacture, trade, release, and/or use of hazardous chemicals and/or materials? Does the Project propose use of chemicals or materials subject to international bans or phase-outs?

For example, DDT, PCBs and other chemicals listed in international conventions such as the Stockholm Conventions on Persistent Organic Pollutants or the Montreal Protocol

N

7.4 Will the proposed Project involve the application of pesticides that may have a negative effect on the environment or human health?

N

7.5 Does the Project include activities that require significant consumption of raw materials, energy, and/or water?

N