Environmental feasibility study for Paraguay

Environmental feasibility study for Paraguay

Environmental Feasibility Study for Paraguay

Since the beginning of the 1990s, the EU and Paraguay have been gradually strengthening their ties. The European Union (EU) was very active in Paraguay, specially supporting the Agenda for Change and the Strategic Framework and Action Plan on Human Rights and Democracy. The priorities under an era of climate change threats have shifted and the EU is highly committed now to the New Green Deal to respond to the challenges of climate change and Paraguay´s economy and ecosystems are extremely exposed to the risks of deforestation and climate change impacts.

The EU Delegation (EUD) in Asuncion requested technical assistance to identify strategic areas of support the future EU cooperation with Paraguay in the sector of environment ́protection and fight against climate change. The goal of this proposed assignment is to analyse the specific environmental and climate change challenges in Paraguay and to shape the EU support to the Government in this sector.

The objective of this Inception Report was to present the proposed approach, methodology and action plan of this technical assistance.

The expected results

  • An analysis of the environmental and climate change challenges and opportunities in the sector
  • To provide reliable evidence on the environmental hazards (climate change, deforestation, air pollution, water and land degradation, and biodiversity)
  • To analyze the coherence and pertinence of sectoral policies and legislation
  • Review the existing institutional capacities and resources; to analyze coordination roles and stakeholders leaderships, socio-economic interests
  • To propose areas of support, objectives and expected result indicating alternative modalities of interventions and instruments for the future EU support to the sector in Paraguay in the framework of the Team Europe Initiative.

The anticipated outputs

  • A political economy analysis of the current situation in the environment and climate change sectors, including: i) the main challenges and constraints, ii) the analysis of the main relevant policies and programmes, iii) the institutional set-up, iv) a stakeholders analysis and a mapping of existing environmental projects; types and concentration of their benefits
  • A proposal for areas of support for the future EU cooperation with Paraguay
  • A Preliminary identification (specific objectives, expected results, activities, indicators and overall estimated budget) of an EU programme in one of the proposed areas.

COUNTRY

Paraguay

IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD

2021 · 2022

DONOR · PARTNER

EUD/—

Project’s areas of intervention

Protected waterbodies at Limoy

Mbaracayú National Reserve

How the Obsolete Soviet management systems survive climate change in Kyrgyzstan

How the Obsolete Soviet management systems survive climate change in Kyrgyzstan

Integrated Water Resource Management in Syr Darya

As a highly mountainous country, Kyrgyzstan is well endowed with water resources such as glaciers, lakes, rivers, marshes, and reservoirs. Water resources are abundant and provide Kyrgyzstan with a unique comparative feature for development.

The geographic situation of Kyrgyzstan in the center of the Eurasian continent – distance to main water bodies, high altitude of terrain and proximity to continental deserts – make weather patterns extreme and one of the most vulnerable countries in Central Asia to climate change risks. Additionally, poor infrastructure from soviet times and poor management practices have translated into inefficient water use, resources wastefulness affecting crucial economic sectors such as agriculture, hydropower, as well as drinking water supplies.

The risks of climate change exacerbate the country’s vulnerability to food insecurity, health problems and sustainable development. The population of 6 million is predominately rural and highly scattered, highly vulnerable to climate related events, such as drought, desertification, floods and landslides. Climate change will undeniably exacerbate existing water availability problems such as safe and clean drinking water, sanitation and sewage systems, rural irrigation for agriculture, hydropower, water transboundary rules, posing additional risks to the achievement of national sustainable development priorities. Furthermore, decline in water resources have been identified as one of the most severe climate change risks facing the Kyrgyz Republic, with glacial melting projected to significantly reduce available water resources in the longer-term.

From Nov 2018 to June 2019, OIKO conducted several field missions to Kyrgyzstan to support the Agency for Hydrometeorology, Ministry of Emergency Situations, Ministry of Finance and Dept. of Water in the formulation of the National Integrated Water Resource Management System. The OIKO Team piloted an institutional appraisal of the integrated water resource management sector to identify priorities for the climate resilience actions to be financed under a total amount of 21 million euros EU budget support to the Government for 2020.

COUNTRY

Kyrgyzstan

IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD

2019

DONOR · PARTNER

EU

HydroMet station in Kyrgyzstan

Kurpsai Reservoir in Kyrgyzstan

GHG Emissions in the Forestry Sector in Ethiopia

GHG Emissions in the Forestry Sector in Ethiopia

GHG Emissions in the Forestry Sector in Ethiopia

The Agriculture, Forestry, and Other Land Use (AFOLU) sector is responsible for just under a quarter of anthropogenic GHG emissions mainly from deforestation and agricultural emissions from livestock, soil and nutrient management in Ethiopia. AFOLU plays a central role for food security and sustainable development in Ethiopia.

Anthropogenic land-use activities (e.g., management of croplands, forests, grass- lands, wetlands), and changes in land use/cover (e.g., conversion of forest lands and grasslands to cropland and pasture, forest degradation and biomass burning, afforestation) cause changes superimposed on natural fluxes.

OIKO delivered technical support, training and capacity building to the Government of Ethiopia to reduce GHG emissions in the forestry sectors formulating advice on:

  • the preparation of reforestation
  • forest management
  • forest conservation policies and projects and the related budget estimation

COUNTRY

Ethiopia

IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD

2019

DONOR · PARTNER

EU

Ethiopian mountains

Rural population

Tracking Climate Finance to Monitor Impact on Nature

Tracking Climate Finance to Monitor Impact on Nature

Tracking Climate Finance to Monitor Impact on Nature

Traditionally, Climate Public Expenditure Institutional Reviews (CPEIR) have been the most representative tools available to conduct assessments of public programs with climate change objectives in national strategic documents. OIKO conducted a CPEIR in the Forestry Sector in Jamaica to align EU budget support and provide supplementary robust data and evidence to base climate policy recommendations and future climate spending decisions – both for mitigation and adaptation.

Both, policy decision makers and the citizens need to understand how and how much they are spending (aid and tax revenues) on their national climate change responses. Climate change mainstreaming in budgeting process of different ministerial expenditures is today a prerequisite to comply with the National Determined Contributions to UNFCCC. Specifically, OIKO aided the Planning Institute, the Department of Forestry of Jamaica and the EU Delegation in preparing Climate Investment to help decision-makers to:

  • better understand the resource and gaps required to finance their national response to climate change;
  • monitor and track climate finance flows – whether from domestic or foreign sources;
  • assess the cost effectiveness and impact of existing and potential climate expenditures;
  • prioritization of scarce public resources in order to achieve more climate-compatible national development;
    increase transparency over resource allocation and management.

COUNTRY

Jamaica

IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD

2017

DONOR · PARTNER

EU

Jamaican tody (Todus todus)

Hurricane Ivan path

Hurricane Ivan devastation

Bhutan for Life · The Greatest Conservation Story Never Told

Bhutan for Life · The Greatest Conservation Story Never Told

Bhutan for Life · The Greatest Conservation Story Never Told

Bhutan is facing a threshold. Low economic agriculture diversification is causing risk and vulnerability and youth unemployment. Given the natural scale of conservation policies and areas, while agroforestry practices are growing integrating trees, forage, and the grazing of domesticated animals; there is an increasing demand for land, and human-wildlife conflict is swelling and currently Bhutan faces several challenges to have adequate interventions to help rural residents mitigate it in a responsible and conservation friendly way.

Bhutan is also experiencing increased poaching and the country’s current enforcement capacity is unable to effectively tackle it. Because of Bhutan’s geographical location, Illegal wildlife trade will become a serious concern for wildlife conservation in the coming years.

Bhutan has built a strong alliance with WWF to create Bhutan For Life, a financing mechanism to keep this small, little-known country in the distant Himalayas a conservation treasure.

With the support of the European Union, OIKO worked closely with Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry of Bhutan to critically review the Renewable and Natural Resources (RNR) sector to support sustainable agriculture and sustainable forest management in Bhutan.

OIKO produced an evaluation report highlighting objectives, progress and sustainability results achieved, and proposed an action plan for sustainability and climate readiness during the implementation of the RNR.

COUNTRY

Kingdom of Bhutan

IMPLEMENTATION PERIOD

2011

DONOR · PARTNER

NMWH · GCCA+ · EU

Asian elephant

Asian wild cat