Contacts
In Washington: Herbert Boh (202) 473 3548 hboh@worldbank.org In Conakry: Tabara Barry Sakho (224) 41-50-61 41-27-70 tbarry@worldbank.org WASHINGTON, June 22, 2006 – The Board of Executive Directors of the World Bank today approved a project which aims at better involving local communities in the sustainable management of land to expand productivity, sustain employment opportunities, expand income generation and yet conserve the land. The Community-Based Land Management Project will be financed over the next five years by a US$7 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) which was endorsed by the GEF Chief Executive Officer on May 8, 2006. Land degradation has played a major role in Guinea’s poor socio-economic performance. Guinea’s Poverty Reduction Strategy Paper (PRSP) acknowledges that the severe decline in the production potential of land and deficiencies in the framework governing private sector development – access to land and secure land tenure, and access to credit, among others – impede the development of the rural sector. Beyond the negative impacts on livelihoods, declining land productivity is also threatening the natural environment, with much wider impact, given Guinea’s status as a key watershed for many of the major West African rivers, including the Niger, the Senegal and the Gambia rivers. The Community-Based Land Management Project will focus on addressing the decline in the production potential of land, and will collaborate with other complementary initiatives, such as the multi-donor supported Second Phase National Rural Infrastructure Project and the Village Communities Support Program (PACV) and the USAID-supported private sector development initiatives, to address the other constraints. “The project emphasizes the development of replicable participatory mechanisms for building the capacity of local stakeholders to recognize land degradation causes and effects and apply sustainable land management practices in their activities as well as an institutional mechanism to exchange implementation experiences amongst different actors,” said Dirk Nicolaas Prevoo, the World Bank’s Task Team Leader for the project. Past growth in the Guinean economy has been driven by agriculture on which 65 per cent of rural dwellers in Guinea depend for employment. However, growth in agriculture has not come from increased productivity but through increased surface under cultivation and decreased fallow periods in certain areas where population growth has fuelled pressures on land, primarily along the main transportation corridors to neighboring Senegal, Mali and Côte d’Ivoire. “The overall objective of the project is to promote rational management of Guinea’s coastal biodiversity for both conservation and sustainable development ends in selected priority areas, with a particular emphasis on assisting communities in and around these priority areas to plan, implement and maintain environmentally sustainable and socially inclusive alternative livelihoods options,” explained Prevoo. In Guinea, land degradation is exacerbated by weak institutional capacity and lack of knowledge regarding sound environmental management in general and, in particular, on how certain human activities, such as artisanal mining, deforestation and inadequately adapted agricultural practices, impact on fragile ecosystems. The project will be implemented in synergy with the ongoing second phase of the Village Communities Support Project (PACV) which focuses on participatory community-based approaches to provide basic social infrastructure investments. The PACV has tremendously improved the access of communities to basic social services, including health, education, and potable water, with the construction of 263 elementary schools, 155 health centers and dispensaries, and 167 water holes. It has also established 46 communal forests and rehabilitated and constructed rural roads. The Global Environment Facility (GEF) is a mechanism for providing new and additional grant and concessional funding to meet the agreed incremental costs of measures to achieve agreed global environmental benefits in the six focal areas: climate change, biodiversity, international waters, ozone, land degradation, and persistent organic pollutants. GEF also supports the work of the global agreements to combat desertification and eliminate persistent organic pollutants. The World Bank Group is one of GEF’s implementing agencies and supports countries in preparing GEF co-financed projects and supervises their implementation. It plays the primary role in ensuring the development and management of investment projects. The Bank draws upon its investment experience in eligible countries to promote investment opportunities and to mobilize private sector, bilateral, multilateral, and other government and non-government sector resources that are consistent with GEF objectives and national sustainable development strategies. Since 1991, the World Bank Group has committed $1.972 billion in GEF resources and $3.037 billion in Bank group co-financing for GEF projects in 80 countries. In addition to GEF and Bank resources, it has mobilized additional co-financing of $6.952 billion from other donors. ### For more information on the World Bank’s work in sub-Saharan Africa visit www.worldbank.org/afr For further information on Bank’s GEF program, visit www.worldbank.org/gef For further information on GEF, visit www.theGEFweb.org For more information on the World Bank’s work in Guinea visit www.worldbank.org/guinea For more information about this project visit http://web.worldbank.org/external/projects/main?pagePK=64283627&piPK=73230&theSitePK=40941&menuPK=228424&Projectid=P081297 |
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