Estrategia Nacional REDD+ Autoridades Presidente de la Nación Cristina Fernández de Kirchner Jefe de Gabinete de Ministros Aníbal Fernández Secretario de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable Homero Máximo Bibiloni Subsecretario de Promoción del Desarrollo Sustentable Ricardo Eusebio Rodríguez Subsecretario de Planificación y Política Ambiental Sergio La Rocca Director de Cambio Climático Nazareno Castillo Marín Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Readiness Preparation Proposal (R-PP) Country Submitting the Proposal: Argentina Date submitted (or revised): 14th June The World Bank does not guarantee the accuracy of the data included in the Readiness Preparation Proposals (R-PPs) submitted by REDD Country Participants and accepts no responsibility whatsoever for any consequence of their use. The boundaries, colors, denominations, and other information shown on any map in the R-PPs do not imply on the part of the World Bank any judgment on the legal status of any territory or the endorsement or acceptance of such boundaries R-PP Table of Contents General Information ............................................................................... 2 1. Contact Information ........................................................................... 4 2. R-PP Development Team ...................................................................... 5 3. Executive Summary ............................................................................ 6 Component 1: Organize and Consult ........................................................... 8 1a. National Readiness Management Arrangements ......................................... 8 1b. Stakeholder Consultation and Participation ............................................. 14 Component 2: Prepare the REDD Strategy ................................................... 29 2a. Assessment of Land Use, Forest Policy and Governance ............................. 29 2b. REDD Strategy Options ...................................................................... 39 2c. REDD Implementation Framework ........................................................ 46 2d. Social and Environmental Impacts ........................................................ 52 Component 3: Develop a Reference Scenario ............................................... 57 Component 4: Design a Monitoring System ................................................... 63 4a. Emissions and Removals ..................................................................... 63 4b. Other Benefits and Impacts ................................................................ 71 5. Schedule and Budget .......................................................................... 75 6. Design a Program Monitoring and Evaluation Framework .............................. 84 Annex. ............................................................................................... 86 2 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 SPANISH ACRONYMS LIST 2CN Second National Communication to the UNFCCC AACREA Agriculture Regional Agriculture Consortiums CAN National Advisory Commission to Combat Desertification CCGC Climate Change Government Committee CN National Constitution COFEMA Federal Council of Environment COFEPLAT Federal Council of Territorial Planning CPI Indigenous Participation Council GEF-Chaco Project Sustainable Forest Management in the Transboundary Chaco Americano Ecosystem INAI National Institute of Indigenous Affairs INTA National Institute on Agriculture Technology JM Chief Minister Office (Jefatura de Gabinete de Ministros) LADA Land Degradation Assessment in Drylands LGA General Environmental Law MAGyP Ministry of Agriculture, Livestock and Fisheries MRE Ministry of International Affairs MSEP Minimum Standard of Environment Protection NIGG National Inventory of Greenhouse Gases ONPIA National Organization of Indigenous People of Argentina OTBN Natural Forest Land Planning PAN National Action Programme to Combat Desertification (NAP) PBNB Native Forests and Biodiversity Project RAC REDD Advisory Committee RIU REDD implementation Unit RTRS Round Table of Responsible Soy Associations SAyDS Secretariat of sustainable development and environment SIP Permanent Inventory System TCN Third National Communication to the UNFCCC UMSEF Forest Evaluation System Management Unit 3 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 General Information 1. Contact Information Organization Secretaría de Ambiente y Desarrollo Sustentable (SAyDS) Address San Martín 451. Ciudad de Buenos Aires Telephone 5411-4348-8200 Fax 5411-4348-8300 Web www.ambiente.gov.ar REDD Focal Leandro Fernández Point e-mail [email protected] Telephone (5411)-43488329 4 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 2. R-PP Development Team Name Organization Leandro Fernandez SAyDS Jorge Menendez Forest Director Nazareno Castillo Directorate of Climate Change Julieta Bono Forest Directorate Esteban Guida Natural Forest and Biodiversity Project (PBNB) Magali Taurian Natural Forest and Biodiversity Project (PBNB) Enrique Wabo Forest Directorate Gabriela Parmuchi Forest Directorate Eduardo Manghi Forest Directorate Facundo Bertolami Forest Directorate Eugenia Magnasco Clean Development Mechanism Office Gabriel Loguercio CIEFAP Ignacio Gasparri LIEY Tucuman National University Jorge Adamoli Buenos Aires University Daniela Petrillo Climate Change Directorate Vanina Mirasson Climate Change Directorate Gabriel Blanco Climate Change Directorate Joaquin Etorena Directorate of Soil Conservation and Combat Against Desertification Octavio Perez Pardo Directorate of Soil Conservation and Combat Against Desertification Vanesa D‘ Elia Ministry of Economy Jorge Fernández Busy Federal Planning Ministry Vanina Baraldini Directorate of Indigenous People Angela Nina Jaramillo Directorate of Indigenous People 5 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 Executive Summary The country has faced in recent decades an increasing process of deforestation and forest degradation. Only in the last decade, more than 2.5 million hectares of native forests have been deforested at a rate of 250,000 hectares per year. Facing this situation the National Government has decided to set actions to reduced deforestation, inter alia the National Congress approved Law 26.331 of Minimum Standards for the Environmental Protection of the Native Forests at the end of 2007, the operational rules under the National Decree 91 and the establishment of a pilot system program - the Experimental Program of Management and Conservation of Native Forests- in 2009. These initiatives had the direct participation of more than thirty environmental and social civil organizations and support of 1.5 million signatures of people from all over the country, demonstrating the high level of social consensus in regards to the program. The law established a mandatory provincial forest land planning and financial resources investment in forest protection and management. Among others important aspects of the law is the participatory nature of the process for land use planning of the Natural Forests (OTBN, in Spanish); the moratorium on deforestation until each province implements its OTBN; the obligation to implement evaluations of the environmental impact and public audiences before authorizing deforestation plans, the ban on open air burning of the forest materials which result from deforestation, the explicit recognition of the rights of indigenous communities and small, rural producers bound to the forests and the creation of a National Fund with the objective of compensating land owners that conserve forest and the environmental services that provides. The fund is composed of 0.3% of the national budget and 2% of tax imposed on export agriculture commodities, reaching a significant financial resource investment. The fund provides financing to strengthen technical and control capacities of provincial governments and to compensate land owners that conserve their forest. Also the fund could be used for sustainable development of productive activities of forest dwellers. According to the monitoring carried out by SAyDS in a deforestation hotspot area , the rate of deforestation fell by 60% on year after the sanction of the National Forest Law. In 2009 Argentine Government invested about 27 millions dollars in direct incentives for forest conservation and management projects throughout the experimental program. This program actually has 12 million hectares under this incentives program. In 2010, the investment in this program will increase to reach almost 100 million dollars. The implementation of the Forest Law and the experimental program signified an unprecedented advance in environmental matters for Argentina, but also a significant achievement in the participation of civil society and the involvement of provincial governments in an environmental protection standard. However, the full implementation of Law faces several difficulties that should be addressed. Despite the tremendous progress made so far, there are still aspects to be work out to sustain and improves this progress. One of key issues to be adress is the institutional capacities of provincial governments, that has to be transform and improved at first. An control system with advanced technologies has to be set in order to address all challenges for full implementation of forest program in large territory. An important technical support is needed to sustain current efforts and maximize results at the same time it creates a framework for the implementation of REDD. The financial resources available should be supported in the creation and perfection of delivery mechanisms that are cost effective and lead to the establishment of ambitious targets for reducing forest emissions. Due to the diversity of forest types and socio-economic conditions of the communities that inhabit them, and diversity as to the causes of deforestation in each of the ecoregions, it is necessary to develop eco-regional strategies to address all issues of REDD strategy for the specific conditions of each ecoregion. In this sense, more speficic data and economic analysis is needed to improve the performance the ongoing program and to create other complementary iniciatives, as necesary. Inter alia, the structure of land tenure systems and mechanisms to conflict resolutions must be improved in some cases and as well as a benefit-sharing scheme which has to be fair to the local communities. A National accounting and reporting system has 6 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 to be created, including the environmental and social benefits. Mechanisms to improve the performance the incentives based program also is an important element of the strategy. Besides constituting the implementation of a domestic incentive-based policy to tackle deforestation, these initiatives offers a framework to preparing a strategy to prepare for REDD, to set a road map to reduce deforestation and forest degradation and increase forest removals, and in order to establish quantitative targets on scientific and empirical bases. Of particular interest to note that the country is currently under design a permanent plot forest inventory system and has a system for monitoring forest cover which has been operated since 1998. The country also is developing a climate change strategy, through an intergovernmental committee and is preparing the third National Communications to UNFCCC. The REDD strategy will be lose articulate with these process. The promotion of civil and scientific organization in this area has several years of experience and also the participation of the indigenous people at political and institutional has a good background, including National Parks Administration, the directorate for indigenous people en SAyDS, and the Participation Council of Indigenous people in the Social Development Ministry. In this regard, management of national environmental governance has established a management paradigm that articulates a harmonious relationship of environment and production, including the creation of employment with decent quality and social inclusion as a priority bases its actions. 7 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 Component 1: Organize and Consult 1a. National Readiness Management Arrangements 1. Argentina’s institutional framework to deal with climate change has been significantly strengthened since the Secretariat of Environment and Sustainable Development (SAyDS) was appointed the focal point for the UNFCCC in 2002 and the subsequent creation of the Unit of Climate Change (UCC) in order to implement the climate change related activities of the SAyDS. In 2007, the UCC was converted into a directorate (DCC), further reflecting the importance given to the climate change agenda by the Government of Argentina (GOA). In 2006 the SAyDS moved from health minister to the Chief Minister Office and its involvement in the coordination of inter-sectoral policies including climate change started to increase considerably. One the main result of this process was the creation of the Government Committee on Climate Change (GCCC), an inter- sectoral group in charge of the climate change policy for the country. This Committee will develop a climate change National Mitigation and Adaptation Strategy to develop an integrated National Climate Change Policies in the 2009-2012 periods. Based on a series of initial consultations, the GCCC has developed REDD readiness management proposal which is being described in the following paragraphs. 2. The structure of the National Readiness Management Arrangements will be constituted by an Steering Committee (SC) as the highest authority, a Readiness Implementation Unit (RIU), a REDD Advisory Committee (RAC) and an Administrative Entity (AE). Steering Committee (SC): The SC will belong to Government Committee on Climate Change, which has been established on 22th December of 2009 by the sign of all participants government agencies and will act as SC of the R-PP implementation. It consists of representatives from relevant Ministries and State Secretariats and one representative of the Federal Council of Environment (COFEMA). The President of the GCCC is the Secretary of Environment and Sustainable Development and is the government in charge of development the climate change strategy and low carbon development plans in the 2010-2012 period. The SC will provide political and strategic support for the readiness implementation and promote national ownership of the REDD strategy ensuring the progressive integration of REDD policies into National Development Policies. The SC will guarantee coherence and synergies of the REDD strategy with sector-based programs of each Ministry and the economic growth and poverty reduction government plans. 3. Readiness Implementation Unit: The RIU will be responsible of the implementation according to the established chronogram and assigned budget and will consist of five professional staff (Coordinators), one General Coordinator and one administrative assistant. Each Coordinator will be in charge of the implementation of specific component and activities of the readiness process. The RIU Coordinators staff will come from different sectors and Ministries ensuring the representation of relevant interests and national government agencies, as detailed below. The Climate Change Directorate (DCC) will be in charge of the general operative coordination of the RIU. The General Coordinator of RIU will coordinate and supervise all official and day-to-day activities and communications and will be the main liaison of entire readiness management structure. 8 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 4. The RIU Coordinators staff will have some fulltime positions in the DCC and some staff from different relevant national government agencies functioning in a decentralized manner. Some of this staffs will be hired and some will be seconded staff from other organizations, as appropriate. The SAyDS of Chief Minister Office is the National organization taking the lead but this will not prevent that other stakeholder being participating in the R-PP implementation. Especially the SAyDS will promote the active participation of other national agencies in the RIU. Is expected that the MAGyP will play an important role in this sense. The RIU Coordinators will fulfill the following roles and functions:  Coordinator General. The role will be coordinate all coordinators and supervise the implementation of all component, including take the lead in the 1a component implementation, ensuring the synergies and interrelation between all activities. Also will in charge of the monitoring and evaluation component of the readiness process.  Inter-sectoral Institutional Coordinator (IIC). In charge of activities included in the component 2b and 2c, and will assume some specific functions as general subcoordinator. This coordinator will be in charge of lead and supervise all inter-sectoral activities. Also will be the responsible for institutional coordination between national government and provinces and the institutional strengthening activities.  Economy and Drivers Coordinator (EDC). In charge of component 2a  Land Use Coordinator (LUC). In charge of component 3 and 4.  Training, Outreach and Consultation Coordinator (TOCC). In charge of activities included in the component 2b and training activities in other components.  Social and Environmental Strategy Coordinator (SESAC). In charge of activities included in the component 2d. 6. REDD Advisory Committee (RAC): The RAC will support and advice the RIU in technical, social and environmental issues during the R-PP implementation and will express the stakeholders‘ views in a transparent and coherent manner. The RAC will elaborate reports that will be considered by the RIU. It will provide scientific and technical information and will provide feedback from broader consultations process to the RIU. The RAC will consist of representatives of scientific and technical institutions, NGOs, civil society, trade unions, Indigenous People organizations and the private sector. Under the RAC, two main working groups will be formed 1) the scientific and technical working group and the 2) civil society working group. This group could create several sub- groups as necessary. The RAC will meet and report to the RIU every four months, before the SC meetings. Meetings will be coordinated by the General Coordinator of the RIU or by another RIU coordinator, as appropriate. 7. Administrative Entity: The AE will act as the financial management agent of the readiness implementation, assisted by the RIU on different tasks along the readiness process. With respect to the Bank financed elements of the R-PP, the AE will carry out all procurement and contracting of external consultants serving the RIU in accordance with the Bank procedures. 8. The Chief Minister Office (JGM) will play an active role in the readiness implementation being the high level political decision making authority. 9 Argentina REDD - Readiness Plan Proposal. June 2010 9. The following diagram summarizes the management readiness structure: 10. READINESS MANAGEMENT ARRAGEMENTS Chief Minister Office (JGM) Ministries SC MRE Steering Committee Agriculture Science & Tech COFEMA Labor REDD Advisory Committee Federal Planning (RAC) Defense Education Production RIU Readiness Implementation Unit Economy Coordinator General (CG) Social Development TOCC AE Administrative Entity SESAC EDC ICC LUC References: IIC: Intersectoral Institutional Coordinator, TOCC: Training, Outreach and Consultations Coordinator; SESAC: Environmental and Social Strategy Coordinator; EDC: EDC Economic and drivers Coordinator; LUC Land Use Coordinator, MRE: External Affairs Minister; COFEMA: Federal Environment Council; JGM, Chief Minister Office 10