PROPOSED SOUTHERN AGRICULTURAL GROWTH CORRIDOR OF TANZANIA (SAGCOT) INVESTMENT PROJECT PUBLIC NOTICE
RE-DISCLOSURE OF ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL MANAGEMENT
FRAMEWORK (ESMF)
INTRODUCTION The Southern Agricultural Growth Corridor of Tanzania (SAGCOT) initiative is an international public private partnership launched at the World Economic Forum on Africa in May 2010 in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania and in Davos Switzerland in January 2011 as a means to implement Tanzania’s transformational agriculture vision, the Kilimo Kwanza. Its mandate is to mobilize private sector agribusiness investments, and, linked closely with public sector commitments, to achieve rapid and sustainable agriculture growth in southern corridor of Tanzania. SAGCOT is led by Kilimo Kwanza Executive Committee and represents a new, long term commitment from many different organizations to work in partnership and create critical mass of successful and sustainable agriculture development in Tanzania. It is the first of a sequence of phased initiatives to develop Agricultural Growth Corridors in Tanzania.
The SAGCOT initiative is explicitly designed to achieve higher rates of income growth, job creation and poverty reduction through the development of competitive agribusiness value chains across the Southern Corridor. The programme will concentrate investments within the rail and road corridor stretching from Dar es Salaam in the east through to Morogoro, Iringa, Mbeya, and west to Sumbawanga. Over the next 20 years, SAGCOT aims to bring 350,000 hectares of farmland into commercial production for national, regional and international markets to increase annual farming revenues by US$1.2 billion, and lift more than 2 million people (roughly 450,000 farm households) out of poverty. Preparation of an Environmental and Social Management Framework (ESMF) for the proposed SAGCOT Investment Project funded by the World Bank was completed under a consultancy for the Government of Tanzania (GoT) by Environmental Resources Management (ERM) Limited in July 2012 and disclosed on 26th August 2012. The ESMF was developed in tandem with a Strategic Regional Environmental and Social Assessment (SRESA) and Resettlement Policy Framework (RPF) by the same Consultant as one of a set of due diligence instruments required to address and manage environmental and social impacts associated with the proposed SAGCOT Investment Project development activities. Following recent changes in project design made during the pre-appraisal mission of the proposed SAGCOT Investment Project, the ESMF has been revised to reflect certain operational aspects in the application of the document. The changes have necessitated re-disclosure of the revised ESMF document to inform the broader public of the same.
OBJECTIVE OF THE ESMF The objective of the ESMF is to outline the mandatory procedures to be applied to the World Bank-financed SAGCOT Project investments to ensure the effective management of associated environmental and social issues. It seeks to both enhance environmental and social development benefits of the project and mitigate any adverse impacts, in line with GOT and World Bank policies and guidelines on management of environmental and social issues. Since the precise locations and potential impacts of future subprojects are not known, and cannot be identified prior to appraisal, the ESMF provides the basis for the environmental and social preparation needed for the subproject investments to be supported under Component 2. Most of the investments that are being financed by the World Bank are expected to have moderate environmental and social impacts, but some of the investments may have significant impacts and thus the project is Category A for Environmental Assessment.
PROPOSED SAGCOT INVESTMENT PROJECT KEY ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL ISSUES The ESMF has taken into consideration the existing situation on Land Tenure and Administration, Water Resources - availability and use, Environment, Wildlife and Biodiversity, Ecosystem services, Infrastructure (Ports, Roads, Rail, Air Transport, and Power), Agriculture, and Pastoralism. On the socio-economic context the ESMF has included aspects of Population, Ethnicity and Livelihood Capital (human, social, natural, physical and financial capital). Governance will be a major aspect of the proposed SAGCOT Investment Project's success. Two issues stand out: (i) the effectiveness of the existing systems of government administration at all levels, and (ii) the transparency of decisions on land, resource use and other topics of vital interest to rural communities and land users. Perceptions of the transparency of decisions concerning land and land use are possibly even more important than the weaknesses in the administrative system as a factor affecting success of the programme. The sustainability of the proposed SAGCOT Investment Project will rely heavily on turning it from a perceived threat to residents' interests to a process with tangible, monitorable benefits. This will require major improvements in the transparency of the land allocation process, active support for communities when negotiating with possible investors, and a clear process for acquisition of land and water rights that not only provides immediate benefits to local communities but also guarantees future benefit flows from the investment. The proposed SAGCOT Investment Project integrates sustainability factors across its planning and implementation focusing on six pillars (i) balancing agricultural production and expansion with wise water use, (ii) developing land use and land capability across the Corridor with attention to continued ecosystem services, (iii) maintaining and enhancing the important protected areas in the region, (iv) improving soil and water management, (v) incorporating low-greenhouse-gas emission investments and other climate mitigation and adaptation management options whenever possible, and (vi) ensuring investments are undertaken in a manner that minimizes environmental impacts through the application of several environmental assessment tools.
LAND ADMINISTRATION The principle laws governing land tenure and administration in Tanzania are the Land Act (No. 4), 1999 and the Village Land Act (no. 5), 1999. The Land Act confirms the National Land Policy directive that all land in Tanzania is public land vested in the President as trustee on behalf of all citizens. The Land Act is intended to give legislative backing to the fundamentals of the National Land Policy, by classifying and defining tenure rights over land, land administration procedures, rights and incidents of land occupation, granted rights of occupancy, conversion of interests in land, dispositions affecting land, land leases, mortgaging of land, easements and analogous rights, cooccupation and partitioning and settlement of land disputes.
APPROACH TO ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL MANAGEMENT The ESMF will apply to all proposed SAGCOT Investment Project supported investments under the Catalytic Fund and the RPF will establish the resettlement objectives and principles, organizational arrangements and funding mechanisms for any resettlement operation as part of direct World Bank financing. The extent and location of resettlement will only be identified when sub-projects are being assessed.
The SAGCOT’s ESMF document can be accessed at www.pmo.go.tz, www.kilimo.go.tz, and www.sagcot.com. The Permanent Secretary Prime Minister’s Office Dar Es Salaam
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