Improvement of Northern Grassland Ecosystems

TECHNICAL ASSISTANCE COMPLETION REPORT Division: AEFN TA NOJNAME: TA AMOUNT APPROVED: TA No. 2156-PRC: Improvement of Northern Grassland $746,000 (JSF) Ecosystems________________________ ________________________________________ REVISED AMOUNT: EXECUTING AGENCIES: AMOUNT UNDISB.: Ministry of Acriculture $59395 FIELD: DATE: APPROV.: SIGNING: CLOSING: May 1995 Dec. 1994 Sept. 1994 ORIG.: Jan. 1997 TA DESCRIPTION

AMOUNT UTILIZED: $686,605 ACTUAL: Auq . 1997

The Peoples Republic of China (PRC) has 400 million hectares (ha) of grasslands, covering about 41 percent of the country's total land area. Almost all grasslands are located in the economically underdeveloped northern and western border regions, which are populated mainly by national minority groups. Over the past several decades, the rate of desertification of grasslands has averaged about 1.3 million ha per annum. In northern PRC, it averages 210,000 ha per annum. This is attributed to indiscriminate conversion of grasslands for crop production, overgrazing by livestock, inappropriate land use policy, and poor pasture management. Rehabilitation efforts are being outpaced by degradation. Because afforestation is not always suitable and there is only a small store of indigenous knowledge in grassland protection, improvement, and management, the Government sought Bank assistance to (i) help carry out experiments and select options that are ecologically, financially, and economically sustainable for extension to herders and farmers, and (ii) transfer new technologies and management advice to rehabilitate degraded grasslands and control their further desertification.

TA OBJECTIVES AND SCOPE The long-term goal of the TA was to improve and stabilize PRC's northern grassland ecosystems. Its immediate objective was to conduct applied research and demonstrate various methods of rehabilitating degraded grasslands and controlling deterioration. For this purpose, pilot experiments to test and demonstrate various techniques and to evaluate their cost-effectiveness were carried out at the fringes of the Horqin Desert in Inner Mongolia Autonomous Region (Keshenketeng Banner) and Liaoning Province (Zhangwu County). The areas selected were deemed to be representative of other grassland ecosystems in northern PRC. Traditional, currently used, and new techniques and management methods were evaluated to determine which are the most appropriate for systematic application over a wider area. Equipment was provided for the technical trials, and a two-week overseas training program was arranged for 16 Government officials. The TA also provided for a review of current policies and regulations and the formulation of reform measures to attain the TA's long-term goal.

The TA was implemented by a team of international consultants in association with domestic consultants. The consultants, who provided a total of 29 person-months of services, had expertise in rangeland agronomy, arid grassland ecology, rangeland management, agricultural economcs, soil science, forage production, farm and pasture management, and sociology.

TA INPUTS EVALUATION The TA correctly identified the basic need to control grassland degradation, and provided clear and comprehensive terms of reference in support of the immediate objective. However, the implementation schedule was tight, the priority accorded to critical examination of Government policies and laws, local regulations, property rights, and the socioeconomy was low and consulting inputs for this purpose were insufficient. The TA focused on the technical trials and largely overlooked, until the final months of TA implementation, the central role that policy and institutional frameworks (including land tenure and broader regulatory arrangements), population pressure, and economic relations play in degradation.

Consulting inputs and the equipment required were delivered as planned, and the performance of the Consultant was satisfactory. However, the two Project Management Offices had begun the technical trials before the commencement of consulting services. The Consultant was thus largely presented with a fait accompli but nevertheless delivered consulting services efficiently in compliance with the contract and the work program, and maintained good relations with MOA. The quality of technical analyses and advisory services was good, and the overseas training program was well organized.

The Bank fielded an adequate number of supervision missions, but these focused narrowly on the execution of

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2 applied research in the two demonstration areas. On the side of the Government, there was insufficient involvement and commitment of senior agency management. MOA was also slow in responding to communications from the Consultant and the Bank.

TA OUTPUTS EVALUATION The Consultant made commendable efforts to meet its terms of reference, and TA outputs were timely and of generally good quality. The technical trials usefully clarified the desirability and cost effectiveness of certain grassland and sand dune rehabilitation techniques over others. Livestock management methods were described and advocated. However, because of overemphasis on technical aspects and inadequate attention to social and economic issues, the draft final report had no comprehensive overview and made no policy recommendations. Only after the submission of the draft final report was the Consultant requested to examine causal factors at different levels, to prioritize issues of national importance affecting grasslands in PRC, and to set the stage for a discussion of the various changes necessary to resolve the issues identified. Because of time constraints, discussion of the need for policy reforms took place only at the last of the three workshops organized during TA implementation.

However, this late guidance by the Bank led to extensive modifications to the draft final report.

The action plan formulated under the TA calls for (i) improving the institutional framework for effective grassland management, (ii) designing sustainable grassland use systems, (iii) strengthening the participation of farmers and herders, (iv) reforming land tenure in grassland areas, (v) improving agricultural service systems, (vi) improving the regulatory framework for sustainable use of grasslands, and (vii) promoting finance for grassland improvement activities. For each area, policy actions and activities were worked out based on the socioeconomic survey and the technical trials carried out during TA implementation TA OVERALL ASSESSMENT AND RATING The TA is rated partially successful. After TA completion, MOA formally indicated to the Bank that the TA had met its original objective. MOA judged that the technical trials had been carried out successfully, although their longterm effects in the two demonstration areas had not yet been assessed. MOA recognized, however, that the social and economic circumstances of land users play a central role in grassland degradation, and regretted that these causative factors had not been thoroughly examined under the TA, MOA advised that the action plan would be reviewed in the ministry.

Although applied research was conducted and various techniques of rehabilitating degraded grasslands and controlling deterioration were demonstrated, it is recognized that such techniques can only provide a degree of protection. There is no evidence so far that the new techniques are being transferred and applied, nor that they are having a lasting impact. Unless progress is made in this area and the social and economic determinants of grassland degradation are taken into account, the long-term goal of the TA will not be met.

MAJOR LESSONS LEARNED Environmental degradation is a complex phenomenon that cannot always be remedied by managerial tools and techniques. Social and economic circumstances contribute to land degradation by putting pressure on land users to manage land in a non-sustainable way.

The design of the TA lacked a change management process incorporating a long-term horizon on the TA's contribution, and links back to MOA and Bank management to redirect the TA. FOLLOW-UP ACTIONS AND RECOMMENDATIONS MOA has assured the Bank that the field activities carried out under the TA will be monitored for at least another year after TA completion and that the results will be reported to the Bank. The Bank should follow-up on MOA's monitoring activities to assess the long-term effectiveness of the new techniques introduced.

After refinements, the action plan formulated could be used by MOA and provincial governments as a road map for further detailing and prioritizing at national, provincial, and local levels. If future loan projects in the PRC include components in the livestock subsector, attention should be directed to the action plan formulated under the TA and the need for policy reform where environmental impacts on grasslands are foreseen.

Designation: Iroject bconomtsi

Prepared by: 0, Serrat

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