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Ecuador: Greening Drylands Initiative: Measures for the recovery and management of degraded soils by implementing measures of reforestation

and integral managing of water resources

P/00090031 (ECU10) PAND Project

FINANCIAL REPORT

December 2015

Project Management Unit

PAND

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Document Information:

Prepared for: United Nations Development Programme UNDP

Ministry of Environment of Ecuador

Name of document: Financial report from Greening Drylands Initiative

Prepared by: Remigio Galárraga Sánchez, Project Coordinator

Reviewed by: Karina Salinas

Climate Change Management Coordinator, Ministry of Environment

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ContentEXECUTIVE SUMMARY ......................................................................................................................................... 4 CO – FINANCING ...................................................................................................................................................... 5 SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT ..................................................................................................... 6 ANNEX ..................................................................................................................................................................... 10

 

TableTable1 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 5 Table2 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 6Table3 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 7 Table4 .......................................................................................................................................................................... 8

GraphicsGraphic 1. Financial Performance 2015 . ................................................................................................................... 6 Graphic 2. Expenditures by component . .............................................................................................. 7

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FINANCIAL REPORT

GREENING DRYLANDS INITIATIVE

EXECUTIVE SUMMARY

Brief description of initiative

The United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification works in countries where drought and/or Desertification has a strong impact, especially in Africa. UNCCD is a Convention created to combat desertification and mitigate the effects of drought by national action programs that incorporate strategies to long term change supported by international cooperation and mutual agreements (UNCCD, 2015).  

The UNCCD and the international community recognize desertification and drought as a serious problem which transcends frontiers between countries and therefore has consequences all over the world. Nowadays these problems have a close relationship with famine and the lack of sustainable development and they have their origins in complex interactions between physical, biological, political, social, cultural and economic facts.   

The Ecuadorian Government interested by the environmental situation of the country, has actively participated in the Convention and is a signatory. The convention received the legislative approval and was ratified and published by the Ecuadorian Government in the legal gazette N°775 on September 6, 1995.  

To ratify this Convention the Ecuador Government has committed to develop a National Program to combat desertification and mitigate drought (PAND) which was the result of a national agreement.  

The National Environmental Authority to combat desertification, land degradation and drought is the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador (MAE), with coordination through the Climate Change Undersecretary (Ministerial Agreement 045), which also acts as the National Focal Point to the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (MAE, 2015).  

The Korean Forest Service participates globally to deal with climate change, making continuous efforts to reduce the gap between developed countries and developing countries through cooperative rehabilitation projects worldwide (KFS, 2015).  

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Ecuador is a country with high diversity of ecosystems and agriculture landscapes facing important problems in terms of soil degradation, desertification and droughts. Soil degradation is caused mainly by deforestation, loss of top fertile soil, forest fires, intensive agriculture and inappropriate river basin management.  

The Nabon county is located in the south east part of the Azuay province, on the León river basin, on the Jubones watershed. It is 69 kilometers away from Cuenca; Azuay Province, connected by the Pan-American Highway.  

In this area, soils are not deep and do not have much water retention capacity due to its high permeability. Inappropriate land practices have caused high levels of erosion, accentuated by growing crops on slopes. The level of degradation and desertification in the region will probably increase in the future due to deforestation and intensive agriculture and persistent drought periods.  

This project supports the implementation of structural and non-structural measures by soil recuperation, eco-agriculture, sustainable water management as well as forestation on about 40 hectares, as well as capacity building and education.  

CO – FINANCING:   Table 1. Synoptic Summary of GDI

TITLE: Greening Drylands Initiative: Measures for the recovery and management of degraded soils by implementing measures of reforestation and integral managing of water resources (GDI)

Atlas award ID: 00080262

At the moment of approval (USD)

At the moment of ending (USD)

ID Project in UNDP:

00090031 IA and EA have:

87.000.00

43.970.00*

Country: Ecuador Government: - -

Region: Latin American

Other: PNUD -

-

Area of Interest:

Climate Change, Environment

Co-financing: -

-

Implementing Agency:

United Nations Development Program

Total expenditure of initiative: 37,970.00

37,962.98

Implementing partner:

Ministry of Environment

Document signature of project (start date) : 09/03/2015

Other partners associated:

Closing date: Proposed:

05/05/2015 Real: 30/06/2016

*First contribution for 2015 of Korean Forest Services (view annex 1)

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SUMMARY OF FINANCIAL MANAGEMENT

The GDI started its activities in July 2015 and it had five specific objectives: a) Rehabilitate degraded areas to productive resources with livelihood support; b) increase awareness and built capacity of local communities on the value of reforestation and sustainable forest management as a means to improve livelihoods; c) Develop and consolidate irrigation methods for afforestation that can be scaled up to similar areas in the country and in the region, d) Mainstreaming the project outcomes as policy recommendations for the National Action Program and the National Poverty Reduction Strategy; and (e) build capacity of stakeholder institutions to enhance responsible environmental management, according to the following expenditures record:

EXPENDITURES GREENING DRYLANDS INTIATIVE 2015 Year / Summary  2015

Total Project Budget as in Contribution Agreement  87,000.00

Annual Work Plan   37,970.00

Total Expenditures 2015  37,962.98

Table No.2

Graphic 1. Financial Performance 2015.

The expenditure by this component in 2015, are described in the table below:

Total Project Budget as in MOU Annual Work Plan Total Expenditures

0

10000

20000

30000

40000

50000

60000

70000

80000

90000

100000

87000

37970 37962.98

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Table No. 3

 

Graphic 2. Expenditures by components 2015.  

 

 

 

 

 

 

13%

38%46%

3%

C1: Applies agriculture of conservation and cattle intensive sys-tem 20 Ha in the sub areas that present soils degradation.C2: Rehabilitate degraded areas as productive resources and recover degraded areas across the reforestation and afforesta-tion 40 Ha.C4: Increase awareness and build capacity of local communities on the value of afforestation and Sustainable Forest Management (SFM) as a mean to improve livelihoods, reinforce the communal and institutional capacities by means of the knowledge.C5: Promote the sustainability of the ecosystems with Agroecology and Increase genetic diversity For climate resilience 22 Ha.

DESCRIPTION EXPEDINTURES

$5,072.16

$14,284.10

$17,356.72

$1,250.00

TOTAL $37,962.98

C1:  Applies  agriculture  of  conservation  and  cattle intensive  system 20 Ha  in  the  sub areas  that present soils degradation.

C2:  Rehabilitate  degraded  areas  as  productive resources  and  recover  degraded  areas  across  the reforestation and afforestation 40 Ha.

C4:  Increase  awareness  and  build  capacity  of  local communities  on  the  value  of  afforestation  and Sustainable  Forest Management  (SFM)  as  a mean  to improve  livelihoods,  reinforce  the  communal  and institutional capacities by means of the knowledge.

C5: Promote the sustainability of the ecosystems with Agroecology and Increase genetic diversity For climate resilience 22 Ha.

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The main objective of the project in the first period (July – December 2015) of implementation is to rehabilitate degraded soils through reforestation and afforestation in 40 hectares in the canton Nabón, Azuay province. For this reason, during the first month of implementation soil analysis was done within the 4 sub areas (parishes) of the Nabón County.   

When the initiative was socialized to the community, it was considered to expand the intervention area to 72.44 hectares, therefore, the project acquired 25002 native plants for reforestation and provided food for volunteers who will help the communities in their reforestation activities in the designated areas.   

Moreover, to improve the reforestation process, 1.466 packs of fertilizers were bought and excavation machinery was contracted to build small reservoirs previous reforestation process.   

 

Table No. 4.  

Narrative Summary: In April 2015, the initiative financed by the Korean Forest Services (KFS) was presented to the Directive Committee of the project in order to be included in the GEF project PAND, given their similarities. Both proposals promote activities relating to reforestation and agroecology in the Nabon County and are directly related to mitigate the effects of desertification in this County. Therefore, the committee subscribed the approval that allowed the articulation of this initiative within the framework of the project PAND, as activity 4 named “Medidas de lucha contra la desertificación” (Measures to combat desertification). The Annual Work Plan was amended appending this activity with the budget of the first contribution from KFS. In July, the field technician was hired, who is responsible for implementing the field measures until June 2016. There is a remaining amount of $6,000.00 from the first disbursement that has been transferred to 2016 through a budget revision in order to cover the administrative and operational activities of this initiative until the second disbursement is allocated.

Outcome 4:    (Medidas de lucha contra la desertificación)

Total  Project Budget as in PRODOC

Annual  Work Plan (as in Atlas) 87,000.00

Expenditures  37,962.98

Total  Fund Balance 49,037.02

Delivery Rate  43.64%

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In the Memorandum of Understanding of this initiative, signed in March 2015 between UNDP and UNCCD, it was required to have a narrative report four months after the agreement got into force; due to external difficulties, the activities started once the technician was hired, for this reason the report is being submitted in December 2015 (view annex 2). According to the initial timeline, the beginning of the reforestation process in 4 sub areas of the Nabon County was scheduled to start November 14th 2015, but due to climate effects of changes in seasonality in the region caused by a prolonged drought the reforestation will probably begin in December 2015. Conclusions: To conclude, the initiative implemented in the second semester of 2015 completed the planned activities in reforestation and agroecology at a rate of 99.98%. During this time, the beneficiaries increased awareness and built capacity through training in degraded areas, soil management and forestry. Likewise, they have signed conservation agreements, put in place ponds and implemented reforestation activities that will benefit up to 250 people in the parishes of Cochapata, El Progreso, La Nieves and Nabón. It is worth mentioning that, although the project PAND is finishing its activities in December 2015, there will be a second disbursement from KFS, which will allow to continue with the planned activities of eco-agriculture, ecological farms, sowing of native trees and fruit trees in ecological orchards during the first semester of 2016 (see annex 3). UNDP will continue to provide administrative and financial support under its own regulations and procedures. The technical support will be provided through a focal point in the Ministry of Environment of Ecuador, which was asked for by an official letter N°15S-00654 from UNDP to the Climate Change Adaptation Direction (view annex 4).

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ANNEX Annex 1

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Annex 2

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Annex 3

Annex 4