Madagascar: Promoting climate resilience in the rice sector (UNEP)  (MDG/MIE/Agri/2010/1, US$4,504,920)

Having considered the comments and recommendations of the Projects and Programme Review Committee, the Adaptation Fund Board decided to:

(a) Not approve the project document, as supplemented by the clarification response provided by the United Nations Environment  Programme (UNEP) to the request made by the technical review;

(b) Request that UNEP reformulate the proposal taking into account the following issues:

(i) With relation to informal agreements with partners, the scale and extent of reforestation activities should be clarified. A more holistic approach is necessary with the management of land upland;

(ii) Given that the project has been designed before community consultations took place, the proponent should clarify how communities and farmers will be involved in the sustainability of the project as related to the scale-up strategy;

(iii) The proponent should provide a budget at the output level;

(iv) The nature of involvement and participatory management should be discussed further, and vague or general activities should be further specified;

(v) The argument provided for the reforestation component is weak and simple reforestation cannot guarantee a reduction in siltation, when not complimented by community management practices; other, and arguably more effective, measures such as agro-forestry have not been considered. Further, the proposed intervention does not consider the human-induced drivers of deforestation and degradation of areas in which increased vegetative cover is proposed. The proponent should further clarify and/or restructure this set of activities considering the underlying assumption 

that was made; and

(vi) The proposal should make clearer the link between climate change and siltation, thereby linking this component to vulnerability rather than as a response to anthropogenic stressors; and

(c) Request UNEP to transmit the observations referred to in item (b) to the Government of Madagascar, on the understanding that a revised project document might be submitted at a later date.