Session Report:

Reducing Pollution: Agricultural and Livestock Nutrient Reduction

Amy Evans (Session Coordinator)

Presentations:

• Livestock Waste Management in East Asia Project, Weiguo Zhou, World Bank
• Romania Nutrient Reduction Project, Gheorge Constantin, Project Coordinator

Topics Discussed:

For the East Asia Livestock Waste Management Project, Dr. Zhou provided brief background information and overview of the project objectives, components, and implementation results for the first year. The project addresses manure which is the source of 48% of the phosphorus and nitrogen surplus in E. Asia, and focuses on pig farming as the largest and fastest growing segment of the source. The project was initiated in 2006 and is funded at US$24 million, of which $7m is GEF, governments’ co-financing $7m, with the balance being provided by the farmer-beneficiaries, who contribute from 25% to 75% of the costs depending on the country and the size of the farm operation. Dr. Zhou has also prepared an IW:Learn experience note (attached).

The East Asia project uses an integrated approach with technical demonstration, policy development focusing on replication strategy, awareness raising, regional coordination and dissemination to reduce nutrient pollution of the South China Sea from pigs in China, Thailand and Viet Nam. Technologies employed are not innovative (field application in the crop cycle, open and closed lagoons, composting, biogas digesters), but are used in combination for improved results. The innovations of the project include integrating application of the technologies with policy and regulatory strengthening, effective M&E, and provision of project services to other countries via FAO/Bangkok (good international partner cooperation). The technologies offered take into account geographic, institutional and socio-economic characteristics of farming in each country; they are considered affordable and demand has been high. An interesting and significant development is the strong demand for biogas digesters to produce fuel that is used by smaller farmers directly or converted to electricity by large operations and sold to the power grid. The replication strategy uses the Carbon Finance Clean Development Mechanism (CDM) for methane recovery to replicate and scale up biogas digesters for processing piggery waste.

Dr. Gheorge Constantin presented the results of the Romania Nutrient Reduction Project, a recently completed Black Sea Investment Fund project with a total budget of US$10.2m. Dr. Constantin pointed out the importance of EU membership as a crucial policy driver, and noted that the project has been very successful, with beneficiary participation and co-financing exceeding the planned targets. The project was broader in scope that the E. Asia project, focusing rural waste more broadly (nutrient reduction, communal waste management, environmental awareness), though concentrated in a few districts in Romania and directed to reduction of nutrients to the Danube and Black Sea. The main investments went to communal manure storage facilities for passive composting and related collection and operation equipment; on-farm/household waste sorting bins (include for manure and liquor); and population behavior change through public information campaigns, activities targeted at kids, training and technical assistance, support for legal reforms, small grants, etc. Results show that the communal manure storage facilities are being regularly used after project completion, in part because the communities see the business opportunities in providing waste collection services, organically farmed produce, and reduced costs by using compost instead of purchased fertilizers. Attention was also given to inputs to policy reform, consistent with adoption of EU acquis for animal waste management.

Again, the technologies were not at all innovative, but the project has been highly successful in effecting behavior change by showing communities how they can benefit, working well with both local level and national government agencies, and strongly emphasizing stakeholder engagement. As a direct result of this pilot project, Romania is now in the process of preparing a US$70m project to be financed by the World Bank to finance the up-scaling of this pilot nationwide. The pilot findings and follow-on project will help to continue constructive engagement of environment, agriculture and local authorities, and will build capacity in Romania for implementation of nutrient reduction programs totaling 2 billion euro to be financed by the EU. In short, this project is a poster child for GEF regional seas investment funds! IW:Learn should invite Dr. Constantin to prepare an IW:Learn experience note on this project.

Future learning needs

Several suggestions were offered:

• Concentrate efforts on raising awareness among children, for example in So. Africa to illustrate that not all food has to come from large-scale farms, to reawaken an appreciation of how food is grown, and that it can come from small plots too. This clearly has socio-economic dimensions. The Romania project did a good job of reaching out to kids in its behavior change activities.

• A specific GEF learning event (or series of events/materials) could be offered, geared to explaining the importance of nutrient reduction, giving examples of good practice especially regarding how to replicate and expand successful projects to other countries and regions. This effort should also incorporate the climate change benefits (methane reduction).

• Focus on building capacity within agricultural ministries to understand and manage environmental consequences of their sector, and within environmental agencies to address agricultural source pollution and develop methods to engage successfully with agriculture ministry colleagues.

Conclusions/key messages/Q&A

• Innovate in how waste management is done (integrated fashion with policy strengthening, familiar and cost effective technologies, strong M&E, dissemination and replication), rather than seeking innovative technologies. Technological innovation is not always available or appropriate; applying what works can be more effective!

• Farmers and rural communities respond quickly and enthusiastically to technologies and approaches that decrease their costs and increase their profits (not surprising!). Examples from these two projects include fuel from methane capture (biogas digesters), market advantage from certification of use of environment-friendly methods (both projects) for export and domestic markets for products, use of compost as fertilizer instead of purchased additives (Romania). Romania sees a bright future as a major provider of organic produce for EU markets, applying methods piloted under this project.

• For the Romanian project, beneficiary communities readily provided cash co-funding for manure collection equipment and waste bins as they saw these investments as a way to solve multiple community waste management problems, not only nutrient reduction.

• Ensure that technologies and improved practices go hand-in-hand with better enforcement of policies and the regulatory regime. This was emphasized in both projects to good effect.

• How was replication designed to deal with a huge problem (animal waste in East Asia)? An explicit replication strategy is being designed during project implementation, drawing on lessons learned, and monitoring during implementation measures on-farm reductions, which will be used by the participating countries in their national programs for farm waste management.

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