Senegal_Food Security and Natural Resources Management_PIEE_042516_Clean.pdf

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 1

Senegal Economic Growth Food Security and Natural Resource Management

IEE FACESHEET

PROGRAMMATIC INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION

1 Mission will monitor and resolve deferrals for Building Infrastructure and Ag Research & Innovation and Extension (incl. biotechnology), with an amended IEE or Environmental Assessment, as appropriate.

Activity/Project Title: USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management IEE

Solicitation #:

Contract/Award Number (if known): Program No.: AA-685-012

Geographic Location : Senegal, West Africa

Originating Bureau: Africa Bureau(AFR)

Supplemental IEE: Yes No

Amendment: Yes No

Programmatic IEE: Yes No

DCN and date of Original document:

DCN and ECD link(s) of Amendment(s):

Amendment No.:

Funding Amount: $69,000,000 Life of Project Amount: $69,000,000

Implementation Start/End: FY16-FY20

Prepared By: Stella Siegel, Michael Minkoff, Ashley Fox of the Cadmus Group, Inc.

Date Submitted: September 7, 2015

Revised submission: December 22, 2015

Final submission: February 12, 2016

Expiration Date: 30, September 2020 Reporting due dates (if any)[exact dates] or frequency:

yearly

Environmental Media and/or Human Health Potentially Impacted (check all that apply):

None Air Water Land Biodiversity Human Health Other

Recommended Threshold Determination (check all that apply):

Negative Determination with conditions

Categorical Exclusion

Positive Determination

Deferral1

Exemption

USG Domestic NEPA action

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 2

SUMMARY

Program/Project Description and Scope of IEE

The USAID/Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management program supports Country Development and Cooperation Strategy’s (CDCS) Development Objective (DO) 1: Increased inclusive economic growth. The program’s DO 1 aims to increase the agriculture sector’s contribution to economic growth through an inclusive, private sector-led value chain approach.

Recommended Determinations. The following table summarizes the determinations recommended by this IEE by intervention category. For each category, a link is provided to the entailed activity descriptions, analysis of potential environmental impacts, and activity-by-activity determinations and conditions within section 3 of the IEE.

Intervention Category Categorical Exclusion(s)

Negative Determination(s)

Positive Determination(s)

Deferral of Threshold Decision

Link to full analysis

A. Improving Agricultural Policies X X Click here

B. Strengthening agricultural institutions, increasing the capacity of agricultural producers to adapt to

X Click here

Additional Elements

Conditions EMMP ESF/ERR WQAP Pesticides Other_________

Climate Change:

GCC/Adaption GCC/Mitigation Climate Change Vulnerability Analysis (included)

Adaptation/Mitigation Measures:

Other Relevant Environmental Compliance Documentation:

• USAID/Senegal PERSUAP (2016-2020)

• USAID/West Africa PERSUAP http://gemini.info.usaid.gov/egat/envcomp/repository/pdf/42966.pdf

• PERSUAP Covering CORAF/WECARD coordinated Feed the Future (FTF) Activities implemented by member National Agricultural Research Systems (NARS) in West Africa

• USAID/ Senegal Health IEE (2016-2020)

• USAID/COMFISH IEE (expires September 2016)

• USAID/Senegal WASH IEE (2016-2020) http://gemini.info.usaid.gov/egat/envcomp/repository/pdf/42966.pdf

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 3 climate change, and promotion of ICT applications and knowledge management including building climate change resilience into agricultural productivity informational systems.

C. Business Strengthening Activities X X Click here

D. Facilitation, Promotion, and/or Provision of Financing Instruments and Access to Credit

X X Click here

E. Building Productive Infrastructure X X Click here

F. Inputs to Agricultural Production X Click here

G. Post-Harvest and Food Processing Activities X Click here

H. Support for small-scale livestock and/or poultry management

X X Click here

I. Interventions to Improve Nutrition X X Click here

J. Support to Fisheries and Fishery Management

X X Click here

K. Agricultural Research and Innovation (including analytical testing services) and Agricultural Extension

X X Click here

L. . Monitoring and Evaluation X Click here

General Implementation & Monitoring Requirements. In addition to the specific conditions enumerated in Section 3, the negative determinations recommended in this IEE are contingent on full implementation of a set of general monitoring and implementation requirements specified in Section 4 of the IEE.

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 4

1. These require, in summary: (1) A/COR and Environmental Officers must ensure that IPs implementing FTF portfolio projects that are subject to conditions of this IEE must have the necessary resources and capacity to address mitigation and monitoring requirements of this IEE and its Amendments. Relevant staff must be trained to address the requirements.

(2)) IP Briefings on Environmental Compliance Responsibilities; (3) Development of environmental mitigation and monitoring plans (EMMPs) that respond to all applicable activities characterized as “Negative Determination with Conditions” in this IEE; (4) Integration and implementation of EMMPs in work plans and budgets; (5) Integration of compliance responsibilities in prime and sub-contracts and grant agreements; (6) Assurance of sub-grantee and sub-contractor capacity and compliance; (7) Economic Growth Office Team environmental compliance monitoring; (8) 22 CFR 216 documentation coverage for new or modified activities; and (9) compliance with host country requirements.

Additionally, it is essential that AOR/CORs and IPs screen all project-specific activities against the intervention categories established in this IEE. For any project-specific activities not sufficiently covered by the analysis in this IEE, the AOR/COR and USAID/Senegal MEO should be consulted to determine whether an IEE-amendment, or project-specific IEE, is required.

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 6

PROGRAMMATIC INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL

EXAMINATION

PROGRAM/ACTIVITY DATA:

Program/Activity Number: AA-685-012

Program/Activity Title: USAID/Senegal Economic Growth Food Security and Natural Resource Management Program

Sub-activities: Feed the Future, Global Climate Change, Water Sanitation and Hygiene, Nutrition, Power Africa, Trade Africa, Biodiversity.

Country/Region: Senegal/West Africa

USG Foreign Assistance Framework Functional Objective

Foreign Assistance Objective: Economic Growth

Program Area: A11 Water

Program Area: A15 Trade and Investment

Program Area: A11 Water

Program Area: A21 Environment

CDCS Development Objective 1: Increased Inclusive Economic Growth

Intermediate Results

IR 1: Inclusive agriculture sector growth;

IR 2: Increased private sector trade;

IR 3: Improved management of natural resources; and IR 4: Improved nutritional status, especially among women and children (with the Health DO).

PAD Elements

1.1 Agricultural productivity

1.2 Rural infrastructure

1.3 Access to finance

2.1 Access to markets

2.2 Policy environment

2.3 Institutional and HR capacity

3.1 Conservation of biodiverse areas

3.2 Adaptation to climate change

4.1 Essential nutrition actions

4.2. Integrating nutrition into the agriculture value chains

4.3 Water management (agricultural Water covered by WASH-PAD IEE)

Period covered: 2015-2019 Life of Project Amount: $69,000,000

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 7

TABLE OF CONTENTS

INITIAL ENVIRONMENTAL EXAMINATION

SUMMARY

APPROVAL OF ENVIRONMENTAL ACTION RECOMMENDED: USAID/SENEGAL FOOD SECURITY

AND NATURAL RESOURCE MANAGEMENT IEE

PROGRAM/ACTIVITY DATA:

TABLE OF CONTENTS

1.0 BACKGROUND AND ACTIVITY/PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1.1 Purpose and Scope of IEE

1.2 Background (Context and Justification)

1.3 Summary of Activities (and Implementation Mechanisms)

1.4 Intervention Categories for Purposes of Environmental Review (if needed)

2.0 BASELINE INFORMATION AND APPLICABLE HOST COUNTRY REQUIREMENTS

2.2.1 National Environmental Policies and Regulations

2.2.3 Government Institutions

3.0 POTENTIAL ENVIRONMENTAL IMPACTS AND RECOMMENDED DETERMINATIONS,

INCLUDING CONDITIONS

3.1 Intervention Category A: Improving agricultural policies

3.2 Intervention Category B: Strengthening agricultural institutions and Promotion of ICT applications and knowledge management

3.3 Intervention Category C: Business strengthening activities

3.4 Intervention Category D: Facilitation, Promotion and/or Provision of Financing Instruments and Access to credit

3.5 Intervention Category E: Building productive infrastructure

3.6 Intervention Category F: Inputs to agricultural production: land, water, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, equipment

3.7 Intervention Category G: Post-harvest and food processing activities

3.8 Intervention Category H: Support for small-scale livestock and/or poultry management

3.9 Intervention Category I: Interventions to Improve Nutrition

3.10 Intervention Category J: Support to Fisheries and Fishery Management

3.11 Intervention Category K: Agricultural research and innovation (including analytical testing services) and agricultural extension

3.12 Intervention Category L: Monitoring and Evaluation

4.0 GENERAL IMPLEMENTATION AND MONITORING REQUIREMENTS

4.2 General Project Implementation and Monitoring Requirements

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 8

1.0 BACKGROUND AND ACTIVITY/PROGRAM DESCRIPTION

1.1 Purpose and Scope of IEE

The purpose of this document, in accordance with Title 22, Code of Federal Regulations, Part 216 (22 CFR 216), is to provide a preliminary review of the reasonably foreseeable effects on the environment of the anticipated activities under USAID/Senegal Economic Growth Office’s Food Security and Natural Resource Management program, and on this basis, to recommend determinations and, as appropriate, attendant conditions, for these activities. Upon final approval of this IEE, these recommended determinations are affirmed as 22 CFR 216 Threshold Decisions and Categorical Exclusions, and conditions become mandatory elements of project/program implementation.

This IEE is a critical element of a mandatory environmental review and compliance process meant to achieve environmentally sound activity design and implementation.

Implemented by the Economic Growth Office (EGO), the Food Security and Natural Resource Management program contributes to USAID/Senegal’s goal to increase the agriculture sector’s (writ large, including farming, livestock and fisheries) contribution to economic growth through an inclusive, private sector-led value chain approach. Specifically, USAID/Food Security and Natural Resource Management’s primary goal is to establish formal agriculture production and market systems in three key potential high return on investment value chains: rice, maize and millet. The underlying development goals are to: 1) Increase productivity in staple cereal crops, 2) increase private sector investment in agriculture, 3) strengthen agriculture policy environment, and 4) increase capacity of Senegalese organizations to implement Food Security and Natural Resource Management activities, 5) improve nutritional status of the Senegalese population, especially of women and children, 6) achieve professionalization of the agriculture sector; 7) reduce the vulnerability of people and systems to climate change, and increase their adaptive capacity, 8) support robustness and sustainability of fishery management in the face of overfishing and dwindling resources, compounded by a changing climate;

and 9) boost the competitiveness of Senegal’s agriculture sector to increase trade and attract increased investment.

Activities currently being implemented and analyzed in existing IEEs shall be governed by those applicable conditions; upon expiration of the existing IEEs, the conditions of this IEE shall supersede the previous IEEs. Ongoing activities operating under an approved EMMP may continue operating under that EMMP.

1.2 Background (Context and Justification)

Senegal is one of the most stable countries in West Africa. It recently underwent its second peaceful democratic transition in 2012 with the election of President Macky Sall.

Back in 2011, Senegal prepared the Economic and Social Policy Document (DPES), validated to serve as a frame of reference for the action conducted by the State and its development partners during the 2011- 2015 period. However, in view of the recent changes that occurred, Senegal is confronted with new challenges at the political, institutional, economic and social levels. The recent statistical data on the state of poverty, vulnerability and development highlighted the urgent need to develop a competitive economy that provides opportunities for growth. To that end, the revised DPES, which became the National Economic and Social Development Strategy, 2013-2017, was prepared according to a participatory process, both at the central and decentralized level. Regional actors were involved in development of this approach and the sectoral constraints were reviewed with all technical ministries.

Emphasis was laid on wealth creation, the strengthening of governance, the development of strategic

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 9 sectors with significant impact on the improvement of the populations’ well-being and the social demand. Cross-cutting issues such as employment, gender, social protection and sustainable development were also addressed.2

The first iteration of USAID/Senegal Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) built on Senegal’s DPES, sectoral plans and the lessons learned from their implementation. The DPES set a target of 6.1% of GDP growth to achieve the Millennium Development Goals (MDG). Major obstacles to achieve this target include a limited role of the private sector in creating wealth and economic opportunities, low productivity and lack of diversification in agriculture, difficulty for small and medium-sized enterprises (SME) to access finance, and low overall investment.

In addition, the Agro-Sylvo-Pastoral Orientation Law (LOASP) embodies Senegal’s aspirations to make agriculture (including fisheries and livestock) an engine of growth as well as needed reforms to transform the sector. While Senegal has long enacted the LOASP, momentum of reform implementation has been rather slow as illustrated by land tenure reform as an example. The dual and conflicting nature of land management systems (traditional versus state-controlled), the lack of registered property rights and security to land titles, women’s limited access to productive land, scarce written land information have constrained fair land allocation within communities and private investment. These constraints also limit farmers’ incentives for investments necessary to improve efficiency or scale up, address climate change impacts on productivity.

With DO1, USAID complements the first component of the DPES by supporting the creation of wealth and economic opportunities by facilitating access to finance for SMEs, improving the productivity of agriculture, facilitating access to quality inputs such as seeds and training, and market outlets. DO1 also supports a greater role for the private sector by improving the business climate for improved country competitiveness.3DO1 directly supports the Government of Senegal’s Agro-Sylvo-Pastoral Orientation Law (LOASP), Accelerated Growth Strategy (AGS), the Country Investment Plan for Agriculture (CIP) under the Poverty Reduction Strategy, two U.S. Presidential Initiatives (FTF and Global Climate Change) as well as two Congressional Directives (Biodiversity and Water, Sanitation and Hygiene). Activities planned under DO1 are in line with the GOS’s plan to reduce poverty through private sector-led, inclusive economic growth. “Inclusive economic growth,” means rapid and sustainable growth that will create and expand economic opportunities to the broadest members of society, inclusive of women. It focuses on ensuring all members of society can contribute to and benefit from such growth. DO1 will direct investments primarily toward the agricultural sector, natural resources management, increased trade, and (in concert with DO2) improved nutritional status, especially of women and children.4

1.2 Political, Economic and Policy Context

Senegal aspires to become an emerging economy by 2035. However, under the DPES it has not been able to achieve the significant growth in the last decade that many other sub-Saharan Africa countries enjoyed. For example, Senegal has experienced a growth rate of only about 3.3% over the last decade compared to 6.6% for all of sub-Saharan Africa. According to the World Bank, the main drivers of economic growth are currently construction and the services sector, even though the majority of Senegalese work in the agricultural sector.

Senegal continues to recover from a five year period (2007 – 2012) marked by both internal and external shocks. Following the 2006 – 2007 sharp decline in agricultural production, the increase in international

2 http://www.imf.org/external/pubs/ft/scr/2013/cr13194.pdf 3 https://www.usaid.gov/sites/default/files/documents/1860/SenegalCDCS.pdf 4 ibid

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 10 food and oil prices in 2007 – 2008 slowed the Senegalese economy, increased inflation, and led to a deterioration of Senegal’s fiscal foothold. Weak fiscal policy, untargeted and high levels of subsidizing of electricity, fuel and food in addition to uncompetitive production cost of electricity, contributed to an accumulation of domestic arrears to the private sector. A slowdown of the country’s economic activity continued with the onset of the global financial crisis in 2008 as well as the continued electricity shortages. Annual GDP growth decreased nearly one percent from 2006 to 2010, compared to the previous five years. It wasn’t until 2010 to 2011 that Senegal finally began to see improvements in growth and economic activity, with real GDP growth estimated to have grown four percent on average over that timeframe.

With the development of the Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE, 2015-2035), launched in 2014, the country’s 20-year blueprint for national efforts to achieve reforms and economic emergence , which integrates the continuation of the Country Investment Plan (CIP) under the Comprehensive African Agricultural Development Program (CAADP), the GOS has high hopes for expanded coverage of the whole country, gradual suppression of food dependence, export development, job creation and additional income generation leading to increased economic growth over the next few years. One of the keys of the PSE is to increase the productivity in both the public and private sectors, with focus on the agricultural sector through the PRACAS Program which dedicates major investments in the sector to 4 priority value chains (rice, onions, off-season fruits and vegetables, groundnuts).

Senegal has endorsed the Economic Community of West African States (ECOWAS) approach to mainstreaming climate-smart elements in the CAADP. As a result, it is in the process of reformulating the CIP in order to factor resiliency in agricultural investments as an approach to climate-smart agriculture.

In early 2000, the GOS affirmed that agriculture has the potential to become a major contributor to stability and economic growth in Senegal. Indeed, it is the main economic activity in rural areas and plays a leading role in improving feeding populations and strengthening food security. Food security crops in Senegal include fish, millet, rice and forest products, while the principal cash crops are fish, livestock, maize, rice, cotton, groundnuts and horticulture. The GOS has prioritized all the above crops placing an even higher priority on rice and maize. The Government has been taking important strides to increase production of all cereals but particularly rice and maize, a priority supported by USAID/Senegal’s Feed the Future (FTF) program. In addition, agriculture has supported 54 percent of the employed population (estimated full-time equivalent) over the period 2000 – 2006, on average, and comprised 15 percent of GDP. In 2014, Senegal steadfastly embarked in the long-standing reform of the policy, legal, and regulatory framework that guides land governance in an effort to unlock and secure agricultural investment.

Senegal is vulnerable to external and internal economic and environmental shocks, including climatic variability, financial crises, erratic energy supply, and food price fluctuations. Senegal’s agricultural sector is confronted with additional risks, including fluctuating and upward trending global food commodity prices, and production uncertainties due in part to weather patterns. The recurring incidence of extreme weather, such as irregular rainfall and potential drought, increases both farming business and food security risks in a country where 70% of agriculture is rain fed. Major issues related to agriculture sector growth are not new to Senegal.

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 11

State of the Environment and Natural Resource Management

Biological diversity Senegal has a large protected area network with six national parks, six bird reserves, four Ramsar sites and 213 forest reserves.5 In addition, rural populations retain many sites as places of worship. The total land area under protection in Senegal is 51,617 km2 out of the total land area of 192,530 km2 (25 percent). In addition, Senegal has 1,736 km2 of Marine Protected Areas (MPAs) out of a total marine area of 158,450 km2 (1 percent). 6 Per Target 11 of the Convention on Biological Diversity (to which Senegal is signatory), by 2020, at least 17 percent of terrestrial and inland water areas and 10 percent of coastal and marine areas should be under protection.7 Senegal is meeting the terrestrial protection goal, but not the marine protection goal. Many of the protected areas are threatened by poor management, poaching, and overexploitation.

According to the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) Red List, one species in Senegal is extinct in the wild, nine are critically endangered, 26 are endangered, 71 are vulnerable, and 54 are near threatened. This includes both terrestrial and marine species. The damma gazelle and giraffe were extinct, but were then reintroduced.8 The total number of plant species listed (14) is less than one percent of total plant diversity known in the country. However, the number of animal species listed

(147) is about 27 percent of all terrestrial and marine animal life known in Senegal.

Forests Senegal Forest ecosystems are found in three phytogeographical areas following a distribution from North to South (Sahelian domain, Sudanese domain and the Guinean domain). The main vegetation types occupy an area of 679,450 hectares of which 44 percent is savanna, 27 percent crop areas, 18 percent steppe, four percent forests and one percent mangroves. A 2015 estimate cites that Senegal loses about 40,000 ha of forest each year.9 Forest cover is being steadily reduced by bush fires, conversion for agriculture, removal for charcoal, overgrazing, and pruning wood, the effects of which exacerbate climate change, and as a result, lead to longer periods of drought.

Resources for agriculture Agriculture, including both terrestrial crops and wild fisheries, is the driving force of the economy in Senegal, as almost 80 percent of the population relies on these sectors as their main source of employment and income. Rain-fed cereal crops occupy most of the cultivated land during the growing season. They are mainly intended for self-consumption, and are very sensitive to climate shocks. The main terrestrial cash crops are peanuts and cotton.10 Agronomic potential has been seriously altered by population dynamics, the expansion and practice of extensive farming with slash burning, drought, bush fires, and the disappearance of plant cover.11 Terrestrial agriculture – its use of fertilizers and diversion

5 Forests reserves are designated to preserve fragile soils, flora and fauna (raised or diversified), and energy reserves (wood).

6 (Protected Planet n.d.)

7 (Convention on Biological Diversity n.d.)

8 (ECODIT 2008)

9 (Seneweb 2015) 10 (Toure, et al. 2010) 11 (African Development Bank 2010)

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 12 of environmental water flows – poses serious threats to marine biodiversity and the health of coastal habitats such as the productive deltas and estuaries.

Fisheries resources Wild or capture fisheries play a particularly important economic role in Senegal. Wild fishery products make up 12.3 percent of export earnings and comprise 1.3 percent of gross domestic product (GDP), not including fish marketing, artisanal and industrial processing, inland capture, and other post-harvest activities. Fishing provides direct and indirect employment to around 600,000 people. Fisheries are also extremely important to food security, as annual per capita fish consumption is 26 kg, placing Senegal among Africa’s biggest consumers of fish. However, many wild fisheries are harvested unsustainably and the Sardinella stocks, a priority species for the population, is at risk of collapse due to the lack of management both in Senegal and the West African region, threatening food security, livelihoods, the national economy and biodiversity.

Mineral resources The Senegalese territory offers great varieties of mineral substances including the noble metals (gold and platinum), the base metals (iron, copper, chromium, nickel), industrial minerals (industrial phosphates, limestone, salts, barytine, etc.) heavy minerals (zircon and titanium), decorative stones, and building materials. 12 The Kédougou region in particular has important deposits of gold, iron ore, marble, uranium, copper and chromium. Senegal also has a wealth of diverse, unexploited mineral deposits. A new mining code adopted in 2003 and the significant investment promotion driven by the Senegalese government and its development partners are resulting in diversification of the mining sector.

Water resources Senegal has significant potential for water resources, both for surface water and groundwater. The availability of water resources is estimated at around 4,747 m3/capita/year. The main surface water resources are the Senegal River basin and the catchment areas of the Gambia, Casamance, and Kayanga rivers. There are also significant groundwater resources spread over the entire territory and through different types of aquifers. The deep groundwater aquifers in sand and sandstone of the Maastrichtian layer cover four-fifths of the Senegalese territory. The main threats to water quantity and quality are climate change, poor management at the landscape scale (and resulting overexploitation), and pollution from agriculture and industrial and domestic waste.

Climate Change Challenges The inherent uncertainty around the impacts of climate change in Senegal calls for activities that will balance the near-term benefits of building resilience to current climate variability, while laying the ground work for increased resilience to the longer-term, potentially transformative, impacts associated with climate change.

To ensure the development that Senegal has experienced over the last few decades (e.g., real GDP growth is estimated to have grown four percent on average from 2010 to 2011) is not undone, there is a need to address climate variability and change. This will require an increased understanding of the differentiated impacts and adaptive options available, as well as ensuring this understanding is adequately integrated into all climate-sensitive sectors, particularly agriculture, natural resources and water resources, and widely disseminated throughout Senegal.

To better understand climate vulnerability in Senegal, USAID/Senegal commissioned a Climate Change Vulnerability Assessment & Options Analysis (CCVA&OA) through the African and Latin American Resilience to Climate Change (ARCC) project. While this assessment only examined one geographic area

12 (Senegal International Mining Conference and Exhibition 2014)

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 13 of the country (the agro-pastoralist areas in the east), it provided a number of insights and lessons concerning vulnerability to climate change. One of the most important of these findings, based on rough climate scenarios is that for major crops grown in Senegal, the impact of the worst case projected climatic changes would be significantly damageable at all stages of plant development. More importantly, the research findings confirmed that, as elsewhere in Africa, livestock is a game-changer in that livestock production is better adapted to the projected changes in climate than crop agriculture is.

The study reported increased importance of capital in livestock holdings (both cattle and small ruminants).

Continued spatial and temporal climatic uncertainty at multiple timescales (seasons, years, decades) will affect people differently owing to a range of context-specific factors, such as age, gender, livelihood, ethnicity, and access to capital, that affect both sensitivity and adaptive capacity for addressing climate change. Therefore, interventions to support adaptation to climate change must take these differences into account. The assessment also found a strong desire for increased climate information and services for decision making, as well as increased capacity at the local level to understand the impacts of climate change. This assessment provides the basis on which to develop climate change programs within Senegal.

Based on the General Circulation Models and IPCC reports, Senegal’s climate future is likely to resemble the harsh climate of the 70s through 90s with the marked difference that higher temperatures will aggravate the impact of decreased rainfall. Other aspects of precipitation, such as the onset and length of the rainy season and the distribution of dry spells within the season—which are critical for climate-sensitive sectors such as agriculture—are even more difficult to predict with confidence. Further complicating matters, Senegal is a geographically diverse country that covers a number of agro-ecological zones, ranging from the arid North to the more sub-tropical climate in the south and bordered by the Atlantic Ocean on the west. While projecting an overall drying of the country, different models project different levels of drying and strong spatial variations of rainfall. It is thus impossible to develop a single climate change scenario that represents the entire suite of likely changes throughout Senegal.

Climate change activities will have to forge long-term and multi-stakeholder partnerships. In order to build trust , these activities need to build off the local skills and cultural norms, provide everyone with a role to play in linking climate information to action, while also considering the limited resources available to most rural communities, agricultural research institutions, meteorological services, extension services and producers. Low literacy rates, underfunded extension services, and remote distances between constituents make Senegal a difficult environment in which to disseminate information. Senegal has a high population growth rate of 2.5 percent. This population expansion will place increasing stress on limited natural resources. Analysis of crop statistics from the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations suggests that increases in crop yields have not kept pace with population growth.

Senegalese Macroeconomic Priorities The new Plan Senegal Emergent (PSE) notes “The weakness of GDP growth is explained in part by the insufficient level of productivity, economic infrastructure, difficult access to factors of production (water, quality inputs), the vulnerability of agriculture to climatic shocks, the weak structure of agro-pastoral value chains, problems with access to land and appropriate finance, and governance issues.” One of the three pillars of this plan aims at “a significant improvement in the well-being of the population, a more sustained struggle against social inequality, while preserving the resource base and supporting the emergence of viable regions.”

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 14

Productivity is the efficiency at which food production takes place. Many interrelated factors impact productivity, the most basic being lack of access to key agriculture inputs (secure land, water, credit, fertilizers, pesticides, seeds, equipment, climate information services, etc.), and lack of availability and use or uptake of proven techniques for increased agricultural production. Low agricultural productivity is in part due to challenges in the input sector as well as other factors that cause private sector uncertainty. In addition, the finite nature of land and water resources will push the need for productivity to new limits during the next decade, where population growth and urbanization is outpacing gains in food system functionality.

The PSE strategy recognizes that the agricultural sector provides the engine for growth and provides opportunities for investments to increase food security, increase competitiveness and reduce barriers to stimulate private investment in agriculture, increasing incomes for smallholders/firms and generating employment. Sustainable use of productive resources is one the pillar of the Program to Accelerate Agricultural Growth (PRACAS) that is the agricultural component of the PSE. Likewise, launched in November 2014, the New Alliance for Food Security and Nutrition (NASAN), Senegal’s New Alliance Cooperation Framework explicitly recognizes that only an increased level of private investments could enable a significant growth in the agriculture sector

With the development of the PSE, the GOS aims to gradually decrease dependence on food imports, develop export sectors, increase job creation and income generating activities to increase economic growth over the next few years. One of the key goals of the PSE is to increase the productivity in both the public and private sectors, with a focus on the agricultural sector through the PRACAS, Program which dedicates major investments to 4 priority value chains (rice, onions, off-season fruits and vegetables, groundnuts).

1.3. Summary of Activities (and Implementation Mechanisms)

At the time of this IEE development USAID/Senegal has a number of key agriculture, nutrition, and climate-change focused activities that are covered under this IEE.

Feed the Future Senegal Naatal Mbay Cereal Value Chain Activity Naatal Mbay is the primary FTF activity under USAID/Senegal’s EG portfolio, a significant scaling up of predecessor Economic Growth Project (PCE). Naatal Mbay will seek to accelerate progress toward USAID/Senegal’s DO 1: Increased Inclusive Economic Growth. Naatal Mbay will achieve this through increasing efficiencies across specific agricultural value chains, boosting private sector engagement, and strengthening Senegal’s agricultural policy environment.

Naatal Mbay is working towards accelerating and significantly scaling-up progress for achieving specific, measurable results essential to attaining USAID/Senegal’s DO1. Naatal Mbay activities aim to increase the resilience of Senegalese livelihoods by increasing efficiencies across targetted agricultural value chains (rice, maize, millet), increasing private sector engagement, and strengthening Senegal’s agricultural policy environment.

The program focus on achieving Inclusive Agricultural Sector Growth will contribute to Increased Private Sector Trade, Improved Management of Natural Resources, as well as Improved Nutritional Status Especially of Women and Children through three project Intermediate Results. Specifically, the program is seeking to address the following Intermediate Results (IRs):

IR 1: Agricultural Productivity Improved

Sub-IR 1.1: Agricultural Input and Production Systems Strengthened Sub-IR 1.2: Post-harvest Systems Strengthened

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 15

IR 2: Agricultural Markets Improved

Sub-IR 2.1: Market Access and Linkages to Smallholders Improved Sub-IR 2.2: Private Sector Investments Increased Sub-IR 2.3: Expanded Access to Finance and Use of Financial Tools Improved

IR 3: Agricultural Policy Environment Strengthened

Sub-IR 3.1: Government Policy Formation, Analysis and Implementation Improved

Nutrition-led Agricultural Development Program in Senegal (Yaajeende) USAID/Senegal’s YAAJEENDE project seeks to address Senegal’s food security challenges by working with rural agricultural producers in undertaking nutrition-led agricultural products. Among the outcomes of YAAJENDE’s programs will be improved agricultural and wild food products specifically promoted and produced to address targeted nutritional deficiencies.

YAAJENDE will utilize a holistic, integrated approach, working across the value chain, engaging with agribusiness entrepreneurs, microfinance institutions and other entities that provide financing for agriculture projects, input and/or technology suppliers, farm associations and cooperatives, local policy-makers, and consumers.

YAAJENDE will seek to improve the food security and nutrition of 1,000,000 individuals targeting 60 communities spanning four regions of Senegal. The team will develop a professional network of Community Based Service Providers (CBSPs) who will provide agricultural extension support services and provide improved inputs (e.g., seeds, fertilizers) and nutritional products to project recipients, in addition to other institutions necessary for behavior change towards entrenched suitable nutrition habits, the Community Nutrition Volunteers (CNVs) and Debbo Galle or household leading women’s groups.

Strengthening Partnerships, Results, and Innovations in Nutrition Globally (SPRING) – Scaling Up Nutrition-Led Agriculture in Senegal Senegal aims to reduce poverty and hunger through investments in the rice, maize, and millet value chains, fisheries, nutrition, policy, and human and institutional capacity development. Community based solution providers support local private sector to facilitate market linkages, access to information and services

• Small scale technologies employed to scale up gardening activities

• Focus on women’s asset building, to sustain access to: land, livestock enterprise, credit and insurance

• Support small and medium scale enterprises for nutrition, e.g. food fortification –

• Promotion, SBCC and social marketing activities for use and sale of bio-fortified and nutritious horticulture crops, and low cost fortification of enriched meal

• Trainings on topics related to nutrition, training of mothers’ group in local food fortification and processing/transformation, e.g. preparation of locally enriched porridge, food conservations techniques.

• Integrate SBCC to scale up essential nutrition actions and uptake of new livelihood and agriculture practices

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 16

Collaborative Management for a Sustainable Fisheries Future COMFISH COMFISH in Senegal is a five-year project that began in 2011. The project goals are to promote sustainable fisheries co-management and to support the government of Senegal’s efforts to achieve reform of its fisheries sector as delineated in the Fisheries and Aquaculture Sector Policy Letter of 2008.

The overarching purpose of COMFISH is to develop and replicate new models for sustainable fisheries that assist the sub-region in achieving sustainable management of its artisanal fisheries sector and enhance the resilience of the fisher community and fishing industry to climate change. The goal is to support the Government of Senegal’s efforts to achieve reform of its fisheries sector by putting in place and strengthening many of the enabling conditions necessary for improved governance and demonstrating effective tools and approaches for ecosystem-based collaborative management of its marine fisheries. The program will help reverse the trend in Senegal of increased fishing effort and capacity, and overexploitation of fish stocks in the face of increased climate variability and change, with adverse effects on economic growth and food security. COMFISH activities are conducted under LWA Associate Award No. 685-A-00-11-00059-00 IEE that expires in 2016. All future USAID/Senegal activities under DO1, including those supporting fisheries and fishery management activities (addressed by this IEE in section 3.10) but excluding WASH activities (covered by the WASH IEE) will be conducted under this IEE. However, as stated in Section 4 of this document, if any IP activities are planned that would be outside the scope of this IEE, an amendment to this IEE addressing these activities shall be prepared for USAID review and approval. No such new activities shall be undertaken prior to formal approval of this amendment. For further detail please see Section 4 of this IEE.

1.4 Intervention Categories for Purposes of Environmental Review For purposes of environmental review, this IEE utilizes the following activity (intervention) categories:

A. Improving Agricultural Policies B. Strengthening agricultural institutions, increasing the capacity of agricultural producers to adapt to climate change, and promotion of ICT applications and knowledge management including building climate change resilience into agricultural productivity informational systems. Business Strengthening Activities

C. Facilitation, Promotion, and/or Provision of Financing Instruments and Access to Credit D. Building Productive Infrastructure E. Inputs to Agricultural Production F. Post-Harvest and Food Processing Activities G. Support for small-scale livestock and/or poultry management H. Interventions to Improve Nutrition I. Support to Fisheries and Fishery Management J. Agricultural Research and Innovation (including analytical testing services) and Agricultural

Extension K. Monitoring and Evaluation

Each intervention category has a number of entailed activities; these will be listed, and, where not self-explanatory, explained in Section 3 of the IEE.

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 17

2.0 BASELINE INFORMATION AND APPLICABLE HOST COUNTRY

REQUIREMENTS

This section provides environmental baseline information and review of Senegal’s environmental and other relevant sector regulations and institutions.

2.1 Locations Affected: Environmental Profile

Geography Senegal is the western-most country in Africa, with 2,684 km of coastline along the Atlantic Ocean. Senegal is bordered by Mauritania to the North, Mali to the East, and Guinea and Guinea- Bissau to the south and southeast. The Gambia is completely enclosed by Senegal. Senegal’s total area is 196,722 km2 (a little smaller than South Dakota). Senegal mainly consists of low, rolling plains but rises to foothills in the southeast (Kedougou). 13

Demographics Senegal’s population growth rate is 2.45 percent.

Dakar is the capital city, and also the largest city, located on the Cap-Vert peninsula with a population of 3.52 million.14 Together with its peri-urban neighborhoods of Pikine, Guediawaye and Rufisque Bargny, Dakar is home to almost 50 percent of the urban population. Dakar experiences a population growth of about four percent, and is home to over 60 percent of the population below the age of 25, two-thirds of the country’s workforce, and more than 80 percent of infrastructure and services. Dakar is a fast-growing city as the main economic hub of Senegal, coupled with high population growth and high migration rates.15

The majority ethnic group in Senegal is the Wolof, at 43.3 percent, followed by Pular at 23.8 percent, Serer at 14.7 percent, and various others (Jola, Mandinka, Soninke, European and Lebanese, other) comprising the rest of the population. French is the official language, but Wolof is more widely spoken.

Pulaar, Serer, Jola and Mandinka are also spoken in Senegal. Ninety-four percent of the population is Muslim, adhering to one of the four main Sufi brotherhoods, and five percent of the population is Christian (mainly Roman Catholic). Only one percent follow indigenous beliefs. 16

Climate Senegal’s climate is conditioned by the tropical latitude of the country and by the seasonal migration of the Inter-Tropical Convergence Zone (ITCZ)—the front, of low pressure at which hot, dry continental air meets moist oceanic air and produces heavy rainfall. The prevailing winds are also characterized by their

13 (CIA 2015)

14 (CIA 2015)

15 (Toure, et al. 2010) 16 Ibid

Figure 1: Map of Senegal

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 18 origin: the dry winds that originate in the continental interior and the moist maritime winds that bring the rains.

The dry winds, sometimes called the dry monsoon, consist of the northeast trade winds. In winter and spring, when they are strongest, they are known as the ‘Harmattan.’ They bring no precipitation apart from a very light rain, which the Wolof people of Senegal call the Heug. The moist rain-bearing winds blow primarily from the west and northwest. Beginning in June with the northward passage of the ITCZ, these winds usher in the summer monsoon. As the ITCZ returns southward beginning in September, the rainy season draws to a close. The slow north-south migration of the ITCZ results in a longer, heavier rainy season in the southern part of the country.17 May to November is usually hot, humid and rainy with has strong southeast winds, while December to April month are dominated by the hot and dry Harmattan.

The coastal region along the Atlantic is cooler than inland. Winter temperatures range from 18-26 °C and summer temperatures average 31°C. The rainy season along the coast is from July to October, bringing around 550 mm of rain annually. The northern Sahel region is semi-arid and temperatures can drop at night to around 14 °C. During the day, temperatures can reach 40 °C and rainfall is below 400 mm annually. The southern half of the country is generally hot and humid. The average high temperature is above 30 °C and rainfall can reach over 1,500 mm annually. 18

Ecoregions Broadly, the Senegal climate can be attributed to four ecosystems: the Coastal, the Sahel, the Sudanian and the Sub-Guinean regions. The Sahel comprises of the Sahelian - arid, Sahelo-Sudanian semi-arid zones. The Sudanian zone, located at the central and western part of the country, covers nearly 40% of the national territory. The Southern region includes Sudano-Guinean sub-humid and Sub-Guinean -humid climates.

• The Sahel is dominated by steppe shrubs and shrub lands, but has suffered loss of productivity and diversity in the past few decades due to recurring droughts, bush fires, overgrazing and pressure on marginal resources.

• The Sudanian zone is characterized by a mix of shrub savanna, wooded grassland, and savanna woodlands. The central and western part used to carry dense vegetation, but is now a manmade park dominated by acacias. The southern and eastern zones now have heterogeneous vegetation due to colonization and agriculture.

• Sub-Guinean zone is characterized by wooded savannas, woodlands, dry forests (currently being degraded) and riparian forests near the Gambia River and Niokolo River. This region is one of the most biodiverse in Senegal.

• Coastal, Estuarine and Marine resources are under threat of human activities, drought, and over exploitation. In the Saloum Delta and Casamance region, mangrove formations and vegetation along sandy islands are degraded due to construction of numerous dams that block the movement of sediments to estuaries. Climate change will only exacerbate these issues. 19

Agro-ecological zones Senegal is usually divided into the following seven agro-ecological zones, based on biophysical and socioeconomic criteria: (i) the Senegal valley; (ii) the Niayes; (iii) Northern Groundnut Basin; (iv)

17 (http://www.britannica.com/EBchecked/topic/534445/Senegal/55044/Climate) 18 Climate & Agriculture, Our Africa; accessed via the internet on 26 August 2015 at: http://www.our-africa.org/senegal/climate-agriculture 19 (Toure, et al. 2010) http://www.our-africa.org/senegal/climate-agriculture http://www.our-africa.org/senegal/climate-agriculture

USAID Senegal Food Security and Natural Resource Management PIEE — April 2016 IEE — pg 19

Southern Groundnut Basin; (v) the Sylvopastoral Zone; (vi) Eastern Senegal and Upper Casamance; and

(vii) Lower and Middle Casamance.

FTF Implementation Focus The two FTF focus agro-ecological zones – Senegal Forest Zone and Senegal River Valley touch on parts of nine administrative regions representing 42.6 percent of Senegal’s population and include the five poorest regions in Senegal (Fatick, Kedougou, Kolda, Matam, and Tambacounda). However, since value chain development is used to satisfy urban market demand, the impact will be much broader than these targeted areas and beneficiaries. In fact, the coastal and western regions (Dakar, Kaolack, Touba, Thies and Saint-Louis) are the most important markets for cereals. In addition to the agro-ecological zones, USAID/Senegal will conduct activities in critical bio-diverse areas, such as coastal areas in the Sine- Saloum Delta and the Casamance region of the SFZ.