OCIAL DE'VELOPMENT NOTES Note No. 38 May 1998 Social Assessment Builds a Project for People and Parks in Argentina In this project, a social assessment (SA) ecoregions are poorly represented within the helped the Government of Argentina/World system. Conversion of grasslands for Bank team develop a cooperative approach to livestock production in the Pampas has protected areas management. Social analysis reduced this natural ecosystem to 1 percent and participatory research helped the task of its original size. The arid Chaco area is the team understand the range of potential social forest ecoregion most at risk. According to impacts and risks to people living in the National Parks Administration, less than proposed protected areas, and to the project 21 percent of the national protected area is itself. The resulting recommendations were adequately managed. Faced with limits on put forth in a mitigation plan and al public public spending and a lack of technical participation/training plan for the project expertise, the Government of Argentina that will promote collaboration among the asked for the World Bank's help in public sector, private sector, and non- improving biodiversity conservation and governmental organizations (NGOs), protection of natural resources. increased community participatiorL in Early in discussions, the government and protected areas management, and sustainable the Bank agreed that the objectives of the land use practices that will reduce the threats - ~~~~~~Argentina Biodiversity Conservation Project to protected areas. would be to: Project Background . Extend the national protected area system Argentina contains a vast range of to include ecoregions that had been ecological regions that support a rich inadequately protected diversity of plants and animals, including . Build capacity for sustainable resource thousands of species unique to the country. management at the local and national levels This biodiversity has long receivect special , . . protection. In 1903, the government created a * Promote public participation in managing national park service, the National Protected protected areas. Area System, that was later expanded to The project would aim to protect arid and cover nearly 5 percent of the national semiarid ecosystems such as those in the territory - about 13 million hectares. Yet Pampas, the Puna, and the Cordoba many of the country's most vulnerable mountain range, forest ecosystems such as Robert Kirmse is task team leader of the Argentina Biodiversity Conservation Project. For more information on the social assessment, contact Estanislao Gacitua-Mario, The World Bank, 1818 H Street, NW, Washington, DC 20433, USA, Fax: 202-676-9373, E-mail: egacituamario@worldbank.org. Thie viewus expressed in thtis note are tlhose of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect thte official policies of thte World Bank. Box 1. Developing Effective Participation Social assessment inputs formed the basis of the project's participation plan. Four features were developed to ensure the participation of stakeholders, especially local individuals and community organizations. The project will: * Hire a social assessment specialist to encourage and provide opportunities for stakeholder participation in project activities and decisionmaking . Create a consultative commission in each protected area to institutionalize participation and guarantee community representation . Develop a social assessment program to collect data on participation in project activities and to monitor implementation of the mitigation plan . Provide training in participatory management skills and educate stakeholders about biodiversity conservation. those found in the Chaco, mountain continue the unsustainable land use ecosystems as found in the Puna, and practices that caused the degradation in the coastal, marine, and freshwater ecosystems first place. such as found in the Patagonia littoral and The task team needed to understand the wetland habitats. To achieve these Tets emnee oudrtn h range of stakeholder groups and activities objectives, the project would support the that would potentially impact, and be creation and management of five new impacted by PAs. Thus they designed a protected areas (PAs): Los Venados social assessment with the following National Park, San Guillermo Reserve, El o Copo National Park, El Condorito National objectives: Park, and Monte Le6n National Park. . Identify key stakeholders and develop a SrA Helps Task Team Evaluate plan for their participation in project Optionlps Task Team Evaluate design and implementation. Options People live in core zones of three of the a Understand the preferences of people proposed protected areas -Los Venados, El living within proposed protected areas Copo, and El Condorito -and many others with respect to creating and maintaining live and work in the buffer zones protected areas and the possibility of surrounding the proposed PAs. Early in the resettlement. preparation stages, the project team found . Assess the skills and needs of local people itself faced with the classic "people versus who might find employment managing parks" dilernma. An initial proposal was to protected areas. move residents out of core and buffer protected zones to stop them from further * Propose measures to maximize positive depleting the natural resource base. This social impacts and minimize conflict and proposal was met with concern that the other potential negative impacts. negative social and economic impacts to those people would outweigh the benefits of Social Assessment Methodology the project. in turn, proposals to leave National Protected Area System staff people inside protected areas were refuted worked on the social assessment with a on the grounds that residents would multi-disciplinary team of local consultants 2 including an agronomist, a sociologist, and a Sharecroppers in the core zone were psychologist specializing in organiziational willing to change their income-generating development and conflict resolution. The activities to resource management reiated team designed and carried out a targeted work. People living in the buffer zones census, surveys, interviews, and wo:rkshops were concerned that the creation of to assess local interests in and conditions for protected areas would restrict their establishing new protected areas. This range production activities, but felt confident of methods allowed the project teamr to work that the protected area project would also with a broad range of stakeholders. bring new opportunities for emplovment, Through the census, surveys, and for example in tourism. interviews, the SA team consulted with all * Prepare for social and economic impacts of families and communities in the core zones creating protected areas. In some places, the and a cross-section of the communities in change in land use will restrict agricultural the buffer zones. In workshops, the SA team and livestock production and reduce learned about the ideas and preferences of agricultural-related employment leading university representatives, provincial to loss of income and other benefits such authorities, federal agencies, NGOs, and as social services that have traditionally local comrmunity groups. Ultimately, these been provided to workers by landowners. SA activities allowed a broad group of In addition, buffer zone families' access to stakeholders to develop a participatory plan natural resources will be limited, for the protection of biodiversitv anct natural particularly access to pastures for grazing resources. and for firewood. In response, the SA team identified alternative income-generating activities such as small family farms and The social assessment helped the task provision of gas or kerosene to replace team: firewood. . Identifyj key stakeholders and understand their Social Assessment Outcomes priorities. In the core and buffer zones, key The SA provided a forum in which the stakeholders could be categorized into three ~ ~ geea grus adwes overrnment and stakeholders living in and three general groups: landtowners,' agricultura workers , and poorfararound the PAs could work out a project Keyrinstitutional stakeers,andpoor iuer that would benefit the environment and Nationa Parks Administration, provin cia people. People living in the PAs were Nationa Park Administrt , pl allowed to remain, on the condition that governments, universities, schools, and local NGOs. they change their production practices that contribute to environmental degradation. In . Learn about the expected impacts of addition, the project designed components resettlement. Interviews with the families to ensure participation of the residents in living in core zones confirmed that people park management and other forms of strongly preferred not to move. Their main alternative employment. fear was that, given the current labor market crisis, they would be unabl:e to The action plans. With consensus that earn enough money if they became people and parks could coexist, project newcomers in other regions, and that labor planners focused on mitigating the effects conditions might begunfavorable, the parks would have on faLilies living in them and ensuring that stakeholders were . Find local supportfor tle creation of protected able to participate in protected area areas. The SA team found that lanclowners management and decisionmaking. Findings were inclined to sell their land ancd did not and recommendations from the social oppose the creation of protected areas. assessment produced two plans, the .3 Box 2. The Consultative Commission: A New Mechanism for Participation The consultative commission, a key feature of the public participation and training plan, is designed to guarantee stakeholders a role in planning and managing protected areas and overseeing the project. A consultative commission that includes a cross-section of the prinicipal stakeholders will be created in each of the five proposed areas. Each commission will include two representatives from the National Parks Administration and provincial government and three to five individuals and organizations representing the local community. Operating according to democratic principles, the commissions will prepare. plans for protected area management, evaluate biodiversity conservation and sustainable use activities within the buffer zones, and monitor public participation and implementation of management plans. mitigation plan and the public participation Ongoing participation. Broad participation, and training plan, and a new participatory considered essential for project approach to implementing both plans. sustainability, was fostered by the public The mitigation plan proposed a series of participation and training plan, which was activities to foster more environnentally designed to secure local participation in friendly production in the buffer zones of project design, implementation, and the protected areas in a way that will also monitoring (see Box 1). Recognizing that the increase far,ily incomes. The mitigation plan local ownership required for sustainability increase family incomes. The mitigation plan masmr hnesrn htsaeodr included: r ~~~~~~means more than ensuring that stakeholders included: are willing to participate, the plan also • Investing in housing renovation and solar required the creation of opportunities for panels to generate electricity participation. An institutional innovation, . Hiring and traimdng protected area the consultative commission (see Box 2), was inhabitants to work as park guards and devised to reflect local values and processes firefighters for decisionmaking and action. The commission will be complemented with * Providing technical and material training and participatory skill-building assistance for families who change their programs in local communities to ensure production practices (for example, by that stakeholders have ample opportunities phasing out cattle raising and decreasing to provide input during project development firewood depletion) to meet their and execution. household and energy requirements. Social Development Notes are published informally by the Social Development Family in the Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development Network of the World Bank. 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