76944 JANUARY 2012 ABOUT THE AUTHORS An Innovative and Cost-Effective Solution for Livestock KURT ROOS Team Leader of Agricultural Waste Management in China, Thailand and Vietnam Methane Programs, U.S. Environmental Protection Agency, participates in the development, The East Asia region is home to more than half the world’s stock of pigs (see implementation, and supervision of Bank projects. With over 30 Figure 1) and more than one-third of the world’s poultry — a population years of international and domestic experience in that is expected to grow rapidly over the next decades. As a result, about 26 high-strength organic waste management for energy percent of the total area in East Asia suffers from significant nutrient production and pollution control, Kurt spent the last eight years surpluses, mainly from agricultural sources. For instance, the region has a 47 developing sustainable renewable percent surplus of phosphorus and a 16 percent surplus of nitrogen, both energy systems in the agricultural sector in developing countries. from animal manure. This contributes significantly to the degradation of regional water quality. To address this issue, the Global Environment Facility JIANG RU is the Task Team Leader of this (GEF) funded the Livestock Waste Management in East Asia (LWMEA) Project. project and a Senior Environmental Specialist in the This SmartLesson discusses major challenges faced and key lessons learned East Asia and Pacific Region’s Sustainable Development from implementing that regional project. Department. Jiang has worked for the Bank mainly on pollution management issues since 2005 Background and on coordination of the region’s Global Environment Facility Program since 2009. Despite an array of programs, projects, and technologies to address the negative impacts of Figure 1: Pig Density in East Asia WEIGUO ZHOU livestock waste on the environment and human is a World Bank retiree with over health in the East Asia region, progress has been 20 years of experience in agricultural pollution control, slow, costly, and ineffective. Reasons include natural resources management, lack of 1) local capacity to design, construct, and and Bank operations. With the service technologies; 2) financial mechanisms Bank from 1988 to 2009, Weiguo and effective policies; and 3) ability to select continues to supporting Bank task teams in various operations. appropriate technologies that are affordable and simple to construct and operate. APPROVING MANAGER Magda Lovei, Sector Manager, the To introduce an innovative and cost-effective Social, Environment and Rural Sustainable Development Unit of the solution, the World Bank, acting as an Sustainable Development Department implementing agency of the GEF, launched the of the East Asia and Pacific Region. regional LWMEA Project in 2006. The project’s development objective was to reduce the major negative environmental and health impacts of rapidly increasing concentrated livestock production on water bodies and thus on the Agriculture Organization (FAO) of the United people of East Asia. Its global environment Nations for technical assistance and regional objective is to reduce livestock-induced, land- coordination activities. Project implementation based pollution and environmental degradation was completed in China by December 31, 2010, of the South China Sea.1 in Vietnam and by the FAO by June 30, 2011, and in Thailand by December 31, 2011. The project supported China, Thailand, and Vietnam — the three most important livestock- This is the first GEF project in the region to production countries in the region — with a address the livestock waste management issue grant of $7 million: $2 million each to the three from both policy and technical standpoints, and countries and $1 million to the Food and with a regional collaboration approach. The 1 project was designed with replicability in mind, For the project, “South China Sea� includes the Gulf of Thailand. SMARTLESSONS — JANUARY 2012 1 making its results relevant to other livestock-production areas • Lack of capacity, awareness, and collaboration: Though in the world. It supported activities under four components: livestock waste management does receive priority, there are challenges of poor capacity and inadequate • Livestock waste management technology demonstration; collaboration among key government agencies — such as agricultural, environmental, and public health — which • Policy and replication strategy development; sometimes have incompatible interests and priorities and are not accustomed to working together. Complicating • Project management and monitoring; and the situation is a lack of awareness and participation of local populations and civil society, plus weak partnership • Regional support services. with and support from the private sector. In addition to the common understanding that, if not Lessons Learned managed appropriately, livestock waste is a known pollutant, a human health threat, and a source of anthropogenic Lesson 1: Look for strong commitments. greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, the preproject assessment study identified three key challenges: To ensure project ownership, sustainability, and success, strong commitments are needed — from the government • Lack of technical solutions: In all three countries, limited (for compliance, enforcement, and provision of incentives) government support for basic livestock waste and from the key stakeholders (for full involvement in project management investments addressed only the immediate preparation and implementation). The project succeeded in effects of the problem as perceived at the local level and gaining strong commitments through the following: did not even begin to address the nutrient imbalance. Without new initiatives and technical solutions, • Integration with the governments’ mainstream programs; alternative practices would be too weak to overcome the incentives driving concentrated livestock production. • Implementation based on existing institutional Consequently, the imbalance between the level of mechanisms; and nutrient inputs and the absorptive capacity of the land would worsen progressively with rapidly growing • Involvement of key stakeholders, such as village committees industrial livestock production. and the women’s federation in China, pig cooperatives in Vietnam, and local administrations, communities, and • Lack of policy instruments and replication strategy: All nongovernmental organizations in Thailand. three countries had national-level environmental policies with supporting standards but no replication Lesson 2: Select the right technologies. strategy for livestock waste management. Policy components dealing with industrial livestock production Waste management technologies should be simple to operate and waste management are either missing or are very and compatible with the waste-handling practices found recent and too general, with little effective enforcement. across various scales of livestock farms; cost-effective and offer Agencies charged with enforcement generally were not financial returns; and able to be locally developed and coordinated and lacked sufficient resources to monitor serviced. A number of livestock waste management and enforce the regulations. technologies exist, ranging from simple to complex, with various cost implications from moderate to high. For example: Anaerobic digesters, designed to recover and combust biogas, are recognized as the only waste management technology that can increase farm profits through use of biogas — carbon and renewable energy. Photo Credit: Weiguo Zhou 2 SMARTLESSONS — JANUARY 2012 • omposting is the least-cost option suitable for farms C registered CDM projects can receive a steady stream of that handle solid waste, with very low carbon-reduction additional revenue for 10 years or more, though the first potential. payment is yet to be made. • eration processes are effective only when adequate A Under the project, finance included a 25 percent grant from retention time and a series of processes are ensured. GEF, a 25 percent grant from the government, and a 50 percent They require land availability and are suitable for farms investment from the farm. GMI4 (Global Methane Initiative) that handle dilute wastes, where emissions can be high. provided additional support — power generator, gas flare, and training — to all three countries. One significant finding of the • naerobic digestion (AD) is an anaerobic (without A LWMEA Project was that about 50 percent cost sharing is oxygen) biological process that stabilizes — reduces required to help farm owners overcome the initial cost hurdle. biochemical oxygen demand (BOD) — waste material and produces biogas, a mixture of roughly 65 percent methane, 35 percent carbon dioxide, and trace amounts of hydrogen sulfide. Biogas is combustible and when recovered can be used in renewable energy applications such as electrical generation, heating, cooking fuel, and lighting, among others. A number of commercially proven ADs are appropriate for farms of various sizes, and they cover a range of operational complexity and cost. Selecting appropriate AD technologies is an art and depends on availability of local equipment; local capacity to design, build, and operate; and local affordability. Often, innovative materials and methods of construction are used to reduce costs at smaller scales. As a result, all participating countries desire gas-recovery technologies and selected the AD technology. Lesson 3: Provide essential financial incentives. The project demonstrates pollution-control technologies to help reduce nutrient discharge from livestock production (pig farms in Costs of livestock waste management can be affordable for particular) into the South China Sea. medium and large industrial pig farms — the target under Photo Credit: Weiguo Zhou this project.2 In the demonstration phase, providing a fairly high level of financial incentive helps overcome the natural resistance of farmers to increased costs, builds their confidence Lesson 4: Take a comprehensive approach. against uncertainties, and induces initial investment. The LWMEA Project integrates technological solutions, policy Livestock waste management practices must yield tangible development and enforcement, capacity building, and benefits for key stakeholders, specifically farmers and local regional coordination and dissemination. In all three communities, to ensure adoption and replicability. Although countries, regulatory action on livestock waste management AD technologies are effective, the initial cost is often a barrier has had limited impact on actual farm behavior. So the project to adoption, even though the financial pro forma is had a policy component to improve the policy framework favorable. Some form of subsidy or other payment is and strengthen policy enforcement. Each participating necessary to overcome this market barrier. Financial country has developed at least one Code of Practice and a incentives for improved livestock waste management in each country-specific Replication Strategy focusing on 1) setting up of the three participating countries have mostly been for an effective policy and regulatory framework for installation of digesters, exposure ponds, and drying beds to environmentally sustainable livestock production and waste treat livestock waste as well as to conserve energy (biogas). management; 2) adopting improved manure management practices at local and national levels; 3) increasing awareness Another possible financial incentive is to sell carbon credits among line agencies, the general public, and livestock that could be generated during a livestock waste producers; and 4) strengthening institutional capacity and management process. Since AD technologies result in providing incentives for policy compliance and enforcement reduced GHG emissions, two CDM (clean development of demonstrated livestock waste management practices. mechanism) projects were developed in Thailand in conjunction with the LWMEA Project. Despite the fact that Lesson 5: Improve awareness through wide dissemination. the CDM regulatory process is often slow and complicated,3 About 15 percent of the total project budget has gone 2 Smaller farms can also afford the technologies, provided they are successful in toward awareness raising and capacity building. The partially defraying costs through treated-manure sales, fish production, or chemi- cal fertilizer and household energy savings (using biogas). 3 4 Payment for carbon credits occurs only upon delivery, which could take signifi- GMI was developed in October 2010 to reduce global methane emissions from cant time because of the lengthy and complex procedure. Also, the selection of agriculture, coal mines, landfills, and oil and natural gas systems, while enhancing technologies can be limited, since the CDM requires projects to use approved and expanding these efforts and encouraging new resource commitments from methodologies under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change for country partners with its Steering Committee and Administrative Support Group their calculation of carbon credits and monitoring. located in Washington, D.C. SMARTLESSONS — JANUARY 2012 3 project’s regional approach, working through following areas: 1) implementation progress; annual Regional Coordination Group 2) livestock waste management system; 3) meetings and regional conferences, ensured: environmental management; and 4) project impact. The actual monitoring assignments • Involvement of the region’s three most were contracted to professional firms or important (in terms of livestock production institutions. Key performance indicators were and waste pollution) countries; set in the legal agreements. • E mphasis on their common interest in Monitoring results show that at the end of protecting the ecosystems of the South project implementation, the project achieved China Sea; tangible nutrient reductions in all three countries through investment activities • Promotion of important cross-country financed by the project as well as through synergies; and replication of demonstrated waste management interventions by other farms. It is • Replication of experience from the project estimated that in 2010 a total of about 57,000 demonstration throughout the region. tons of COD (chemical oxygen demand), 25,000 tons of biochemical oxygen demand, 3,200 Regional dissemination activities primarily tons of nitrogen, and 1,600 tons of phosphorus targeted the three participating countries. were reduced from project farms. But they eventually included other countries that drain into the South China Sea, thus Conclusion permitting collaboration, comparison of results and experiences on waste management Project implementation yielded positive and and policy elements, exchange and transfer of encouraging initial results, including: 1) technology and approaches, and pollution reduction on all participating farms, environmental awareness raising among meeting national standards for discharge; 2) a farmers and government staff who could much larger number of farms showing interest benefit from the knowledge and experience in participating in the project; 3) wide adoption gained under the project. The project also of a comprehensive project approach by the provides valuable experiences beyond the participating countries; and 4) achievement of East Asia region. integration with the governments’ mainstream programs and other programs supported by various sources. The project experience is significant, because it provides: • Clear evidence that the project’s development and GEF’s global environment objectives are very likely to be achieved; • F easible solutions that could also serve multiple purposes for reducing GHG emissions and capturing methane; • Evidence of improved and ensured long- term sustainability (social, economic, DISCLAIMER Awareness raising and capacity building environmental) of livestock waste SmartLessons is an awards account for about 15 percent of the total management; and program to share lessons learned LWMEA Project budget. in development-oriented advisory services and investment Photo by Weiguo Zhou • A successful model for scaling up the livestock operations. The findings, waste management practices in the three interpretations, and conclusions participating countries — and beyond. expressed in this paper are those Lesson 6: Focus on results. of the author(s) and do not necessarily reflect the views of IFC On that last point, an IBRD lending project is or its partner organizations, the Measuring wastewater processes is difficult. currently under preparation in Guangdong Executive Directors of The World Obtaining country consensus on measurement province of China, two carbon-financed Bank or the governments they methods, processes, and parameters may be livestock waste management programs are represent. IFC does not assume any responsibility for the more difficult. Yet, credible measurement under implementation in Thailand, and more completeness or accuracy of the methods are necessary to support claims and pig farms will follow the practices in Vietnam. information contained in this quantify project impacts. The project selected Moreover, 12 additional countries expressed document. Please see the terms a wide range of measurable indicators, interest in and willingness to follow the and conditions at www.ifc.org/ including process indicators and stress- demonstrated practices. smartlessons or contact the program at smartlessons@ifc.org. reduction indicators for monitoring the 4 SMARTLESSONS — JANUARY 2012