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Executive Summary
Carbon Sequestration Project (CSP) is a joint initiative of the Government of the Islamic Republic of Iran, the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) and the Global Environment Facility (GEF). The project has been under implementation in Hosseinabad-Gheinab area (Southern Khorasan Province) since the middle of 2003. According to the Project Document, the project will be completed in the middle of 2009. Having been marked as one of the most successful project of UNDP in Iran, the Project has been decided to run through a second phase for another 5 years in the same region. UNDP is taking necessary measures to secure the approval of the second phase. The project aims to develop a model for the sequestration of atmospheric Carbon by plant species that are adapted to the dry climate conditions of Iran’s rangelands. The project uses a participatory management approach to alleviate human poverty by better conservation and protection of natural resources. During 2005, the activities of the Carbon Sequestration Project had been focused on the formation of local community organizations (Village Development Groups, VDGs). In 2006, the main focus was shifted to strengthening and official registration of the VDGs. In 2007, the project efforts were focused on further strengthening of VDGs and pulling them together under the overall umbrella of Al-Qadir village development cooperative company. Attention was also given to the marketing of the products produced by VDGs. In 2008, the project put further efforts on the empowerment of the VDGs and the operationalization of Al-Qadir Cooperative. The management structure of the project constitutes a Project Management Cell (PMC), a Project Review Committee (PRC), and a Project Steering Committee (CMB).
These management bodies were created in 2005. Meetings of the aforementioned committees have been held on a regular basis during 2008. Altogether, four PRC meetings and one PMC meeting were held in 2008. During the year under review, the Project Monitoring and Evaluation Team form Birjand University, submitted the complete report of the second year of the project implementation and continued their work in collaboration with the local people, on the monitoring of the project activities in the third year of the project implementation. In the second quarter of 2008, the Technical Committee of the Desert Affairs Bureau of the Forests, Rangelands and Watershed Management Organization (FRWO) of Iran met at the CSP training centre in Hosseinabad-Gheinab to review the participatory monitoring plan of the project.
In 2008, a training workshop on participatory monitoring was conducted at the S. Khorasan natural resources office for a group of Monitoring Team members. Two post graduate students worked on their university thesis to investigate the effect of windbreaks on the productivity of agricultural activities and the role of renewable energies on the rate of bush eradication in the Hosseinabad area. Another postgraduate student (PhD level) devoted his dissertation work to the environmental management methods that involve local communities in conservation and rehabilitation of rangelands. The result of these studies is being finalized for further publication in scientific magazines. Documentation of the project activities and achievements is considered an important part of the CSP work. In 2008, written reports were prepared from the workshops and visits that took place during the year. Also a series of quarterly progress reports were published to summarize the progress of the project activities in each quarter. The implementation report of the year 2007, was prepared and published in both Persian and English languages, as well as the third edition of the project quarterly newsletter named Andisheye Sabz (Green Thought), which was published in the 4th quarter of the year. A booklet on the alternative businesses created in Hosseinabad (Persian and English) was also printed and distributed. The bilingual website of the project was updated too. Also a collection of 245 signs providing information about activities and objectives of the project was produced and put up at different locations around the project area. Likewise, news and highlights of the project were published in local/national printed media and provincial channels of radio and television. A documentary film about the project activities and achievements was distributed in CD-ROM format. Another CD-ROM containing the Persian and English documents about the project activities and accomplishments was prepared and distributed. Under the local community mobilization activities in 2008, seven new VDGs (1 male and 6 mixed groups) were formed in 6 villages. By the end of the year, the cumulative number of VDGs had been increased to 37 including 7 female, 8 male and 22 mixed VDGs. Collectively, the VDGs possess 1297 members from 24 villages (562 women and 735 men, 53 % and 47% respectively). During the year, various participatory activities have been carried out to promote the participatory model of the project.
One important activity of the project was the completion of village bathhouses in Chapanjsar and Hematabad villages. The bathhouses were constructed through the financial contributions provided by VDGs, local donors and the CSP. Another significant activity that contributed to the protection of rangelands and environmental conservation was the conversion of the village bathhouse in the Qaleh-Sorkh village to solar energy which was carried out in collaboration with local communities. The equipping of the solar bathhouse in Nazdasht village with a 15,000 liters tank for water reservation and the construction of a new solar bathhouse in Tajmir village in collaboration with local VDGs and CSP were among the important activities of the project in 2008. Also, with the contribution of the VDGs, trees have been cultivated around the solar bathhouse in Nazdasht village and the solar water purification system in well NO.2 village. During the year, 24 educational/extensional activities have been carried out in cooperation with the VDGs. About 92% of these trainings were related to structure building and resources management (e.g. local community mobilization techniques, gender analysis, participatory village development, environmental sanitation, family health, etc). The rest of trainings subjects were related to income generation and job creation enterprises (pastry cooking, improved carpet weaving, etc). Other extension activities included the publication of advocacy material and booklets as well as participation in handicraft exhibitions in Southern Khorasan province and other provinces. One major training event in 2008 was a one-week technical training entitled Permanent Agriculture (Permaculture) workshop. The training was conducted by a team of professional trainers from Australia. The workshop was held in Birjand for a group of 40 participants including managers and professional staff from FRWO Headquarters in Tehran and from other provinces and local community representatives. The workshop curricula included a variety of subjects including the concept of permanent agriculture, rehabilitation of natural landscapes, application of compost materials and its effect on the improvement of soil texture, designing gabions and other watershed management structures effective on the efficient use of runoff and better recharge of underground water and aquifers. As mentioned earlier, to give VDGs an appropriate legal identity, the Al-Qadir cooperative of Hosseinabad was established and officially registered in 2006. As of the end of 2008, the Al-Qadir cooperative had 450 members from the VDGs of Hosseinabad plain. Establishment of this cooperative society would facilitate the involvement of VDGs in the economic activities. In 2008, the board of directors of Al-Qadir cooperative society held three meetings to discuss its way forward and decide on the admission of new members. The governor of sarbisheh township met with the board of directors of the cooperative to express his readiness to support the economic initiatives of the cooperative. Regarding the rehabilitation of degraded areas, in 2008 the CSP produced 60,000 flower pots of Atriplex.sp and 20,000 Haloxylon.sp seedlings as well as 300,000 bare root seedlings of Haloxylon.sp fourteen tons of plant seeds were collected from the rangelands in this period in order to further improve of the vegetative cover of the area by efficient use of seasonal runoff, 500 hectares of degraded and wind-eroded rangelands in Abbasabad and Tajmir villages were reseeded. The seasonal reseeding was also carried out in 800 hectares of reangelands used by animal herders of Ghaleh-Sorkh, Mohammadabad, Chostak and Jannatabad. A watershed management method called “crescent-shaped dam technique” was applied in 150 hectare of rangelands of Hosseinabad plain while seedling production and reseeding activities continued in all over the areas used by animal herders of Hosseinabad plain. For this purpose, seeds of Atriplex.sp and Haloxylon.sp species were used over a 6 months period in collaboration with 1600 local peoples from 18 VDGs. To supply water for livestock, 7 water reservoirs and animal watering places were constructed in reangeland areas of Tajmir and Chahzard villages in collaboration with the natural resources office of S. Khorasan. Likewise, 5652 m3 of excavation work was carried out to construct 3 earthen dams with a water capacity of about 20,000 m3. The purpose is to control seasonal rainfall for increased groundwater recharge and to reduce the water erosion over of land surface. Better recharge of groundwater will increase the amount of water in the water wells used by animal herders in Chahzard and Pahvaz villages. |
