Progress on Projects under GEF Strategic Partnership on the Black Sea/Danube River Basin and their Contributions towards Compliance with EU Nitrate Directive Jitendra Srivastava and Tijen Arin Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, Europe and Central Asia World Bank

The GEF Strategic Partnership addresses the recovery of the ecological balance of the Danube river and the Black sea. The Partnership was established in 2001 to support the broader long term Strategy by the Danube and Black Sea Commissions, the concerned riparian countries, in collaboration with GEF, the UNDP and the World Bank to address the issue of nutrient pollution in the water bodies. The projects supported under the Partnership also assist the riparian countries towards compliance with EU Nitrate Directive

Three types of projects (or combination there of) are eligible for financing under the Partnership: Restoration or creation of wetlands that act as nutrient filters Reform and improvement of agriculture and animal management practices with impact on nutrient use and/or non-point discharge through run-off Municipal Wastewater treatment for reduction of nutrient discharge If the opportunity exists to leverage nutrient reduction in a large industrial or agro-industrial facility, that intervention will also be eligible!

The Strategic Partnership consists of World Bank Investment Fund for Nutrient Reduction (USD 70 million) UNDP Danube Regional Project and UNDEP/UNEP Black Sea Regional Project (USD 25 million) Partnership closely cooperates with EU efforts on environment and the Nitrate Directive in particular 10 WB Investment Fund projects under implementation / implementation. Municipal WWT projects in Bosnia and Herzegovina,Croatia, Hungary, Moldova, Russia and Ukraine. Agricultural Pollution Control projects in Georgia, Moldova, Romania, Russia, Serbia and Turkey. Wetland restoration project in Bulgaria (with APC component)

The EU Community Policy on the environment (article 174,1302) strives to contribute to the following: Preserving, protecting and improving the quality of environment Protecting human health Prudent and rational utilization of natural resources Promoting measures at international level to deal with regional or world wide environmental problems

The Council ’ s Directive 91/676/EEC of December 12, 1991 relates specifically towards protection of waters against pollution caused by nitrates from agricultural sources. The Directive explicitly states that “ The main cause of pollution from diffuse sources affecting the community ’ s waters is nitrates from agricultural sources both farming and animal wastes ”.

The directive further emphasizes member states to identify certain zones, draining into waters vulnerable to pollution from nitrogen compounds. The Member States shall prepare action programs in respect of designated vulnerable zones

The Member States should establish a code of good agricultural practices to be implemented by farmers Where required Member States should set up a program, including the provision of training and information for farmers and agro processors, promoting the application of the code(s) of good agricultural practices

The overall development objective of the Partnership Agricultural Pollution Control Projects are: Increase significantly the use of environment- friendly agricultural practices in the project area and thereby reduce nutrient discharge from agricultural sources, and Assist national programs in developing needed human resources with the skills and modernizing the facilities for expanding these efforts throughout the country

In support of these objectives, the projects are designed to: Promote the adoption of environment-friendly agricultural practices Promote wetlands restoration Strengthen national capacity for developing appropriate policies and regulation and its enforcement Promote public awareness and Government support Monitor the soil and water quality for Nutrient pollution

Moldova – Agricultural Pollution Control Project Good progress is made in a number of areas towards the projects development objective of significantly increasing the use of environmentally – friendly agricultural practices by farmers and agro- industry to reduce nutrient discharge into water bodies. It has also initiated harmonization of its legislative framework with EU Nitrate Directive and in developing a code of good agricultural practices and organic farming. It is linked with a US $40 mln IDA-funded Rural Investment and Services Project

Romania – Agricultural Pollution Control Project. During the two years since the project became effective, it has supported: Construction of 9 village level manure platforms and 1350 household level manure storage facilities Provision of equipment for the manure platforms Promotion of several environment-friendly agricultural practices on farmers ’ fields Capacity building of local agencies Aforestation of degraded lands Development and dissemination of code of good agricultural practices TA for harmonizing Romanian legislation with the Nitrate Directive Public awareness campaigns

Bulgaria – Wetlands Restoration and Pollution Reduction Project The project has prepared the engineering design for the restoration of Kalimok marshes and Belene islands and has identified other sites for restoration Significant progress has been made in protected area planning, training and capacity building Small grant program for biodiversity conservation is operational and Farmer Transition Support Fund is established The project has supported a number of well-targeted and planned training activities and institutional capacity building

Turkey – Anatolia Watershed Rehabilitation Project The project ’ s overall development objective is to support sustainable natural resource management practice in Anatolia and Turkey ’ s Black sea region. The objective of the GEF supported component is to introduce farming practices which will reduce the discharge of nutrients into surface and ground water in watersheds draining into the Black sea in four provinces. More specifically this component will help introduce improved manure and nutrient management practices and organic farming Will improve the capacity for soil and water monitoring for nutrient discharge and help farmers to comply with national- international food safety and environmental requirements

Serbia - Danube River Enterprise Pollution Reduction Project The project will focus on introducing environmentally friendly practices in nutrient management in medium and large size cattle and pig farms, and proper animal waste management in slaughterhouses. The project area will be Vojvodina and Central Serbia where intensive livestock production and slaughtering is common. The project will also assist the harmonization of Serbian regulations with the EU Nitrate Directive, in particular through the drafting of a Code for Good Agricultural Practices. The capacity of the Agricultural Extension Services will be enhanced to provide proper guidance to enterprises to manage manure and slaughterhouse animal waste properly. The project will also help improve capacity for water quality monitoring. The project is expected to become effective in June 2005 and last four years.

Russia – Krasnodar Agricultural Nutrient Reduction Project The overall objective of this project in preparation is to increase the use of environment-friendly practices by farmers and agro- industry in the Krasnodar krai in order to reduce nutrient (N and P) pollution from agricultural sources to the Black sea The project will have four components to be implemented over a period of five years: Promotion of good agricultural practices. Restoration of abandoned rice fields and monitoring soil and water quality Strengthening of the legislative, regulatory and institutional capacity if the Krai government Public awareness – the project would be implemented in three regions of the Krai that are “ hot spots ” of nutrient pollution to Black sea

Progress on Projects under GEF Strategic Partnership on the Black Sea/Danube River Basin and their Contributions towards Compliance with EU Nitrate Directive Jitendra Srivastava and Tijen Arin Environmentally and Socially Sustainable Development, Europe and Central Asia World Bank