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Good practice Imported

Environmental Land Management and Rural Livelihoods Project (ELMARL) — Tajikistan

Tajikistan · Kulob · See the Tajikistan profile

Evidence: Observational / pre–post Top 33% 53/100 · Ask Evidence Copilot about this practice

World Bank/PPCR-financed programme across 12 Tajik districts (2013-2018) reached 323,393 beneficiaries, helped 53,390 households adopt sustainable land management on 44,235 hectares, sequestered ~976,000 tCO2e, and piloted Tajikistan's first PES policy assessment.

323,393
Direct beneficiaries (2013-2018)
53,390
Households adopting sustainable land management
44,235 ha
Hectares under effective land/water management
43,731 ha
Hectares with improved soil structure
976,460.80 tCO2e
Net carbon stock enhancement (ex-post, 20-year)
18.65 US$ million
Total project financing

Details

Promoter
Committee for Environmental Protection, Government of Tajikistan (World Bank / PPCR / GEF financed)
Period
2013-2018
Keywords
sustainable land management, pasture and watershed rehabilitation, climate resilience, PES policy

Context

The Environmental Land Management and Rural Livelihoods Project (ELMARL, World Bank P122694) ran 2013-2018 across 12 districts of Tajikistan spanning lowland, mid-hill and upland agro-ecological zones, implemented by the Committee for Environmental Protection with US$18.65 million from PPCR, GEF and IDA.

Objectives

Support community-driven sustainable land management to restore degraded land and rehabilitate pastures/watersheds, while laying groundwork for a national payments-for-ecosystem-services framework.

Activities

Common Interest Groups, Water User Associations and Pasture User Unions designed and managed their own sub-projects; the government also commissioned an Institutional and Legal Assessment on the Possible Application of the PES Approach in Tajikistan (Dushanbe, 2018).

Results

323,393 direct beneficiaries were reached against a target of 243,000; 53,390 households adopted sustainable land management practices; 44,235 hectares came under effective agricultural, land and water management, including 43,731 hectares with measurably improved soil structure; an ex-post Ex-ACT carbon accounting exercise found the project enhanced carbon stocks by a net 976,460.80 tCO2e over 20 years.

Conclusions

The World Bank rated overall outcomes 'Satisfactory', though safeguard compliance was briefly downgraded to 'Moderately Satisfactory' in 2017 after non-compliant sub-project practices were identified, and financial management dipped similarly in 2014-2015 before corrective action restored it.

Implementation
Indicative cost
Medium (€50k–€500k)
Time to results
Medium (1–3 years)
Staffing & skills
Committee for Environmental Protection, Government of Tajikistan (implementing agency), Common Interest Groups, Water User Associations, Pasture User Unions (community-driven sub-project design and management)

Conditions for success

  • Multi-donor financing (PPCR, GEF, IDA)
  • Community-driven development model with local ownership of sub-projects
  • Ex-post carbon accounting and a formal completion evaluation for accountability

Common failure modes

  • Safeguard compliance was temporarily downgraded to 'Moderately Satisfactory' in 2017 after non-compliant sub-project practices were identified
  • Financial management dipped in 2014-2015 before corrective action restored it

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Data sources

Where this practice's information was retrieved from, and when.

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