Smart Green Infrastructure in Tiger Conservation Landscapes: Practitioners Workshop Background, Objectives, Outcomes, Agenda Andrey Kushlin, Program Coordinator, Global Tiger Initiative Taj Tashi Hotel · Thimphu, Bhutan · May 30-31, 2011
Jan 03, 2016
Smart Green Infrastructure in Tiger Conservation Landscapes:
Practitioners Workshop
Background, Objectives, Outcomes, AgendaAndrey Kushlin, Program Coordinator, Global Tiger Initiative
Taj Tashi Hotel · Thimphu, Bhutan · May 30-31, 2011
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
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The Crisis“Without the breath of a tiger, there will be no
wind, only clouds, and certainly no rain”. The I Ching
• Wild tigers plummeted from 100,000 in 1900 to 3,200 in 2008• Range-wide collapse: occupy only 7% of former range in Asia (13 countries)• Poaching & illegal trade, habitat destruction (habitat declined by 40% in last decade)• Business-as-usual will result in tiger extinction within 10 years• Tigers as a face of biodiversity and an iconic indicator of integrity of broader ecosystem services• Reflection of a wider crisis with biodiversity conservation: underfunded sector, depletion of human capacity at frontlines, climate change agenda “sucked out all oxygen”
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
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St. Petersburg Tiger Summit (November 2010)• Unique culmination of the highest-level political will around the fate of a single species• Convened five Prime Ministers, 13 TRC ministers, heads of international organizations • Hosted by Prime Minister of Russia and co-chaired by World Bank President
• Adopted the Heads’ of Government Declaration on Tiger Conservation• Endorsed the 12-year Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP) estimated cost $350M for the first 5 years
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
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Key Element of the Global Tiger Recovery Program (GTRP)
Smart Green Infrastructure (SGI) – a key concept for habitat management
in Tiger Conservation Landscapes, also important for other elements
of GTRP implementation.
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Why the Urgency?
• To sustain growth in Asia and the Pacific, infrastructure investments in the next 10 years will reach an estimated USD 4.7 trillion
• Traditional project-based mitigation approaches have proven insufficient to halt habitat fragmentation and tiger population declines
• Infrastructure is but one of the causes of tiger decline but a major factor in habitat loss and habitat fragmentation
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
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Infrastructure Impacts on Tigers and Other Wildlife
Infrastructure can have serious direct and cumulative impacts, if poorly planned, including:
• Affecting tiger & prey movement
• Population fragmentation
• Human access to wildlife
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Smart Green Infrastructure (SGI) Concept• For tigers, SGI is defined as infrastructure that:
– avoids tiger habitats, – minimizes and mitigates adverse impacts through tiger-
friendly design, and– compensates for any remaining damage to have a net
positive impact
• Based on a practical experience collected worldwide.• Examples exist also in some Tiger Range Countries, e.g.
Malaysia, India, Lao PDR, Vietnam
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Mitigation Hierarchy – Multi-Level Approach
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Mitigation at the project level, although necessary, is not sufficient..
• Projects are the result of policies, plans, programs..• These decisions affect where, when, and how
infrastructure projects are conceived, planned, built and operated
• Individual project approach fails to assess cumulative impacts (fragmentation of habitats, induced/long term changes of landscapes)
• Policies need to be in place to ensure adequate mitigation, compensation, offsets
• Knowledge of tiger/tiger areas is needed to guide infrastructure development
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Levels of Decision-Making
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Sectoral and multi-sectoral actionLevel ofgovern-
ment
Land-useplans(SEA) Policies (SEA) Plans (SEA) Programs (SEA) Projects (EIA)
Inter-national
National/Federal
Regional/
State
Sub-regional
Local
NationalLand-use
plan
RegionalLand-use
plan
Sub-regional land-use
plan
Local land use
plan
Internationaltransport policy
(EU)National transportpolicy
National economic
policy
Long-termNational roads
plan
Regionalstrategic
plan
Int’l integration program
5-year roadbuilding program
Sub-regional Investment Program
Construction ofmotorway
section
Localinfrastructure
project
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
National Level• National Tiger Action Plans to include specific actions
related to infrastructure• Implementing Strategic Environmental Assessments
(SEA) regulations- Fragmentation analysis
• Strengthening Environmental Impact Assessment regulations
- Stakeholder engagement- Monitoring and compliance
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
National Level• Biodiversity Offset mechanisms
- Transfer of funds from infrastructure to conservation
- Payment for Ecosystem Services
• Landscape approach to conservation
• Land use planning along transport corridors
• Mapping wildlife/tiger corridors, and mandatory analysis of impacts on these areas in all EIAs
• Alternate livelihood schemes
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Sectoral Level
• Avoid development in priority Tiger Conservation Landscapes particularly corridors & core habitat
• Develop sectoral plans based on Strategic Environmental Assessments
• SEAs to be biodiversity inclusive (fragmentation analysis)• Develop best practices manual for construction in or
near tiger habitats
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Sectoral to Project Level – Road Planning Example
Need for: more roads or more mobility?
What kind of roads and how much new roads?
Where should new roads be built?
Project: How to design and construct new roads?
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Project Level• Large intact habitat block avoidance• Restrictions on ancillary
infrastructure development • Early stakeholder engagement– Benefit sharing– Informed consent
• Tiger-friendly design & engineering – Road signs, culverts, underpasses– Minimize fragmentation by proper siting
• Conduct baseline studies & monitoring• Develop site specific mitigation measures
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Project Level• Minimize ancillary infrastructure &
cluster development• Construction protocols• Tiger education programs for
community and workers• Construction and post-project
monitoring• Tiger patrols & hunting restrictions on workers and
during operation
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Features of SGI Approach • Tigers need immediate action from decision-makers in
charge of environment protection and infrastructure development
• A multi-level approach to infrastructure development has the best chance of success– Policy level: to ensure mitigation, compensation, off-set
mechanisms are in place– Sector level: strategic environmental planning to ensure
cumulative impacts, fragmentation and best options are decided upon
– Project level: to ensure that the best engineering in design, construction, and operation is in place
• But, implementation of options is mid- to long-term
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Three Pillars for Promoting Green infrastructure
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Policy Framework
Green Infrastructure
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
SGI Recommended Principles1. No infrastructure development in core tiger habitats and
protection of integrity of TCLs—No-Go Areas 2. Where avoidance is not possible, minimize and mitigate
impacts via improved design and then compensate for any remaining impacts through biodiversity offsets or financial transfer mechanisms
3. Mainstream natural habitat conservation into infrastructure development at all levels: national policy, sectoral planning & project life cycle
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Concluding Messages• GTI raised global awareness, however we need local
actions on the ground• Infrastructure and urbanization will continue, need
new paradigm: major commitment is required not only from conservation but also from industry
• Direct benefits for local communities, payments for tiger ecosystem services
• The key to success is integrated land use: ecosystems are valued and master plan for each of 76 TCLs
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Workshop Technical Sessions
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Day One:
#1. Land Use
#2. Ecotourism
Day Two:
#3. Roads
#4. Hydro
Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Technical Sessions – Organization• Moderator and Co-Moderator• Resource Persons – International and National• Discussants – from various sectors and TRCs• Working Groups / Subgroups around Key Questions• Note-Taker and Rapporteur• Key Recommendations (2-3) from each group• Workshop evaluation
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Smart Green Infrastructure in TCLs – Practitioners Workshop
Objectives of Working Group Discussions• Recognize where good practices exist, compare efforts and
what is needed to scale up• Identify gaps in implementation, policy and investment
requirements• Think of building blocks on which they would focus to
implement best practice, analyze where they are now and where they want to be and to determine what is needed to address the gaps
• Look more into what could be accomplished based on participants’ roles in different government offices, include discussion on how to work through the political system (e.g. how could the forestry people talk and work with the planning people)
• Final outcome should be 2-3 recommendations from each group including steps for implementation.
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