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The following activities under the FORWARD task order
have been completed or are currently underway:
- Jordan Groundwater Policy: Groundwater
is a critical resource in severely water-scarce Jordan, but it is
overdrafted, unregulated, and provides little revenue to the government.
FORWARD's role is to conceptualize the program which would be the
first serious effort to address this problem. As the first stage in
a reform of groundwater policies, FORWARD has prepared four scopes
of work focusing on improving monitoring and enforcement, database
management, stakeholder participation and modeling, and brackish groundwater
utilization.
- Strategies for Assisting Marsh Arabs and
Rehabilitating the Marshlands of Southern Iraq: FORWARD worked
closely with the ANE Bureau to develop a scope of work that represents
a first effort to define a direction for USAID's involvement in rehabilitating
the Iraqi marshlands within a complex set of environmental, social
and institutional, economic, and political issues. The overall approach
is to work on a number of tracks: the program was launched with a
scoping trip during the second half of June 2003. A small technical
team of US government agency staff and consultants visited the marshlands
in southern Iraq for the first extended on-the-ground assessment in
nearly two decades. Their goals were to begin data collection to develop
a rolling action plan for the program and to set the stage for a larger
and longer visit by a technical team in September. The team determined
logistical needs and identified Iraqi counterparts and potential local
team members for the evolving program.
- Strategies for Assisting Marsh
Arabs and Rehabilitating the Marshlands of Southern Iraq II:
FORWARD has continued its work with the ANE Bureau to rehabilitate
the Iraqi marshlands. On the national level, the marshland strategic
planning has continued with the participation of the relevant parties
to develop the strategic plan for the Center for the Restoration of
the Iraq Marshes (CRIM). Approval of the Framework of the plan is
expected by the second half of August. Donor coordination is also
underway; the program manager, the deputy and eight other members
of USAID/IMRP technical staff attended the Canadian International
Development Agency (CIDA) workshop which was held in Amman from June
20-24. Also, representing USAID/IMRP was Curt Richardson, the director
of Duke Wetland Center, Iraq Foundation working as a subcontractor
for USAID/IMRP. Working closely with the Iraq MoWR representatives
and Iraqi Universities, the staff shared ideas and experiences in
ecorestoration, wetland monitoring, agriculture, livestock, fishery
and date palms.
Marshland rehabilitation activities are underway,
including marsh monitoring. Two scientists specializing in birds
and phytoplankton were added bringing the total to 23 scientists
actively supporting the activities outlines in the IMRP Action Plan.
Visits were undertaken by the University of Basrah and Iraq Foundation
teams to Huwaiza, Suq Al-Shuyok, Abu-Zarag and Kermashia marshes.
Results of the analysis of the gathered data and samples of the
previous visits have been sent to Duke University for evaluation.
The constructed wetlands scheme serving 5000 residents of Chibayish
is on schedule. The local engineering firm hired by IMRP has completed
the survey by July 3. A contract was signed with a local engineering
bureau on July 6 to design the sewage pipe network in Chebayish.
The design is due to be completed on the July 31. Construction is
expected to commence in the middle of August and completed toward
the end of October. We are completing the terms of the subcontract
with the AMAR International Charitable Foundation which will establish
several primary health centers in the marshlands. Three initial
sites have already been chosen, and arrangements are underway to
obtain approval for purchasing medicine.
Livestock and dairy production, agricultural
production, and Capture Fishing and Fish Farming activities are
also underway. The first alfalfa forage crop demonstration of 35
donums of alfalfa in the northern Hammar Marshes was highly successful
with the forage being distributed to five farms. In preparation
of the next farming season in September, the agricultural team has
identified new locations within Huwaiza, Central and Hammer Marshes.
Soil and water samples were taken from some of the locations and
the others are to follow. Two senior veterinarians have been hired
to lead the implementation of the Veterinary activity. IMRP is currently
collecting CV's of young unemployed veterinarians that will be hired
as junior staff on this activity. IMRP intends to hire eight junior
veterinarians for the initial implementation in late August. Cultivation
and land leveling of the summer large-scale crop demonstration for
summer have been completed. The activity covers an 170 Donum ( 42.5
Hectare) area within the three southern provinces, Emmara, Basrah
and Thi-Qar. Sorghum and fertilizer have been purchased. Sown has
been started and expected to be completed by the end of the 2nd
week of July. The Marine Science Center is currently installing
the modern breeding and hatchery equipment supplied by IMRP. Breeding
has begun 16 high-value Barbus Spp fish by using the IMRP supplied
hormones. The new equipment and the fish are used now for training
the technical staff in preparation for the new breeding season of
the Barbus, which expected to be in March/2005.
- Lake Qaraoun Water
Quality Assessment, Lebanon: The Litani River is one of the
major water resources in Lebanon, having a length of 170 km and an
estimated average annual discharge rate of 770 million m3. This perennial
river extends from the Bekaa Valley, flows southward parallel to Mount
Lebanon and discharges into the Mediterranean Sea, 7 km North of Tyre.
Geomorphologically, the Litani basin is divided into three sub-basins
with the largest one stretching from the Bekaa plain to the Qaraoun
dam. The Qaraoun dam, completed in 1956, is 110 m long and 61 m high,
forming the Qaraoun Lake, which can store up to 220 million m3 of
water. Characterizing the Qaraoun Lake and upstream Litani River is
a cornerstone for developing a sound management strategy that ensures
the safe and sustainable use of these water sources. In this context,
an extensive search was conducted by the FORWARD team for all published
documents and studies pertaining to the project area. Data on meteorology,
geography, geology, hydrology, hydraulics and land use of the Litani
River Basin were reviewed and synthesized. A GIS database, depicting
topography, land cover and land use have been developed. Institutional
and administrative frameworks have been outlined. Existing information
on potential pollution sources are being explored and data on the
quality of the Litani and Qaraoun waters have been gathered for further
synthesis, comparison and evaluation to define the pollution profile
along the river stretch and within the Lake. These will ultimately
be used in developing remediation and management strategies for the
basin in general and the lake in particular.
- Innovative Financial Tools Workshop for
the ANE Region: FORWARD organized a regional workshop for
the ANE Bureau on innovative financing in the water and wastewater
sector that was held in Manila, Philippines in March 2004. The workshop
focused on strategies and tools to increase private investment and
financing in the water and sanitation sector. The workshop was a part
of a continuing process to help missions overcome obstacles and constraints
to private sector participation and to develop capital market financing.
The workshop was intended to help missions develop useful tools, and
was designed to make extensive use of case studies. By the end of
the workshop, participants had a better grasp of the tools, a better
understanding of which is appropriate when, and learned how to access
the expertise to use them to mobilize financing from a variety of
sources to strengthen existing or design new water sector activities
and programs. Tools that were a part of workshop discussions include
municipal bonds, pooled financing, community-based finance models,
and use of Development Credit Authority.
- Private Sector Financing for Water
and Sanitation in the Philippines: At the close of the WSSD,
the United States Government (USG) announced a new initiative to improve
sustainable management of water resources. Shortly afterward, the
USG and the Government of Japan launched the Water for the Poor Initiative.
At the G8 Summit in 2003, the USG negotiated an action plan on water
that highlighted the need for innovative financing mechanisms to mobilize
domestic capital for water and sanitation projects. The Philippines
is one country targeted by this plan.
This commitment supports the intent of the UN Commission on Sustainable
Development (CSD) to focus on water and sanitation in its 2004-2005
implementation cycle. To carry out this support, USAID and the Department
of State (DOS) have designed a two track approach:
- Support ongoing GOP efforts to develop a plan
that outlines specific priorities and approaches for expanding
water and sanitation services to meet the MDGs that it can present
at the next CSD meeting in April 2005 CSD; and
- Help a selected group of local governments
and/or local water utilities to explore and test different approaches
for mobilizing private sector investment in new water and wastewater
infrastructure and services.
The USAID assistance will be provided through the
FORWARD Program. The FORWARD program uses a collaborative planning
and consensus building approach, and relies on local expertise to
the greatest extent possible. In the Philippines, stakeholders will
include national government agencies, Local Government Units and local
water utilities, Pension Funds and Insurance Companies, the Leagues
of Municipalities and Cities, the Local Water Utility Association
(LWUA), and NGO organizations that can represent water and sanitation
service consumers. Considerable information already exists in the
Philippines on the state of development of water and sanitation services.
We expect there also exist some completed analyses on the domestic
capital and financial markets that would be available from the World
Bank, USAID, JBIC, and possibly the Asian Development Bank (ADB).
The FORWARD team will analyze these prior analyses and meet with staff
members and consultants hired by these donors to coordinate efforts
and avoid duplicating already completed work. FORWARD has begun identifying
and recruiting local experts and a program manager to help manage
and carry out the work, collect background information that exists,
and draft scopes of work for the specific analyses that are needed.
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