Gabon - Capacity Building in Environment Management of Large Infrastructure Projects The IDF Grant aims at: (1) supporting the preparation of sector guidelines and the definition of norms and indicators, which will be used as substantial inputs for the revision of the EPC, (ii) training staff from MoE and line Ministries to the strengthen the environmental and social capacity at Governmental level to help it properly guide, assess, review and monitor environmental and social impact assessment processes and outcomes for large infrastructure projects and (iii) promote and strengthen the capacity of Civil Society's Organizations (CSOs) and local communities to participate in the review and implementation of environmental and social assessments and management plans related large infrastructure projects, that could affect them. First Closing Date Dec. 15, 2011 The objective of the IDF grant is to strengthenthe Government of Gabon's ability to review Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) and monitor the implementation of Environmental Management Plans (EMP) for large infrastructure projects and to provide access to environment-related documentation.  As a matter of fact, large infrastructure projects (such as hydropower plants, exploitation of large iron-ore deposit, roads,#) are planned by the GoG to engage the transition from a highly oil dependent economy to a diversified one (cf Part on Relationship to country development program) these are promising opportunities and are likely to provide significant incomes to the country. However, very few large infrastructures have been created so far in Gabon (except the TransGabon railway) and challenges related to such projects are huge, specifically with regards to the integration of environmental safeguards. As a matter of fact, such large projects will have substantial environmental and social impacts which need to be carefully dealt with, through sound and effective environmental assessment and management plans in order to avoid, minimize and/or offset as appropriate their direct and indirect costs to Gabon and its populations.  With a national territory covering 267,667 square kilometers, Gabon has a very low population, highly concentrated in the major cities: 84% of the 1,529.919 inhabitants live in the major urban centers and 42% in the Capital Libreville (according to the latest census from the Ministry of Planning and Development in 1993). Most of the planned infrastructure projects will be implemented in #empty# areas and no displacement of population is foreseen. Major foreseen social impacts of such projects are linked to potential pollutions of air, water and soil, due to the use chemical products. Though there is quite a good knowledge on #green# environment, knowledge is very limited as far as the brown and grey environment are concerned: this is exactly what the proposed IDF would target.  In 2005, Gabon created the Ministry of Environment (MoE, established as a Vice-Prime Ministry) with a clear mandate to make the future economic development compatible with the Environment preservation. However, despite the creation of the Ministry of Environment (MoE) in 2005, activities on the ground to protect environment are still very insufficient. The major reasons are:  (i) the MoE is still weak and drastically lacks financial and human capacities  (ii) the Environmental Protection Code, adopted in 1993, is no longer appropriate and needs to be revised. Moreover, there is no tool and guidelines to ensure enforcement of regulations on the ground.  (iii) the coordination amongst the various governmental bodies involved in the Environmental Impact Assessment (EIA) and Environmental Monitoring Plan (EMP), is unsatisfactory and strongly constrains the decision-making and action processes.  (iv) Very few consultations and awareness campaigns led so far, to the benefit of the non governmental stakeholders: private sector, civil society (NGOs, associations), local authorities (mayors), media, and lawyers. Involvement of all stakeholders needs to be strengthened.  The IDF grant is part of wider framework of reforms launched by the Government of Gabon to ensure that the transition from a highly oil-dependent economy to a diversified economy will be carried out in an environmentally- and socially-sound manner.  First, in order to adjust the regulatory framework to the new environmental challenges and to clarify roles and responsibilities and ensure an improved integration of environmental concerns in all activities and projects, the MoE has recently launched a process of revision of the Environment Protection Code (EPC), as well as the related regulatory texts. The MoE has received a budgetary allocation of US$220,000 for the FY 2008 (Jan. to Dec. 2008) to complete this exercise. However, this budget allocation resources are not enough to cover all the activities planned under the reform process of the Environment management. This is why the support from the Bank has been requested.  As a matter of fact, in addition to that revision of the EPC, the MoE has identified major activities that need to be launched to ensure that the environmental and social impacts of infrastructure projects are properly assessed and their environment management plans are satisfactorily elaborated and monitored. These activities are proposed to be financed by the IDF grant and are the following:  (i)	elaboration of tools to evaluate and monitor environmental impacts (sector guidelines and norms/indicators),  (ii)	reinforcement of human capacities in the MoE and in line ministries on environment Monitoring & Evaluation M&E (HQ staff and field staff), and  (iii)	Consultation and Information to the civil society on environmental issues.  The IDF are not purely M&E activities but will contribute to define the foundations of an M&E system, by elaborating key tools and instruments and strengthening capacities of both the Administrations and the non-government actors. The IDF activities will not directly cover the development of an Environmental Monitoring Information System (EMIS). Setting up an EMIS at the national level is far too ambitious and requires investments that exceed an IDF grant. Nonetheless, the IDF grant will pave the way for the elaboration of such a system.