Page 1 INTEGRATED SAFEGUARDS DATASHEET APPRAISAL STAGE I. Basic Information Date prepared/updated: 10/24/2007 Report No.: AC2995 1. Basic Project Data Country: Vietnam Project ID: P096418 Project Name: Land Administration Project Task Team Leader: Susan S. Shen Estimated Appraisal Date: November 5, 2007 Estimated Board Date: March 27, 2008 Managing Unit: EASRE Lending Instrument: Specific Investment Loan Sector: General agriculture, fishing and forestry sector (100%) Theme: Land administration and management (P);Other public sector governance (S) IBRD Amount (US$m.): 0.00 IDA Amount (US$m.): 70.00 GEF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 PCF Amount (US$m.): 0.00 Other financing amounts by source: BORROWER/RECIPIENT 25.00 Financing Gap 5.00 30.00 Environmental Category: C - Not Required Simplified Processing Simple [] Repeater [] Is this project processed under OP 8.50 (Emergency Recovery) or OP 8.00 (Rapid Response to Crises and Emergencies) Yes [ ] No [X] 2. Project Objectives The development objective is to increase access to land information system by all stakeholders through development of an improved land administration system in selected provinces of Vietnam. This objective will be achieved through ensuring that land users, including businesses and households, have access to more efficient and reliable services from land administration. 3. Project Description The project will finance, over a period of five years, the following main components and activities in nine provinces Component 1. The Modernization of the Land Registration System Component would support the development of an accurate, current, and complete information system to support land registration through (i) completing and updating all cadastral mapping showing all land parcels; (ii) completing and updating all records for land ownership and land use; (iii) developing and implementing information communication technology Page 2 (ICT) to store, access and update land registration and land use information; and (iv) supporting the implementation of data standards and protocols. Component 2. The Improvement of Land Registration Service Delivery Component would support improvement of land registration office service delivery; provision of access to land registration and land use data through all land registration offices; and implementation of a program to promote awareness by the public of land information availability and participation in the processes to complete and update land records and surveying. Under this component, nationally consistent service standards and mechanisms for data access would be developed and implemented. To address the sustainability of funding for land registration service delivery, this component would undertake a study on different financing models. Component 3. The Support to Project Management and M&E Component would support overall implementation of the project through activities aimed to strengthen project management capacity and enhance monitoring and evaluation to provide timely feedback for management actions. 4. Project Location and salient physical characteristics relevant to the safeguard analysis Nine provinces will participate in the project. Three are located in the Mekong Delta area (Tien Giang, Ben Tre and Vinh Long), three in the Central Coastal area (Binh Dinh, Khanh Hoa and Quang Ngai) and three in the Red River Delta (Ha Tay, Hung Yen and Thai Binh). There are around 250,000 ethnic minority people from 8 ethnic groups in the project provinces. The three project provinces located in the South Central Coast include upland districts with a high to very high share of indigenous peoples in the population. The project would only support registration of urban, residential and agricultural land. Forestry land, other land planned for forest sector use and land under dispute are being addressed separately, and out of the scope of the project. 5. Environmental and Social Safeguards Specialists 6. Safeguard Policies Triggered Yes No Environmental Assessment (OP/BP 4.01) X Natural Habitats (OP/BP 4.04) X Forests (OP/BP 4.36) X Pest Management (OP 4.09) X Physical Cultural Resources (OP/BP 4.11) X Indigenous Peoples (OP/BP 4.10) X Involuntary Resettlement (OP/BP 4.12) X Safety of Dams (OP/BP 4.37) X Projects on International Waterways (OP/BP 7.50) X Projects in Disputed Areas (OP/BP 7.60) X Page 3 II. Key Safeguard Policy Issues and Their Management A. Summary of Key Safeguard Issues 1. Describe any safeguard issues and impacts associated with the proposed project. Identify and describe any potential large scale, significant and/or irreversible impacts: Environmental Issues: The project is rated category C since it poses minimum environmental risks. The project is expected to have positive environmental impacts through improving the quality and quantity of environment-related information in the land register which will be available to key stakeholders including the government ministries, NGOs, and others. Increased information sharing among agencies is expected to lead to improved planning and programming in government tasks ranging from land use planning to natural disaster prevention and management. Social Safeguards: By modernizing the process of land administration in Vietnam, it is expected that the gap in available information between household residents (including ethnic minorities) and enterprises will be reduced since land registration and land transactions will be a more transparent. Not only is this expected to increase the competitive edge of smaller, private businesses (since they will be able to make more informed investments thereby enabling them to compete with State or the larger, corporate sectors. The project is also expected to enable rural and remote households to avail of similar land registration/tranaction systems such as those available to urban residents. While land use planning is not a design aspect of the project, access to land use plans and land registration systems will increase as a key domain of information. With earlier information on upcoming projects and possibly higher compensation levels, those affected by land development projects, especially the rural and urban poor, would be in a position to make better preparation to secure alternative housing and livelihood opportunities. The project will fund the re-issuance of land use right certificates in areas which currently do not have up-to-date land surveys. It will also, in some cases, issue certificates in newly surveyed areas. The social development outcomes of these are as follows: (i) the new certificates (in the names of both husbands and wives) are expected to strengthen the status of women vis a vis their land rights and social status; (ii) households (especially female headed) could secure loans by mortgaging individual land parcels whereas existing certificates covering multiple land parcels constrain access to credit; and (iii) in urban areas, the development of the formal land market could trigger development of housing options appropriate to the urban poor such as low-income rental housing. The project is also expected to lead to positive social outcomes for the ethnic minorities living in the uplands of South Central Coast included in the project area, mostly in Quang Ngai Province (as of preapraisal). The project provides an opportunity to pilot land administration services in the provinces in general, but also specifically for upland areas Page 4 where ethnic minorities live and land administration services are currently lagging behind, adding to the issue of land disputes between ethnic communities and enterprises or migrants. 2. Describe any potential indirect and/or long term impacts due to anticipated future activities in the project area: A risk that modernization of land administration supported under the project might further deepen differences between land user categories was identified early during project design. It relates to the fact that weaker stakeholder groups (which includes the poor and ethnic minorities) typically have less access to land information and services. To address this issue, the project design specifically accounts for the categories of the poor and vulnerable (ethnic minorities in uplands, women etc). Some accidental alteration of existing land use rights as a result of updating land survey and cadastral records might occur in areas with active land conversion out of agriculture. To avoid this, an enhanced participation process has been integrated into the project implementation manual and will be disseminated through project training courses. 3. Describe any project alternatives (if relevant) considered to help avoid or minimize adverse impacts. The possibility of financing only the mapping, surveying, and collection of data for land records and not the issuance (or re-issuance) of LURCs was considered and rejected. Project support to LURC issuance will among other positive consequences facilitate greater transparency and accountability in the land administration system, because the implementing entities will be required to fully account for the outputs of surveying and land records updating. A participatory mechanism to avoid any alteration of existing land use rights is being designed for inclusion in the land registration process as well as a grievance mechanism to back up the legal complaint system. The possibility to deliver more simple services specifically tailored to the lower capacity of upland areas was considered and rejected since the legal framework in Vietnam favors full territory coverage with consistent public services. Instead, the project's progress monitoring system allows for early identification of districts potentially lagging behind in service provision and one of the studies looks at the financial sustainability of services with attention to these districts. 4. Describe measures taken by the borrower to address safeguard policy issues. Provide an assessment of borrower capacity to plan and implement the measures described. In Vietnam, the regulatory framework for dealing with environmental and social safeguard issues has become more aligned with WB standards over the last ten years. The creation of the Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment in 2002 has focused attention on environmental/social issues related to environmental protection and land use. Continuous capacity development of MONRE is being supported by a number of donors including Sida and ADB. Page 5 The Borrower has undertaken formal consultation with ethnic minority stakeholders at national, district and commune levels. An Ethnic Minorities Peoples Planning Framework (EMPF) has been prepared since specific project activities in each of the districts will only be planned after the project has started. Specific measures have been included in this framework. They will increase interaction between land administration staff and indigenous communities. Indigenous peoples will access relevant information on land from locally-designed grassroots activities with translation into local languages in combination with videos and other modern media. The national land administration website will make legal and administrative information on topics of relevance to land and indigenous peoples broadly available to those serving as information providers for ethnic minority areas. 5. Identify the key stakeholders and describe the mechanisms for consultation and disclosure on safeguard policies, with an emphasis on potentially affected people. A participatory social assessment was undertaken during project preparation. The findings from this confirmed the interest among stakeholders to gain improved access to information and services in two priority topics: (i) land registration and (ii) land use plans. The public awareness and communication subcomponent has been designed on the basis of the preferences and communication constraints indicated in the survey. During preparation, national and international NGOs have been invited to attend three national stakeholder workshops. Individual consultations have taken place. The Center for Legal Research and Services, LERES, a national NGO active in promoting the issuance of joint husband and wife land use right certificates with World Bank support, is one of the NGOs that have participated during project preparation. The project builds on this initial successful initiative to expand issuance of these improved certificates on a large scale. B. Disclosure Requirements Date Indigenous Peoples Plan/Planning Framework: Was the document disclosed prior to appraisal? Yes Date of receipt by the Bank 08/03/2007 Date of "in-country" disclosure 10/04/2007 Date of submission to InfoShop 10/18/2007 * If the project triggers the Pest Management and/or Physical Cultural Resources, the respective issues are to be addressed and disclosed as part of the Environmental Assessment/Audit/or EMP. If in-country disclosure of any of the above documents is not expected, please explain why: C. Compliance Monitoring Indicators at the Corporate Level (to be filled in when the ISDS is finalized by the project decision meeting) Page 6 OP/BP 4.10 - Indigenous Peoples Has a separate Indigenous Peoples Plan/Planning Framework (as appropriate) been prepared in consultation with affected Indigenous Peoples? Yes If yes, then did the Regional unit responsible for safeguards or Sector Manager review the plan? Yes If the whole project is designed to benefit IP, has the design been reviewed and approved by the Regional Social Development Unit or Sector Manager? N/A The World Bank Policy on Disclosure of Information Have relevant safeguard policies documents been sent to the World Bank's Infoshop? Yes Have relevant documents been disclosed in-country in a public place in a form and language that are understandable and accessible to project-affected groups and local NGOs? Yes All Safeguard Policies Have satisfactory calendar, budget and clear institutional responsibilities been prepared for the implementation of measures related to safeguard policies? Yes Have costs related to safeguard policy measures been included in the project cost? Yes Does the Monitoring and Evaluation system of the project include the monitoring of safeguard impacts and measures related to safeguard policies? Yes Have satisfactory implementation arrangements been agreed with the borrower and the same been adequately reflected in the project legal documents? Yes D. Approvals Signed and submitted by: Name Date Task Team Leader: Ms Susan S. Shen 10/19/2007 Environmental Specialist: Mr Glenn S. Morgan 10/19/2007 Social Development Specialist Ms Claude Saint-Pierre 10/17/2007 Additional Environmental and/or Social Development Specialist(s): Approved by: Sector Manager: Mr Rahul Raturi 10/19/2007 Comments: