Natural resources management and environmental support program [612-0247 NPA] [612-0248 PA]

The program, which will be complemented by project assistance under 6120248, will disburse a cash grant of $30.5 million in four tranches in accordance with the conditionality noted below and be used as a Government of Malawi (GOM) budgetary resource for natural resource management (NRM)-related activities. No local currency will be generated. NATURE"s four areas of conditionality, along with key GOM actions, are as follows. (1) The GOM will establish a unifying, comprehensive policy and legislative framework governing NRM, principally by approving the National Environmental Policy (NEP) and by revising NRM and land use/tenure policies and legislation so they support the development of co-management systems for NRM and supportive partnerships between rural communities, government, NGOs, and the GOM. Revisions to legislation will focus on resource tenure and empower governments to delegate NRM responsibilities to rural communities. (2) The GOM will strengthen its institutional capacity for NRM by clarifying the role of the institution responsible for coordinating and monitoring NRM, fully staffing the Department of Environmental Affairs of the Ministry of Research and Environmental Affairs (MOREA), redefining all ministerial roles and responsibilities vis-a-vis NRM and increasing community participation in NRM and the resolution of resource-use conflicts, and improving compliance with legislation and regulations governing forestry, fisheries, and wildlife. (3) The GOM will implement results-driven NRM programs, including multi-year work plans in the area of NRM and the environment. The GOM will notify USAID of approved programs, identify the implementor, establish verifiable performance indicators for the programs, and provide funding levels adequate to achieve those indicators. (4) The GOM will achieve sustainable financing for private initiatives in NRM and environmental protection, principally by forming a working group of NGO, business, and GOM representatives to create a legally incorporated private endowment trust fund.