Component 1: Pastoral Risk Management for Resilience

 This component will enhance the absorptive and adaptive capacities of PAP communities and their ecosystems by strengthening DRM capacities and developing public infrastructure that supports disaster preparedness and climate resilience.

Subcomponent 1.1: Strengthening Lowlands Early Warning and Response System and Climate Information Services (US$9 million, including US$7 million IDA equivalent and US$2 million IFAD)

This subcomponent will finance activities that relate to strengthening the early warning and response system and CIS in Ethiopia’s lowlands with a focus on ‘last mile connectivity’. This focus will ensure that information and advice about impending climate change-exacerbated hazards (including drought, floods, conflicts, livestock disease outbreaks, higher temperatures, and pest infestations) reach households across PAP areas in a timely fashion. To strengthen the early warning and response system, the project will finance the preparation of WDRPs. WDRPs will be prepared or updated (where they already exist) for all 120 of the project woredas in the eight regions and outline the major vulnerabilities of each woreda. In a process led by the Ethiopian Disaster Risk Management Commission (EDRMC), WDRPs will be prepared using participatory processes involving community representatives and key stakeholders at the woreda level. Experienced international organizations, such as the International Institute for Rural Reconstruction (IIRR), will facilitate the process and prepare a report using an interactive online platform to be hosted by the EDRMC. The Consultative Group on International Agricultural Research (CGIAR), through the Accelerating Impacts of CGIAR Climate Research for Africa (AICCRA) Project, will support the integration of climate information into WDRPs. The subcomponent will also (a) build the Government’s and community’s awareness of DRM; (b) support the EDRMC in rolling out the new Multi-Hazard, Impact-Based Early Warning and Early Action System (MH-IB-EW-EAS) roadmap for 2023–2030, in the lowlands, including by helping it develop region-specific implementation plans; (c) support the implementation of the National Framework for Climate Services (NFCS) in the lowlands by the Ethiopian Meteorology Institute (EMI); (d) strengthen partnerships and coordination among the Ministry of Irrigation and Lowlands (MILLs), EDRMC, and EMI, to ensure the successful implementation of the MH-IB-EW-EAS and NFCS in the lowlands; and (e) build the institutional, organizational, and human resource capacity of key stakeholders, including the EDRMC and EMI (at the federal, regional, and woreda levels), with a focus on forecasting and last mile communications in the lowlands of Ethiopia. In relation to CIS, the project will build capacities to collect, analyze, process, and disseminate information by (a) procuring automated weather stations; (b) developing the use of various communication channels such as short message service (SMS), community networks, local media, and public address systems; (c) investing in data storage and management capacities and other IT infrastructure; and (d) enhancing knowledge on climate change adaptation and mitigation through training programs and South-South exchange. The capacity-building activities under Subcomponent 1.1 will be coordinated with partners such as the Asian Disaster Preparedness Center and projects including the Ethiopian Flood Management Project (EFMP), the Netherlands’ Water at the Center of Climate Project, the European Union Disaster Risk Reduction Project, and the Building Resilience in Ethiopia Project. The subcomponent will also seek technical support from the AICCRA Project of the International Livestock Research Institute (ILRI).

Subcomponent 1.2: Implementing Disaster Preparedness and Resilience Investments (US$219 million, including US$177 million IDA and US$42 million IFAD)

This subcomponent will support the identification of, and selectively fund, a range of investments in climate-smart public economic infrastructure (PEI), that is, physical infrastructure that can help mitigate the impacts of climate-related (and other) hazards on PAP systems and communities. The identification, selection, and planning of PEI investments will proceed as follows.

(a) Regional Disaster Preparedness and Resilience-building Strategic Investment Plans (DPRSIPs). Based on the WDRPs prepared under Subcomponent 1.1. and the rangeland management and investment plans

(RMIPs) that were prepared under LLRP I, regional-level DPRSIPs will be prepared for each of the eight project regions in consultation with selected woredas and communities. Each DPRSIP will lay out a 5–10- year regional investment plan addressing key socioeconomic and climate-related challenges. Investment activities will be selected for inclusion in DPRSIPs based on their expected impacts, sustainability, and feasibility. The plans’ preparation will be supported by the IIRR. Once finalized, the plans will become public documents (made available on the EDRMC’s online platform). The scope of the regional DPRSIPs will be broader and beyond the budget envelope of LLRP II. Thus, LLRP II will finance selected activities while several development partners active in the lowlands will be able to finance others.

(b) Climate-smart PEI investment plan for LLRP II. Facilitated by MILLs (LLRP II’s Project Coordination Units [PCUs]), the project will prepare an overall PEI investment plan for the project, aggregating the PEI investments it intends to carry out. The full implementation of DPRSIPs is likely to require a large funding envelope that exceeds LLRP II’s budget. Thus, the project will screen and select a subset of DPRSIP activities to finance. The screening will also apply to 71 PEI subprojects29 worth US$104 million already identified by LLRP I for which feasibility studies are either fully completed or will be completed by the time LLRP II is effective. Selection criteria will include readiness, sustainability, climate change sensitivity, complementarity with Components 2 and 3, other ongoing initiatives (for example, the World Bank-funded De-risking, Inclusion and Value Enhancement of Pastoral Economies in the Horn of Africa Project (P176517)) and the strength of operation and maintenance arrangements. The screening process will be participatory and involve all concerned region-level government and nongovernmental stakeholders. Once the specific PEI subprojects for financing under LLRP II are identified, the project will finance their detailed preparation or updating. The total cost of these activities will not exceed 5 percent of the actual investment cost for the PEI.

(c) Climate-smart PEI investments. At this stage, the project will move into the implementation of the project’s climate-smart PEI investment plan in collaboration with relevant sector bureaus in each project region. Together, these investments are set to reduce the climate vulnerability of the PAPs Eligible climatesmart PEI investments to be financed under this subcomponent will include the construction, upgrading,

or rehabilitation of (i) drought-resilient water resource infrastructure for both human and livestock consumption (such as deep water well, small, and micro-dams), (ii) efficient and innovative small-scale irrigation schemes (up to 500 ha per scheme), (iii) all-weather feeder roads, (iv) cold storage and feed stores, (v) livestock market facilities, (vi) veterinary service facilities, and (vii) flood management works, prioritizing nature-based solutions (NBS) identified under Component 2. The PEI investments will be strategically sited along key migration and trade corridors, and water supply infrastructure will be located with careful consideration of available grazing resources to avoid overgrazing and degradation in their vicinity. To ensure climate resilience, the design and specifications of the PEI investments will be informed by climate vulnerability assessments. Water resources development to improve drought resilience will be

carried out in selected drought-prone regions such as Afar, Somali, and Oromia. In these areas, water supply and sanitation schemes will focus on already drilled boreholes and procuring and supplying deep well drilling machines with all accessories. Details on the operational modalities of these machines are outlined in the Project Implementation Manual (PIM). The project will ensure the establishment of operation and maintenance mechanisms for all LLRP II-financed PEI investments. To the extent possible, the project will promote the use of green energy for water supply and sanitation and all the livestock and other facilities such as cold storages, feed stores, laboratories etc. Tailored training will be provided on groundwater investigation and operations management