Executive Summary 

The Artisanal Mining and Property Rights (USAID AMPR) project supports the USAID Land and Urban Office in the Bureau for Economic Growth, Education, and Environment (E3/LU) in improving land and resource governance and strengthening property rights for all members of society, especially women. Its specific purpose is to address land and resource governance challenges in the artisanal and small-scale mining (ASM) sector, using a multidisciplinary approach and incorporating appropriate and applicable evidence and tools. The project builds upon activities and lessons from the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development (PRADD I and II) projects. The USAID AMPR contract was signed on September 28, 2018 and will run initially for 3 base years and with two optional years possible. Most project activities will be carried out in the Central African Republic.

The Initial Environmental Examination (IEE) Summary submitted was approved on March 20, 2018. The IEE gave a Negative Determination with Conditions (See Annex for copy of the IEE). Pursuant to the requirement to submit an Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (EMMP) within 60 days of signature of the contract between Tetra Tech and USAID, this initial statement spells out the ways in which the project will respond to the conditions spelled out in the IEE. In subsequent years, annual reports will indicate how the environmental issues are addressed.

During the project start-up phase, the project management team led by Project Manager Dr. Mark Freudenberger, Technical Deputy Terah DeJong, and Chief of Party Maxie Muwonge will conduct training sessions for all project staff on the intent of EMMP’s and the specific measures the project will take to implement the negative determination with conditions. The project management team is blessed with experiences learned from the Property Rights and Artisanal Diamond Development Project (PRADD II) carried out previously in the Central African Republic, Côte d’Ivoire, and Guinea. In these countries, the project confronted successfully many environmental problematics associated particularly with the artisanal diamond economy.