Consultancy Terms of Reference for
“Compile good practice EBA in Nepal and VIA methodologies and tools,
and climate scenarios used in Nepal for Ecosystem Vulnerability
Assessment”
1. Background
The Ecosystem Based Adaptation (EBA) Programme for Mountain Ecosystems in Nepal, Peru and
Uganda aims strengthen the capacities of these three countries, which are particularly vulnerable
to climate change impacts, to strengthen ecosystem resilience for promoting ecosystem-based
adaptation (EBA) options and to reduce the vulnerability of communities, with particular
emphasis on mountain ecosystems.
Ecosystem-based approaches to adaptation (EbA) are defined by the Convention on Biological
Diversity (CBD) as “the use of biodiversity and ecosystem services to help people adapt to the
adverse effects of climate change”. This definition was elaborated by the CBD COP 10 Decision
X/33 on Climate Change and Biodiversity as including “sustainable management, conservation
and restoration of ecosystems, as part of an overall adaptation strategy that takes into account
the multiple social, economic and cultural co-benefits for local communities”.
The programme is funded by the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature
Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMU) through its International Climate Initiative, and is
implemented through a partnership of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP), the
United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) and the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN).
Climate change impacts are already affecting the functioning and integrity of several ecosystems
and are adding to the stress resulting from other anthropogenic interventions such as
unsustainable land use practices. The project countries and targeted ecosystems have been
identified as particularly vulnerable to climate change impacts. A multitude of communities
depend upon the services provided by these ecosystems.
Specifically the project will support: (i) the development of methodologies and tools for
mountain ecosystems; (ii) the application of the above tools and methodologies at the national
level; (iii) the implementation of EBA pilots at the ecosystem level; and (iv) the formulation of
national policies and building an economic case for EBA at the national level.
The project will create new opportunities for experimental learning between regions and among
countries within the same region. Through parallel and cooperative development and application
of methodologies and tools and the implementation of pilot projects, the project will shorten the
learning curve of local and national institutions and fast-track the transfer of knowledge and
experience in relation to building ecosystem resilience.
The Ecosystem based Adaptation Nepal (EbA-N) project aims to enhance capacity of local
communities, demonstrate EbA measures for continued provision of ecosystem services, and
support in strengthening the institutional capacity of key national Nepalese actors to build and
better integrate ecosystem resilience options in national, sub-national and local level plans. This
will promote Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA) options as part of overall adaptation strategies
in Nepal and reduce the vulnerability of communities, with particular emphasis on mountain
ecosystems. The project also aims to develop ecosystem-focused decision-making tools,
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demonstrating EbA results at the local level, building the economic case for EbA and using
knowledge and learning derived from the project to influence.
The Ecosystem based Adaptation Nepal (EbA-N) will be implemented in Panchase area, belonging
to Kaski, Parbat and Syangja districts, due to its vulnerability to climate change particularly
negative impacts on water resources, agriculture and biodiversity. Ministry of Forest and Soil
Conservation (MFSC) will implement national level activities in partnership with UNDP, IUCN and
UNEP while Ministry of Environment (MoE) will play overall coordination role. The different
partners are responsible for certain components through the coordination by the Programme
Management Unit (PMU) within the Department of Forest under Ministry of Forest and Soil
Conservation.
2. Purpose of Assignment and Scope of Work
The purpose of assignment is to produce supporting document and baseline information
particularly to help in a) designing Ecosystem Level Vulnerability Impact Assessment (VIA)
Methodology and Tools for Nepal taking into account the country circumstances and
experiences, and b) designing EBA strategy for Panchase area by using experiences of good
practice EBA options for promoting ecosystem based adaptation (EBA) to climate change. The
specific scope of work includes;

Review and compile of good practice EBA for mountain ecosystem from available
national (Nepal) and regional (Himalayan region) literature and documents1. This will be
also a contribute to Handbook of EBA Measures (Good practice EBA options identified
and complied); and

Review and compile of existing national level Ecosystem VIA Assessment methodology,
tools and climate change scenario, including data layers and methods for mapping
ecosystem vulnerability and EBA, for Nepal and Panchase Ecosystem and recommend
methodology and tools to be used for assessment of VIA for Panchase area.
3. Implementation Assignment
The contract will be performance-based, spanning a period of 2 months totaling 40 person-days.
Terms and conditions of service linked to the type of proposed contract will apply.
The consultant/consultants will be under the overall supervision and guidance of the Regional
Climate Change Coordinator of UNEP ROAP based in Bangkok and EBA Programme Management
EBA practices to consider are all conservation, restoration and/or sustainable management of
ecosystem for
 Disaster risk reduction
 Slope stabilisation
 Regulation of water storage, runoff and flooding
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Regulation of nutrient, water flows and quality
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Regulation of soil structure and quality
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Maintenance of genetic diversity
Provision of alternative livelihoods
Biomass growth and protection (e.g. agricultural crops, timber, etc.)
Species management and protection (e.g. pollinators, game) under climate
change, climate variability and climatic shocks.
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Unit (PMU) Nepal will provide day-to-day guidance as needed and will report on a fortnightly
basis. Coordination of the consultancy activities with the EBA partner/implementing
organizations, and stakeholders in the Panchase area, districts and national level, will be
conducted with the EBA Project Management Unit (PMU), to ensure appropriate
communications about the project and easy access to stakeholders.
The consultant may be invited to present the results of the assignment work at workshops or
meetings of the project. Costs for any such participation are not included in this consultancy
contract.
4. Detailed Activities
Steps required to fully implement EBA at the district, catchment or mountain scale include a
vulnerability and Impacts Assessment (VIA), the selection and design of EBA options, and the
implementation of a management and monitoring plan. For the design and implementation of
EBA at the local village or community scale the use of computer-assisted VIA and mapping of
options is unlikely to be appropriate or feasible. The project can provide guidance on the types of
issues and questions to be addressed in designing EBA at the village level, but its principal focus
will be on supporting VIA and EBA design at the district, catchment or mountain scale and for
Nepal it will be for Panchase Area. It is recognized that a major constraint in this work is likely to
be a lack of suitable and accessible data at the sub-national scale.
In most of climate change vulnerability and impacts assessment, the assessment of vulnerability
ecosystem services and resilience is not currently integrated within currently available
Vulnerability and Impact Assessment (VIA) methods. However, there are elements of ecosystem
and ecosystem services in the VIA assessment methodology and tools, mostly considering
sectoral perspective. So the project will work to adapt and develop a VIA method with an
‘ecosystem approach’. There are different approaches and methods to VIA and there are
probably a range of experiences in Nepal including mountain ecosystems similar to Panchase
ecosystem.
4.1 Review and compile of good practice EBA for mountain ecosystem
1. Define good practice EBA in the context of Nepal mountain ecosystem based on generally
defined good practice EBA in international literature keeping common characteristics or
features of determinants of effectiveness at ecosystem level;
2. Prepare a list of organizations working on climate change adaptation in Nepal and list of
on-going climate change adaptation projects with special emphasis on ecosystem based
adaptation and/or having elements of ecosystem based adaptation;
3. Collect and review literature from international and national sources to gather existing
good practice EBA on Nepal mountain ecosystem;
4. Categories those good practice EBA options and/or elements of ecosystem based
adaptation options against types of ecosystem services that each option is supporting
and types of climate stressor(s) is/are being address through each option. A matrix may
be developed to summaries good practice EBA options;
5. Prepare 3-4 pages description on each good practice EBA options which may include,
name of the option; description of options highlighting its key characteristics; description
of natural setting, institutional setting and policy context; types of climate stressor being
addresses; types of ecosystem services being maintained or enhanced; types of livelihood
supported and human wellbeing improved or trade-offs; upstream and downstream
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linkages of options; how it has been delivered/implemented including participation of
local communities;
6. Prepare good practice EBA for Nepal mountain ecosystem report by putting outputs of
the above activities and incorporate comments and suggestions received from partners
for finalization of the report;
7. Make presentation during national workshop on sharing good practice EBA on mountain
ecosystem.
4.2 Review and suggest VIA Methodology for EBA Assessment
The aim of this activity is assess and suggest VIA methodology and tools, climate change scenario
for Panchase area for Ecosystem VIA Assessment as well as identification of institute(s) and
individual need to be involved in conducting vulnerability and impacts assessment and spatial
planning and designing of EBA options for implementation.
Scope of Work
Review and compilation of existing national level vulnerability and impacts assessment
methodology and climate change scenario for Nepal and Panchase ecosystem, and refinement of
existing and/or development of new VIA methodology and tools, scenarios as needed for
Panchase area for Ecosystem VIA Assessment. Details activities are given below
1. Review international and national literature for identification of key ecosystem services
in the context of mountain ecosystem which need to be integrated in VIA methodology
and tools for assessing vulnerability and impacts;
2. Prepare a list of organizations have working experiences on assessing vulnerability and
impacts of mountain ecosystem in Nepal and list of on-going assessment work in Nepal
as well as in Panchase Area, and prepare a short list suggesting list of potential
organization for conducting VIA of Panchase Area;
3. Identifying existing data, methodologies and tools that can be applied for VIA and
mapping vulnerability and EbA option in mountain areas, and related gaps;
4. Identify and document existing methodologies that have been applied in Nepal for
Climate Change Vulnerability and Impact Assessment, with an emphasis on
methodologies that can be applied for a local-level assessment;
5. The exploration of datasets should take account of the three key components of
vulnerability, i.e. exposure to climate change and variability, sensitivity and adaptive
capacity, as well as a fourth aspect of perception of risk. Current and future demand for
and availability of ecosystem services will be an important consideration in identifying
datasets and information sources related to the sensitivity and adaptive capacity of
communities
6. Categories VIA methodologies and tools applied in Nepal for assessing vulnerability and
impacts of mountain ecosystem, their merits and limitations, types of data and
information required, types of expertise necessary, time required, elements of
ecosystem services incorporated, etc. This information may be compiled in a matrix;
7. Based on existing methodology and tools applied in Nepal and if any in Panchase area as
well as importance of ecosystem services elements for vulnerability assessment, suggest
an existing methodology or refine an existing methodology by integrating ecosystem
services elements in the VIA in the context Panchase area;
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8. Make a presentation during national workshop on existing VIA methodology used in
Nepal for assessing vulnerability of ecosystem and proposed methodology and tools for
Panchase area.
5. Final Deliverables
1.
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3.
4.
Good practice EBA document on Nepal mountain ecosystem;
Presentation on EBA good practice measures in mountain ecosystems;
Status report on existing VIA methodologies and tools, and climate scenarios for
Nepal and selected ecosystem and recommend methodology and tools for Panchse
Area;
Presentation on existing VIA methodologies and suggested EbA VIA methodology for
the Panchase area.
6. Timeframe of Assignment
Week 1:
Review of relevant EBA Project Documents. Meetings with EBA secretariat (PMU) and
UNEP ROAP, UNEP-WCMC (by telephone or in person) to have clarity of the scope
and requirements of the consultancy work
Week 2-4: Information collection and stakeholder interviews
Week 5-6: Writing and submission of Draft Report
Week 7:
Finalization (by consultant) and approval (by EBA-PMU and stakeholders) of the Final
Report
7. Required Experiences, Competencies and Skills
Applicants shall demonstrate sufficient capacities to carryout activities in a satisfactory manner.
The successful applicants will have:
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At least a Masters Degree in natural resources management, social science, development
studies, or a relevant field (7 years of relevant experience with a relevant Bachelor’s Degree
will substitute the Master Degree requirement)

At least 5 years of work experience in programme management and monitoring in
development work. Work experience in sustainable livelihoods is a strong asset, including
experience in direct execution of similar assignments; Experience in the fields of
environment, agriculture or climate change would be a distinct advantage; Proven research
experience;
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Experience with working with various stakeholders in Nepal including civil society,
government institutions, and international organizations; and experience carrying out
baseline surveys;
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Demonstrated ability and excellent communication skills to facilitate and coordinate
interviews and focus group discussions;
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Results driven, ability to work under pressure and to meet strict deadlines; remains calm and
in control under pressure
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Experience in report writing,
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Excellent inter-personal and technical communication (oral, written and visual) skills with
high level English language writing skills are essential;
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Ability to work with staff from the PMU
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Core skills:
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Technical knowledge and understanding of climate change and adaptation, as well as
community-based natural resource management
Technical knowledge in Monitoring and evaluation
Comprehensive Knowledge in Vulnerability Impact Assessments
8. Submission of Expression of Interest
Interested individual and/or organizations are requested to submit expression of interest to
carryout the above consultancy service including cost of services within two weeks from the date
of announcement. Please submit your expression of interest address below either by email or
post.
Mozaharul Alam
Regional Climate Change Coordinator
Regional Office for Asia and the Pacific (ROAP)
United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)
UN Building, 2nd Floor, Block-B
Rajdamnern Nok Avenue
Bangkok-10200, Thailand
Email: mozaharul.alam@unep.org
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