TERMS OF REFERENCE FOR CONSULTING SERVICES: ENVIRONMENTAL AND SOCIAL RISK ANALYSIS AND DEVELOPMENT OF A RISK MANAGEMENT PLAN FOR THE PROJECT NETWORKS4CONSERVATION: COMBATING DEFORESTATION THROUGH LOCAL NETWORKS FOR TRANSFORMATIVE CONSERVATION (CO-FUNDED BY IKI – INTERNATIONAL CLIMATE INITIATIVE)

1. Client

Caritas international (Ci) is the international division of Caritas Germany (DCV) - the coordinating body of social action provided by the Catholic Church and member of the global Caritas network. Climate change mitigation, adaptation and the protection of biodiversity are in the strategic focus of Ci. Ci’s work is based on respect for people in need, participation and clear needs and rights orientation.

The project “Networks4conservation: Combating deforestation through local networks for transformative conservation” aims at curbing deforestation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from land-use, landuse change and forestry to support the implementation of Brazil’s Deforestation Prevention and Control Plans (PPCDs) in the Cerrado, Pantanal, Caatinga, Atlantic Forest and Pampa biomes. The project will be implemented by a consortium of Ci (consortium lead), Rede Cerrado, Articulação Semiárido Brasileiro (ASA) and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), in cooperation with further technical partners (e.g. Rede Ecovida), finance institutions and national and subnational political partners. For the latter, the Ministério do Meio Ambiente e Mudança do Clima (MMA) serves as the focal point.

2. Context

Deforestation poses the biggest threat to the achievement of Brazil’s NDC targets and its 2030 zero deforestation goal. The project aims at curbing deforestation and reducing greenhouse gas emissions from land-use, land-use change and forestry to support the implementation of Brazil’s Deforestation Prevention and Control Plans (PPCDs). The effective implementation of PPCDs across all Brazilian biomes presents an opportunity to support the reduction of deforestation through public policies. This enforcement strategy needs to be coupled with innovative incentives to change the rationale for land use, including comprehensive socio-ecological transformations, innovative finance solutions and novel stakeholder partnerships. These solutions need to be locally rooted. Ecosystem-based adaptation and nature-based solutions, as outlined in Brazil’s new Climate Plan and National Adaptation Strategy, are vital in this regard.

In particular, new socio-biodiversity product chains will create income opportunities, strengthen resilience and incentivize biodiversity conservation (work package 1). Consolidated and well managed protected areas will provide biodiversity resources (work package 3). Innovative financing instruments leveraging respective investments at scale will be developed together with governmental authorities and implemented by the project (work package 2). Close collaboration with the government, broad stakeholder participation, research, lobby and capacity development (work package 4) are further means for achieving sustained results.

Direct beneficiaries and main target groups are family farmers, indigenous peoples and traditional populations (such as quilombola communities, babassu coconut breakers, traditional herders and Caatinga inhabitants among many others), directly included in the proposal by their respective networks in the biomes: Rede Cerrado (Cerrado, Pantanal), ASA (Caatinga) and Ecovida Agroecology Network (Atlantic Forest, Pampa - Ecovida will be subcontracted). Another target group are medium-sized farmers, particularly in regions experiencing the highest deforestation rates.

In November 2024 the project’s outline was selected, and the German Federal Ministry for the Environment, Nature Conservation, Nuclear Safety and Consumer Protection (BMUV) invited the project’s consortium to submit a detailed project proposal within the Country Call Brazil 2024 from the International Climate Initiative (IKI)1. The full project is currently under preparation for submission to IKI in August 2025. This process includes, among other elements, an Environmental and Social Risk Analysis and the formulation of a Risk Management Plan.

Safeguards are protective measures designed to prevent, minimize or mitigate adverse impacts from project activities on people and the environment. Due stakeholder engagement should ensure access to information, meaningful consultation and participation of people potentially affected by adverse effects.

Undertaking an Environmental and Social Risk Analysis and developing a Risk Management Plan are mandatory for all IKI projects. They shall comply with the IKI Safeguards Policy2 , including IKI Safeguards Standards, exclusion criteria and stakeholder engagement requirements.

In the project outline phase, the project consortium members carried out an initial risk screening. This came to the preliminary conclusion that the project measures are not associated with any or only very low risks (at most risk category C). If there are any risks at all, then, according to the preliminary findings, these most likely concern the IFC Performance Standards PS 5 “land acquisition”, PS 6 “biodiversity”, PS 7 “Indigenous People and marginalized groups” and PS 8 “cultural heritage”. These assumptions are to be reviewed as part of the consulting assignment.

3. Purpose of the Consultancy

The purpose of the consultancy is:

(i) to carry out a detailed review of possible environmental and social risks which may be connected to the proposed project activities and its actors, including a specification of the risk category considering the activities,

(ii) to identify safeguard measures to prevent, minimize, mitigate or remedy potential adverse impacts of the activities on project’s stakeholders and their environment,

(iii) to identify measures that ensure that during the project implementation, the project’s stakeholders – people of all ages and genders and marginalized groups (e.g. poor, indigenous, people with disabilities, youth, women, small holders etc.), and including those of further partners – are aware of the IKI independent complaint mechanism and how to submit a complaint3 . In this context, it will be crucial to analyze the (existing) complaint management systems of the consortium partners and the technical partners and how these can be connected to the Ci and IKI mechanisms,

(iv) to determine the type and scope of further risk analyses and management plans to be drawn up, if applicable,

(v) to verify if the established UNDP Social and Environmental Safeguards, Screening Procedures and Stakeholder Response Mechanisms can serve as a framework for the project in full compliance with the IKI Safeguards Policy and meaningful stakeholder consultation. If there are gaps, recommendations are expected on how to close them,

(vi) Furthermore, it is expected that the consultant(s) make suggestions on how to organize monitoring and reporting on safeguards within the regular reporting to IKI efficiently and in compliance with IKI requirements.

In terms of methodologies, it is expected that a combination of desk-based and field-based quantitative and qualitative data collection and research methods is being applied, including surveys, semi-open interviews and focal group discussions etc. fully involving the project’s stakeholders. It is further expected that the results are evidence-based, triangulated, and, if necessary, calibrated, with due regard to the standards of the German Evaluation Society (DeGEval), where applicable.

The Environmental and Social Risk Analysis and development of a Risk Management Plan must choose an approach that fully considers the socio-economic and cultural differences between the project areas and the project's target groups (including indigenous peoples, traditional communities, family and medium farmers, and MSMEs), and the views of the most vulnerable population groups (see iii above). The inception report must explain the details of this approach.

The consultant(s) will undertake the Environmental and Social Risk Analysis and development of a Risk Management Plan in close coordination with all consortium members and partners, each of them nominating a focal point, and the consortium as a whole designating a contact person as the main counterpart.

The Environmental and Social Risk Analysis should be composed by the following components:

1. Executive summary

2. Description of the project, its result chain, possible risks and risk management mechanisms, and what are the relevant underlying assumptions and hypotheses, including a review of the same

3. Recommendations on how to integrate and improve the diverse complaint management systems

4. Verification of the eligibility of the established UNDP Social and Environmental Safeguards, Screening Procedures and Stakeholder Response Mechanisms as a framework for the project

5. Data sources, methodology and its limitations

6. Environmental and Social Risk Assessment, including risk categorization

7. Proposal of a Risk Management Plan

8. Proposed measures to raise stakeholder awareness regarding potential risks within the project’s context, as well as proposed measures to inform them about project-related complaint mechanisms and procedures

9. Suggestions on how to organize monitoring and reporting on safeguards

10. Conclusions

11. Annexes

4. Phases of the Consultancy Assignment

The consultant is expected to implement the assignment in accordance with the following phases:

Phase/Tasks

Interviews with key informants, analysis of documents, elaboration and submission of inception report

- Review of relevant IKI documents on the requirements and of all relevant project documents

- Interviews with key informants

- Stakeholder mapping

- Preparation of inception report containing the main premises and hypotheses, a description of the planned approach, data baselines and methodology, an outline (with comments on the content) of the final report and draft workplan

- Presentation, discussion and finalisation of the inception report

Collection and preliminary analysis of data and information, submission of preliminary findings with resulting recommendations

- Survey, interviews, focal group discussions etc., collection of baseline risk data and information that could later be used for monitoring

- Preliminary Risk Analysis, including risk categorization

- Preliminary elements of the Risk Management Plan

- Revision of the outline of the final report

- Presentation of interim results, discussion with and approval by client

Elaboration and submission of the draft Risk Analysis and Risk Management Plan

Revision, submission and presentation of the final Risk Analysis and the proposed Risk Management Plan

5. Deliverables

Nr., Description, Deadline

1 Draft inception report, 2 weeks after assignment

2 Final inception report, 3 weeks after assignment

3 Report with interim results (see above), 7 weeks after assignment

4 Draft Risk Analysis and Risk Management Plan, 9 weeks after assignment

5 Final Risk Analysis Report, Risk Management Plan and ppt with key results, 11 weeks after assignment

All deliverables should be written in English. A working version should also be available in Portuguese.

6. Required Expertise

➢ Postgraduate university degree or equivalent with relevant work experience in environmental and social risk analysis and risk management planning

➢ Experience and expertise with participatory methods of risk analysis and risk management

➢ Specific experience on the sector of intervention in Brazil, and preferably also in one or more of the project regions and project target groups

➢ Experience in at least of the following risk areas: land acquisition, biodiversity, “Indigenous People and marginalized groups”, “cultural heritage, “accountability and safeguarding”

➢ The team leader should be fluent in Portuguese and English

➢ Being based in Brazil is considered an asset

7. Requirements for submitting the Proposal

• Cover letter

• Technical proposal

• Financial proposal

• Curriculum vitae of all members of the consultancy team

• Reference studies and/or reference persons

8. Schedule of Payments

The consultant is expected to be engaged for approximately 40 - 50 working days and to conduct field visits to all 5 biomes.

25 % of payment upon approval of inception report.

75 % of payment upon approval of the final version of the study.

9. Deadline for Submission of the Tender

Submission of the proposal via e-mail by April 28

Patrick Ambs

Caritas Germany

Department Latin America

D-79104 Freiburg, Karlstraße 40

Patrick.Ambs@caritas.de

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Terms of reference: Environmental Social Risk Analysis & Safeguards for the project Networks4conservation

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