Environmental Impact Assessment

Mercy Corps Nepal

Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin (BHAKARI)

Scope of Work for

Environment Impact Assessment Consultant

This Scope of work (SoW) is prepared for acquiring consultancy services to undertake Environmental Impact Assessment of BHAKARI activities.

1.0 Introduction

Mercy Corps Nepal is implementing BHAKARI program from October 2020 to enhance food and nutrition security, reduce future humanitarian caseload and improve the resilience of communities to recurrent shocks along the Karnali river basin (KRB). BHAKARI is a multiyear emergency programming program funded by USAID's Bureau for Humanitarian Affairs (BHA). The program is implemented in 6 districts (Mugu, Jumla, Kalikot, Surkhet, Achham, and Dailekh, with cluster hubs in Surkhet and Jumla). The sectoral programmatic intervention includes agriculture and market systems, disaster risk reduction, water for productive use, natural resources management, emergency response to multiple (localized) shocks with GESI – first approach that emphasis on a gender and social inclusion approach, reaching to the most vulnerable segment of the society with integrated multi-sectoral approach.

Mercy Corps Nepal fully take into account environmental sustainability in designing and carrying out its programs and assure that the potential adverse impacts of development activities on ecosystems, environmental resources, and human health and welfare are identified prior to implementation, that this knowledge fully informs the decision makers of whether or not to proceed to implementation, and that activities are designed and implemented to minimize these impacts.

As part of project activities, Mercy Corps Nepal requires the services of Independent Consultants or Firms to conduct Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA) of BHAKARI activities on an as needed basis with beginning assignments in August 2022 The purpose of this EOI is to identify a qualified EIA consultant to carry out the environment impact assessment of BHAKARI activities, identify the potential environment risks and propose the potential mitigation measures to ensure the environmental soundness of the program. The EIA report will identify the potential environment risks, environmental threshold determinations and recommend the potential environment mitigation measures for proposed program activities in the BHAKARI working areas of Nepal.

The overall scope of this assignment is to evaluate and mitigate for the potential impact of BHAKARI activities on the environment. Therefore, through this assignment, Mercy Corps Nepal aims to carry out the environment impact assessment of BHAKARI activities, identify the potential environment risks and propose the potential mitigation measures to ensure the environmental soundness of the program.

2.0 Objective

The overall objective of the assignment includes a review of the foreseeable environmental effects of implemented actions of the BHAKARI program, recommended environmental threshold determinations for the activities, and provision of an Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (EMMP) to the monitor the implementation of activity design features intended to eliminate foreseeable adverse environmental effects.

The Specific Objectives of this assignment are:

1. Review  the  BHAKARI  interventions to identify the potential adverse issues of the implemented activities on ecosystems, environmental resources,and human health and welfare.
2. Evacuation of adverse issues with respect to environmental impact potential.
3. Preparation of Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (EMMP) along with tools to monitor the implementation of activity design features intended to eliminate foreseeable adverse environmental effects
4. Orient BHAKARI project staff on the use of the Environment Mitigation and Monitoring Plans and its importance during and after project installation or activities conducted.
5. Identify the gaps and area of improvement based on monitoring and discussion in field

3.0 Suggested Methodology

The consultant(s) is requested to submit a detailed methodology to conduct this assignment. The following are the some of the methodology envisaged and not exhaustive to be applied for the assignment.

1. Desk Study: Review of the National and Provincial Legislative, Regulatory, Institutional Environmental Frameworks and Guidelines; BHAKARI proposal and project documents; Field visit in at least 50% BHAKARI working district (to be decided by similar features), which will be finalized with the BHAKARI team during inception discussion
2. Stakeholder consultations (local government and communities in the project areas) considering through Focus Group Discussion (FGDs), Key Informant(s) Interview (KIIs) at different levels

4.0 Deliverables and Payment Schedule

The consultant(s) or consulting firm is expected to deliver the following outputs:

• Inception report that details methodology and tools to be utilized for the assignment with work plan and identification of key stakeholders for FGDs and KIIs at different levels considering COVID situation.
• Draft Report for the review and feedback to Mercy Corps Nepal team. The draft report should clearly present (i) environment information in Nepal and BHAKARI working areas (ii), evaluation of project activities and issues with respect to environment impact potential in the working areas, (iii) recommended threshold decisions and mitigation actions including mitigation actions and monitoring plans, (iv) summary of findings, and (v) plan and schedule for capacity building for project staffs
• Final report incorporating comments, feedback and review from Mercy Corps Nepal. The final report should have a clear Environmental Mitigation and Monitoring Plan (EMMP) along with the recommendations.

Table 1: Payment schedule

5.0 Duration of assignment

Considering the depth of analysis, BHAKARI foresees an estimated 15 to 20 working days of expert consultants or the team of consultants including field consultation. Yet, the project is flexible to accommodate the number of days in line with what will be proposed to achieve the objectives of this assignment.

The expected date for the final report of assessment is by the 25th September, 2022.

6.0 Qualifications and experience (Individuals/Firm):

• At least a university degree in natural resources management, environmental studies, environmental planning, environmental engineering, environmental management, Disaster risk management, Agriculture, or comparable academic preparation.
• Experience of working in descriptive research in the sector of environment, water, DRR, NRM, agriculture and emergency management.
• Proven experience on strong analytical and writing skills with the ability to synthesize large amounts of information into concise and descriptive documents a must.
• Excellent stakeholder engagement skills and ability to coordinate with diverse stakeholders such as the federal, provincial, and local governments; public organizations; and community level organizations.
• At least 7 years of technical experience working in environmental and social impact analyses in developing countries.
• Excellent analytical and writing skills in both Nepali and English.
• Previous experience supporting USAID-funded programming and familiarity with USAID rules and regulations is a plus

7.0 Monitoring and Supervision

The consultant will report to the Deputy Chief of Party, Building Hope Along the Karnali River Basin (Bhakari), Mercy Corps Nepal and work closely with the Natural Resource Manager (NRM) of the BHAKARI program and other relevant BHAKARI team members.

Required Documents for Submitting the Proposal:

Qualified firms/ Individuals can send their application to np-procurement@mercycorps.org with the Title “Proposal for EIA” along with the following documents by 17th August 2022.

• Financial proposal
• Technical Proposal
• Company Profile/ CVs
• Relevant Past Experience list
• Firm Registration & Renewal certificate (for Firm)
• Copy of VAT Registration Certificate (for Firm)
• Latest Tax clearance certificate (for Firm)
• Copy of Pan card (for Individual consultant)