- CONTEXT AND JUSTIFICATION
The economic growth of Burkina
Faso over the past decades has been accompanied by accelerated degradation of
its natural resources. The state of the land is progressively deteriorating,
with continuous loss of natural vegetation and a growing threat to agricultural
lands.
This degradation is primarily
caused by unsustainable agricultural practices, the use of wood as the primary
source of energy by the population, extensive livestock farming, artisanal
mining, and insufficient landscape governance. Climate change exacerbates these
challenges by accelerating soil erosion, reducing ecosystem services, and
compromising land fertility. Rising temperatures and environmental pressures
intensify drought, deforestation, and desertification, threatening the
resilience of ecosystems.
Beyond environmental impacts,
these dynamics have significant social repercussions. With increasing
demographic pressure and the scarcity of arable land, tensions between farmers,
herders, miners, and urban actors are likely to escalate, jeopardizing the
country's stability and sustainable development. An integrated and resilient
approach to natural resource management is therefore essential to preserve
ecosystems and ensure sustainable livelihoods for the population.
a. REDD+
Jurisdictional Program
Aware of the above, the country,
as early as 2010, committed to the process of Reducing Emissions from
Deforestation and Forest Degradation, promoting conservation, sustainable
forest management, and increasing carbon stocks (REDD+). Although further developments
are still needed, Burkina Faso has made significant progress in implementing
the first two phases of the REDD+ process, notably the preparation phase and
the pilot investment phase. This
progress has allowed the country to move forward with the third phase of the
process: results-based payments. This phase is being realized through the
implementation of a large-scale REDD+ jurisdictional program to reduce
emissions in the AFOLU sector, with the Communal Climate Action and Landscape
Management Project for REDD+ (CCALM - P170482) serving as its first initiative.
The CCALM is a key support of the result-based payment phase, which is expected
to lead to the issuance and sale of carbon credits. The carbon revenues would
then multiply the impacts of the CCALM project. The generation and sale of
carbon credits from landscape investment is one of the major objectives of the
CCALM project.
To prepare for the issuance and
sale of the carbon credits, Burkina Faso aims to obtain certification under the
ART-TREES standard (The REDD+ Environmental Excellence Standard) to generate
high-integrity carbon credits and benefit from carbon financing opportunities.
To this end, Burkina Faso now aims
to produce the TREES Registration Document (TRD) and the initial TREES
Monitoring Report (TMR) to be submitted and validated by the ART Secretariat.
Additional information on the jurisdictional
program to be submitted to ART-TREES are provided in Annex 1.
b. SCALE
and World bank engagement
The REDD+
jurisdictional program is expected to multiply the effect of the CCALM Project,
which finances landscape governance and investment that reduce emissions. With the
REDD+ jurisdictional Program, it is expected that the investment from CCALM
will lead to the issuance of carbon credits under the ART standard (methodology
TREES), and their sale will provide additional cofinancing that will support
the Development Objectives of CCALM.
For this
reason, the World bank selected the Burkina Faso jurisdictional program to
receive prospective support from the World Bank’s new Scaling Climate Action by
Lowering Emissions (SCALE) Umbrella Trust Fund.
SCALE
objective is to catalyze transformative climate action by deploying
Results-Based Climate Finance (RBCF) in developing countries. SCALE operates in
3 steps:
-
Explore the potential for RBCF in connection
with a World bank operation to ensure that carbon finance can serve as a
multiplier of the Bank impact;
-
Support the issuance of carbon credits in
relation with Bank operations;
-
Provide payments based on the number of carbon
credits that are produced.
As such,
SCALE helps mobilizing public and private sector investments for low-carbon
development, supporting the issuance and sale of verified, high quality ERs
that can enhance the Bank operations. The REDD+ jurisdictional Program (to be
further developed with prospective SCALE funding) has been identified as an
opportunity as it is aligned with the relevant World Bank and country
strategies and policies for climate change mitigation and adaptation, and for
scaling up access to climate finance with private sector participation.
However,
before committing further, the World bank needs to ensure that the REDD+
jurisdictional program will be eligible for carbon credit generations. For this
purpose, it is essential for the program to be registered under the ART TREES
Standard.
To this end, the World Bank wishes
to mobilize a specialized consulting firm to build the capacities of the Permanent
Secretariat for REDD+ (SP/REDD+) and provide on-the job guidance as well as
quality control for preparing the documents needed to certifying the jurisdictional
program under the ART-TREES standard.
- OBJECTIVES
The main objective of the mission
is to build the capacities of SP/REDD+ on technical and methodological aspects
in support of their efforts for the certification of Burkina Faso's
jurisdictional program under ART-TREES, ensuring compliance with the standard's
requirements and provide a quality-control service over the final products to
avoid multiple questions from the auditor that would cause delay.
Specifically the objectives for
this assignment are the following:
·
Coordinate with SP/REDD+ to develop a detailed
work plan for compliance with the standard's requirements;
- Support the SP/REDD+ for the collection, analysis,
and structuring of data necessary for quantifying emission reductions;
- Support the collection, analysis, and structuring of
data necessary for addressing the environmental and social safeguards of
the standard;
- Provide guidance and quality-control to SP/REDD+ in
order to ensure the methodological coherence with the national forest
reference level;
- Provide guidance regarding Burkina Faso's eligibility
for the "HFLD" (high forest, low deforestation) crediting
approach in accordance with the TREES standard;
- Assist the SP/REDD+ in the preparation of the documents
to be submitted to ART Secretariat;
- Assist the SP/REDD+ in the validation process (both
by the auditor and the ART Secretariat) of the submitted documents to
ART-TREES;
- Coordinate with the SP/REDD+ team to define a robust
Measurement, Reporting, and Verification (MRV) system consistent with the
standard (including standard operating procedures, data collection
protocols, and quality assurance/quality control procedures);
- Train stakeholders on standard operating procedures;
- Ensure the transfer of skills to the SP/REDD+ team
while proposing the optimal composition (human and material resources)
necessary for regular measurement (defining the frequency of measurements)
of the ER-Program's carbon performance.
- EXPECTED RESULTS
At the end of the study, the
following results are expected:
- SP/REDD was able to prepare a detailed work plan for
compliance with the standard's requirements is developed;
- SP/REDD is able to collect, analyse, and structure the
data necessary for quantifying emission reductions;
- The team is supported in the collection, analysis,
and structuring of data necessary for addressing the environmental and
social safeguards of the standard;
- SP/REDD+ knows how to ensure the methodological
coherence with the national forest reference level;
- Burkina Faso's eligibility for the "HFLD"
(high forest, low deforestation) crediting approach in accordance with the
TREES standard is assessed;
- The SP/REDD+ is assisted in the preparation of
submission documents to ART-TREES;
- The SP/REDD+ is assisted in the validation process of
the submission documents to ART-TREES;
- A robust Measurement, Reporting, and Verification
(MRV) system compliant with the standard (including standard operating
procedures, data collection protocols, and quality assurance/quality
control procedures) is defined by SP/REDD+ with support from the firm;
- Stakeholders are trained on standard operating
procedures;
- The transfer of skills to the SP/REDD+ team is
ensured while proposing the optimal composition (human and material resources)
necessary for regular measurement (defining the frequency of measurements)
of the ER-Program's carbon performance.
- DELIVERABLES
The following deliverables are
expected:
- Deliverable 1: A scoping report detailing the
methodology and steps of the certification process.
- Deliverable 2: An operational roadmap for compliance
with ART-TREES.
- Deliverable 3: Technical and administrative documents
(TRD and TMR) required for certification submitted to ART-TREES.
- Deliverable 4: A structured MRV system compliant with
the standard's requirements.
- Deliverable 5: A capacity-building plan for national
stakeholders;
- Deliverable 6: Training reports;
- Deliverable 7: Overall assistance report.
NB: All documents will be in
French and English.
- METHODOLOGICAL APPROACH
The approach should combine:
- Documentary analysis of regulatory texts and
ART-TREES methodologies,
- Consultations and workshops with national
stakeholders,
- Modeling and simulations for assessing carbon
potential,
- Support for the establishment of institutional
structures for carbon governance.
The consulting firm should adopt
a participatory approach by involving key stakeholders, particularly regarding
consultations on environmental and social safeguards and the MRV system.
- PROFILE OF THE FIRM
The provider must demonstrate
proven expertise in:
- Carbon certification and international standards
(ART-TREES, Verra, Gold Standard, etc.),
- REDD+ mechanisms and carbon finance,
- MRV systems and remote sensing applied to land use,
- IPCC guidelines for developing reference levels,
including default emission factors,
- Climate policies,
- Institutional support and capacity building,
- Proficiency in French (an asset).
Experience of the firm
- Have supported at least one country in an ART-TREES
or equivalent certification process;
- Have a minimum of 05 years of experience in
developing carbon initiatives;
- Have at least one proven experience in large-scale
data analysis;
- Have proven experience in large-scale social and
environmental assessment;
- Knowledge of allometric equations used to determine
emission factors.
7.
KEY PERSONNEL
At a minimum, it must include:
·
The team leader must have proven
experience (15 years) in conducting greenhouse gas inventory processes in the
forestry sector. He/she must have an academic background in forestry at the
Master's level.
·
One GIS and remote sensing specialist with
at least 10 years of experience in producing and analyzing spatial data. This
expert must be proficient in the following applications: Collect Earth, Collect
Mobile, Saiku, Google Earth Engine, SEPAL, etc.
·
One environmental and social safeguards specialist. He/she
must have proven experience in conducting sectoral or national assessments of
public policies or development strategies. At least 10 years of relevant
experience.
·
One database design and management specialist. He/she
must have an advanced degree in computer science, statistics, environmental
sciences, or a related field. The expert must have proven experience in
designing, developing, administering, and maintaining databases using
appropriate tools and software such as SQL, Access, Excel, etc.
8.
DURATION OF THE MISSION
The duration of the mission is 12
calendar months, excluding administrative delays, starting from the date of the
service order. The selected firm will propose a detailed schedule of the
mission for the client's approval, taking into account the deadlines planned by
the ART Secretariat for the submission of related documents and the submission
of the revised forest reference level to the UNFCCC by January 2025.