Terms of Reference (ToR) for testing the applicability of Land Health Indicators and Nature based solutions standards at two case studies with contrasting agricultural landscapes in Rwanda.

1 Background

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Few economic sectors are as central to humanity’s relationship with nature as agriculture. Farming provides livelihoods for billions and harnesses nature’s resources to give us food, feed, fibre and energy.  In many parts of the world, production growth has been achieved through intensification – getting more out of the same land area – and the only option for farmers is to search for new land to continue production or to use massive synthetic or chemical inputs, with huge consequences on environment.  

By focusing on food production goals in isolation from other considerations, agriculture has become the leading driver of global land-use change, land degradation and biodiversity loss, while also contributing to malnutrition, exacerbation of inequitable land and resource rights, and other undesirable outcomes. The environmental hazards generated by agriculture threaten the viability and sustainability of production. Land degradation, pollution of water sources, decline in pollinators and other hazards are already compromising the agriculture sector, while impacting ecosystem services like water supply and climate regulation. 

Sustainable agriculture paradigm shift can boost on-farm biodiversity, conserves off-farm biodiversity in agricultural landscapes, mitigates habitat loss due to expansion of farmland, stop encroachment of protected and marginal land areas, safeguards long-term viability while sustaining resilient crop productivity for farmers’ natural capital.

Solutions for restoring and maintaining agricultural land health are well crucial. However, further information is often required at local levels to help farmers find the right options for their context. Successful scaling up of different technologies, practices and approaches in sustainable agriculture depends on local adaptation to the existing social, economic and ecological contexts. This includes the promotion of co-learning and harnessing local knowledge and innovation to guide the application of these technologies, approaches and practices. In places where food production is a development priority, stakeholders may be wary of perceived risks associated with sustainable farming and sceptical of its potential as a credible alternative to tried-and-tested conventional practices.

Achieving greater sustainability depends on reaching consensus between diverse actors, over goals as well as approaches. It requires increased coordination and the development of synergy between a variety of stakeholders in the agriculture and conservation sectors. Networks of agriculture actors, including informal social networks, play an important role in mediating social relations and building trust and knowledge. Networks have proven influential in promoting social change and farmer understanding and enabling uptake of sustainable agricultural practices. Unfortunately, dialogue between ecosystem conservation and agriculture sectors is most often conflictual, preventing consensus towards ambitious commitments.  

Rwanda has seen significant economic development in recent years and has placed the environment and natural resources sector at the center of its national development agenda with two million hectares by 2030 during Bonn Challenge in 2011. The commitments are seen in different policies to restore and sustainably manage Rwanda’s natural resources and biodiversity conservation towards making Rwanda a green country. The creation of the Cross Sectoral Task Force (CSTF) platform since 2015 at the national level recommended to biannually deliberate on key national FLR and Sustainable Agriculture issues such as degradation status, opportunities and challenges, synergies, best practices (restoration & monitoring), knowledge management and sharing, arising technologies, tools and innovations, local and international financing mechanisms, and good governance.

Recent statistics show that the population is of more than 13.2 million and grows at a rate of 2.3% as of August 2022 census while GDP is continuing to decline. This resulted into continuous cultivation (2-3 times a year) on scattered farms. Crop Intensification Program (CIP) was introduced in 2007 promoting continuous application of inorganic fertilizer and pesticides which exacerbates the land degradation, low yield and increase of invasive species. This situation was recently elucidated by Neal et al. (2020) that using fertilizers in soils of low organic matter results into soil bacteria metabolism adaptation that leads to less carbon in the soil, accelerated soil property degradation, death of many soil organisms, producing more carbon and a lot more nitrous oxide in the air. Besides, this, without appropriate actions minding climate change and environment may lead to serious land and ecosystem degradation.

In a country where food security and poverty alleviation are persistent issues, the government has shown its strong political will further demonstrated by taking tangible actions to address soil health, agriculture production, biodiversity loss, while addressing food insecurity issues in an integrated manner over the two and half decades. Vision 2050 sets a path for the country to become a high income, green and climate resilient economy. The PSTA4 emphasizes to address land management problems such as soil health and fertility, pest, and diseases (including IPM), the development of resistant varieties and animal genetic improvement, integrated farming systems - including climate smart agriculture and crop/livestock integration - and on previously under-exploited areas specifically fisheries and aquaculture. It seeks to build resilience through on-farm measures with comprehensive land husbandry interventions, climate smart agriculture and integrated watershed management.

Currently in the framework of the SDGs, the country and its partners adopted forest landscape restoration approach (FLR) to build resilient. It also promoted a regenerative agriculture using agro-ecological approaches favouring nature-based solutions and circular economy upgraded with cutting edge scientific knowledge and innovations in restoring degraded agriculture and sustainable soil fertility management.

IUCN Rwanda strategic plan committed to partner with the Ministry of Agriculture and Animal Resources focusing on promoting sustainable agriculture as one of the strategic actions for biodiversity conservation and food production enhancement in agricultural landscapes. Improved farming systems and environment friendly landscape management practices can have a direct positive and long-term impact for farmers, especially the most vulnerable, for consumers’ health and nutrition, and for society as a whole.

2 Project assignment context  

IUCN’s Agriculture and Land Health initiative aims to accelerate action for mainstreaming land health in sustainable agriculture as a Nature based Solution to food and water insecurity, climate change and other societal challenges. The initiative capitalizes on IUCN’s capacity as a convenor and knowledge broker.

The project is built on the fact that farming relies on nature, and that sustainable farming is that which protects natural resources, including land health, water supply, crop species, pollinators, and genetic diversity. By providing global leadership on land health, IUCN will pave the way for future progress in other, more controversial issues related to agriculture and biodiversity loss. The initiative will build consensus between conservation and agriculture actors over the conservation benefits of sustainable farming, the value of these benefits to society, as well as possible trade-offs, and suitable rewards and other incentives that can promote environmental stewardship. It will contribute to 3 outcomes:

Outcome 1. Commitments to sustainable agriculture are put forward and monitored through dialogue between conservation and agriculture actors;

Outcome 2. Scientific evidence of the multiple benefits of sustainable agriculture is developed and communicated widely;

Outcome 3. A proposal for sustainable agroecological project is developed.

A significant contribution towards such re-balancing can be made through nature-based solutions (NbS), which secure significant benefits to humans and society, and the environment through simultaneously working to sustain and support the ecosystems that provide them. NbS are based on the notion that when ecosystems are healthy and well-managed, they provide essential benefits and services to people, such as reducing greenhouse gas emissions, securing safe water resources, making the air safer to breathe, or providing increased food security. In recent decades NbS have been gaining traction as a preferred approach for addressing imminent environmental and societal challenges including food security. The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN), together with other development organizations has been promoting NbS and land health tools to transform food systems for people and the planet from either subsistence or industrial agriculture to a diversified farming system, which allows biodiversity to thrive.

NbS in agriculture encompasses a range of management practices and restoration actions that use agroecological approaches and regeneration techniques to reintroduce natural functionality into agroecosystems, promoting diversity and recycling, and reducing the use of synthetic inputs while responding to the multiple societal challenges. Above all, NbS-agriculture actions enhance land health by restoring soil fertility and soil biodiversity.

In the framework of the IUCN initiative for promoting agriculture and Land Health as previously described, the global transition to sustainable agriculture needs to be accelerated in order to speed up action for mainstreaming land potential in sustainable agriculture, as a Nature-based Solution to food and water insecurity, climate change and other societal challenges. 

3 Scope of work

The assignment targets to conduct assessment of land health indicators and NbS standards criteria at two case studies in Rwanda from contrasting agricultural landscapes in agro-ecological context.

3.1 Assessment of NbS Standards in existing agricultural landscapes

• The NbS Standards refer to deep elaboration on each of the 8 criteria and respective indicators, providing explanation and examples of what they entail when applied within the agricultural sector. In addition, field testing intends on testing on land health indicators on existing agricultural landscapes.
• The aim is to clarify how the NbS standards can be applied in sustainable agriculture projects and provide project managers and practitioners with concrete recommendations and examples on how to do it.
• NbS Self-Assessment tool recommended to consult both documents in parallel when designing or assessing agricultural projects;
• Case studies are also presented, in order to provide concrete examples of NbS agricultural interventions.

3.2 Assessment of Land health Indicators

• IUCN developed the land health monitoring framework, a framework for monitoring biodiversity at different levels in productive agroecosystems. Land health is understood as ‘The capacity of land, to deliver ecosystem services, which includes the biotic processes and the state of natural resources.

• This assessment will follow IUCN guidance note on monitoring land health in agriculture sector at national, landscape, farm, and field levels. This guidance note has been developed to provide a step-by-step process for monitoring land health in geographical areas where agriculture is the dominant land use. It helps navigate existing indexes and select the appropriate indicators at different levels using monitoring criteria and metrics.
• The IUCN framework explicitly emphasizes the environmental pillar of sustainability, focusing on biodiversity and the state of natural resources.
• Case studies are also presented, in order to provide current status of tested land health indicators of agricultural interventions.

Both tools will target farmers/ beneficiaries from existing or completed project areas that worked on sustainable agriculture and FLR from diverse agroecological zones of Rwanda.

3.3 Responsibilities

The Consultant will closely with IUCN staff from Sustainable Agriculture Portfolio and Land Systems Head to perform the following tasks and duties:

1. Reviewing existing policy instruments and regional/ international commitments aligned with land health and NbS approach in agricultural landscapes;
2.  Review existing farming systems vis-à-vis the sustainable farming and NbS approach by assessing cropping patterns, agronomic practices, crop management practices, soil nutrient management practices, applications of chemicals, productivity levels, etc., for four crop commodities under Crop Intensification Program (CIP): maize-beans rotation, rice, Irish potato, and cassava;
3. Analyse and propose alternative land health improvement options and assess the development potentials and risks for each option to contribute to increased and sustained productivity by reducing the spread use of chemicals in agriculture and increase below and above ground biodiversity conservation;
4. Identify key stakeholders active in land health management and NbS and explore their strengths, weaknesses, opportunities and threats in agriculture;
5. Conduct two case studies in Rwanda of testing the application of land health indicators and Nature based solutions (NbS) global standards;
6. Develop training manuals on land health management and NbS standards targeting extension officers aligning to sustainable agriculture.
7. Lead the validation workshop to present, discuss and validate priorities for land health management and promoting Nature based solutions standards in agricultural landscapes.

4 Expected deliverables:

The conformity of the report to the IUCN standards and requirements will be assessed and confirmed by IUCN Rwanda Country Office. The text of the report should be illustrated, as appropriate, with maps, graphs, and tables. The assignment will be conducted within thirty (30) days from the date of contract signing and the selected individual consultants/consultancy firm will submit the following documents in English:

5 Technical Competencies and Experience Requirements

• Postgraduate qualification in soil science, agriculture, natural resources management, environmental science, or related field;
• Experience and Knowledge of farming systems, and agro-biodiversity conservation practices in productive landscapes;
• Proven experience in sustainable land, and water management aligned to sustainable agriculture;
• Strong analytical skills, including capacity to synthesise academic literature and desk review;
• Proven skills in drafting high quality reports;
• Experience in the target regions and familiarity with the key stakeholders is a strong asset;
• Experience in GIS and mapping would be an asset;
• Fluency in English and Kinyarwanda languages;
• Experience in facilitating training and technical dialogues in the agriculture context.

6 Technical Evaluation Criteria

The technical evaluation will be made using the following criteria and maximum points:

The total score will be calculated as the weighted sum of both the technical score and the financial score. Please note that proposal with less than 70 percent for the technical evaluation will not continue with the evaluation.

The relative weights will be:

Technical: 70%

 Financial: 30%

7 Applications

Interested consultants should email Technical and Financial proposals (in Rwandan Francs) detailing the proposed approach, methodology, and work plan for the assignment. The proposal should be accompanied by (i) detailed CVs outlining the consultant’s academic qualifications, previous relevant experience, contact information, etc.; (ii) documented evidence e.g. copy of similar study reports previously developed and (iii) and conflict of interest statement.

Both proposals (Technical and Financial) should be password protected and failure to do so leads to immediate rejection.

One day after the application deadlines, applicants are requested to send the passwords to the same email used while applying. Applications entitled: “Testing Land health indicators and NbSin Agricultural Landscape Consultants/Consultancy Firm” should be sent electronically by email to tenders.rwanda@iucn.org  no later than 18^th October 2023 at 5:00 PM, local time in Rwanda.

During the course of this procurement, i.e. from the publication of this RfP to the award of a contract, if you have any question, please address all correspondence and questions by email to the following IUCN  contacts: Jules RUTEBUKA, email: jules.rutebuka@iucn.org  .