Colombia_Conserva_Final_Version_for_Public_Posting_3.18.16_FBO_DRAFT.docx

ATTACHMENT 1 – STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES (SOO)

COLOMBIA CONSERVA ACTIVITY

1. INTRODUCTION

This Statement of Objectives (SOO) describes the objectives of the U.S. Agency for International Development in Colombia (USAID/Colombia) for this solicitation. This SOO is provided in lieu of a U.S. Government (USG) written Statement of Work (SOW) to provide potential offerors with the flexibility to develop cost-effective solutions and the opportunity to propose innovative approaches to meet the stated objectives. It also presents the USG with an opportunity to assess the offerors’ understanding of all aspects of the effort to be performed by eliminating detailed instructions on how to accomplish the stated Objectives and Required Results. Offerors are invited to provide performance-based statements of work that present a logical, comprehensive, concrete and measurable set of interventions to achieve the project’s purpose and objectives as stated below. USAID expects that offerors will have equal access to all local organizations needed for this contract, and strongly discourages exclusivity agreements with local organizations.

All funds for this Activity are subject to the Biodiversity Earmark. As a result, work developed under Conserva Colombia must follow the Agency’s Biodiversity Policy and Biodiversity code.[footnoteRef:1] [1: https://www.usaid.gov/biodiversity/policy]

2. PURPOSE

The purpose of the new five-year ‘Colombia Conserva’ Activity (henceforth ‘the Activity’) is to support the Government of Colombia (GOC) in its commitments on conservation and sustainable management of the country’s biodiversity. Through the Activity, USAID seeks to increase the area of strategic ecosystems protected and conserved in: a) Tropical Dry Forest of the Caribbean and b) Ecosystems of the Orinoquía including wetlands and savannas (“Altillanura”); and support the government in making important advances in the conservation of the country’s biodiversity. Developing new economic opportunities for the rural communities supporting these conservation efforts is essential to sustainable rural development and peace in Colombia.

The successful achievement of the objectives of the Activity will entail developing and implementing innovative approaches and mechanisms that involve public and private collaboration to effectively make a positive change in natural resource management in favor of biodiversity conservation at the regional and local level. This will involve enhancing protection of the selected ecosystems through different conservation mechanisms, such as private reserves, payment for environmental services and environmental compensation measures, among others. The Activity will also support the development of sustainable economic opportunities that link biodiversity conservation efforts to support for local livelihood improvement.

3. BACKGROUND

Colombia is considered a mega-diverse country and its natural systems provide water and energy that greatly contribute to the country’s economic productivity. Currently the country has 59 national parks and an array of regional and local public protected areas as well as private reserves. However, the National Protected Area System currently fails to protect all the ecosystems in the country. According to the Humboldt Institute, Colombia has 311 different ecosystems including continental and marine. Tropical Dry Forest, Wetlands of Orinoquia and Savannas of Orinoquia are among those ecosystems with a small area under protection (CONPES 3680). These ecosystems are considered strategic under the National Development Plan 2014-2018 (NDP) as they deliver essential environmental services. Nonetheless, the preservation of these ecosystems is under threat and the drivers of habitat loss –conversion to agriculture, overexploitation, fragmentation and pollution-- may accelerate in the near future as the result of aggressive rural development plans associated with the NDP, the peace accord, the recently passed Ley Zidres[footnoteRef:2] (zoning for rural economic and social development interests) and the Master Plan for the Orinoquia in development. [2: http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/asi-quedo-ley-de-zidres-articulo-606601

Land conversion and land use conflict, especially in Orinoquia, are direct drivers of habitat loss[footnoteRef:3]. Important indirect drivers affecting ecosystem conservation and ecosystem processes, all of which play an important role in the post accord context, include: new economic development projects, internal migration and/or resettlement (i.e. demobilized soldiers and displaced victims of conflict returning to their land) and an anticipated increased state presence in post-conflict areas resulting in a greater capacity to implement development projects. Clearly, the country is entering a critical period in which decision making on and the effective implementation of development and natural resource management plans presents an opportunity to address important underlying sources of conflict (land rights, access to natural resources, illegal activities). There is a choice to be made between a more sustainable future or risking a continuous cycle of socio-environmental conflict as the result of inadequate land use and natural resource planning and management. [3: National Development Plan (2014-2018)

The country has important targets for the protection of these ecosystems in the NDP with 18,000 hectares for Tropical Dry Forest and 390,000 hectares for Orinoquia ecosystems; the commitments under the Convention of Biological Diversity (CBD) to protect 17% of continental ecosystems by 2020; the action plan to implement the National Policy for the Integral Management of Biodiversity and the Ecosystems Service It Provides (PNGIBSE); and a pledge by President Santos at the historic Paris Climate Agreement meeting in December 2015 to increase by 2018 the area under protection with an additional 2.5 million hectares.[footnoteRef:4] The Government has prioritized the declaration of protected areas that increase the legal protection of the following six ecosystems in the area of work of the Activity: Selvas humedas de Cumaribo, Sabanas y humedales de Arauca, Cinaruco, Alto Manacacías and Serranía del Perijá. In addition to this pledge there is also a commitment to declare at least 50 regional protected areas by 2018 and continue promoting private reserves as an important tool to contribute to conservation. An example of these regional commitments is shown in the NDP for the Department of Casanare where the protection of specific areas of the flooded plains is highlighted as key to contribute in the maintenance of environmental services provision such as water. Currently only 5% of the remaining extension of tropical dry forests is legally protected in part due to the high fragmentation of this critical ecosystem. Considering the Orinoquía region is 30% of the country’s territory it only hosts one national protected area currently (Parque Nacional Natural El Tuparro) in which only savannas are represented. Private reserves have proven an interesting tool to promote conservation of Orinoquía Ecosystems in a context where land use and tenure is among the most complex in the Country[footnoteRef:5]. [4: https://www.minambiente.gov.co/images/cambioclimatico/pdf/colombia_hacia_la_COP21/ABC_de_los_ Compromisos_de_Colombia_para_la_COP21_VF_definitiva.pdf] [5: http://www.parquesnacionales.gov.co/PNN/portel/libreria/php/frame_detalle.php?h_id=7744]

Graph 1 – National New Protected Areas Temporarily Protected in July 2015 for 2 years

USAID has contributed to the protection of these ecosystems through its support of the Conserva Colombia Activity, an initiative from The Nature Conservancy and Fondo Accion, in the declaration of regional protected areas and registration of private reserves with 12,000 hectares of Tropical Dry Forest and 8,600 hectares of wetlands and savannas of the Orinoquia protected. However, the effort to conserve ecosystems goes beyond the declaration of new protected areas, also requiring a capacity to effectively and sustainably implement the protected areas management plan. Low institutional capacity and limited financial resources are the main reason for the ineffectiveness of conservation efforts in declared protected areas. Land use and land tenure issues have been one of the most important historical sources of conflict around protected areas. This makes creating additional large scale public protected areas under the strict protection mode, which is currently the only legal option, extremely difficult and conflict prone.

If Colombia wants to meet its ambitious new protected area target of 2.5 million hectares, while avoiding new protected area related conflicts, it may be necessary to consider legally establishing a wider set of protection categories along the lines of those established by the IUCN protected area classification system.[footnoteRef:6] There are a number of potential categories that could be established where local communities have more opportunity to benefit from the protected area, in parallel with biodiversity conservation and ecosystem service protection. Protected area management authorities may also need to explore new, more cost effective ways to achieve their conservation objectives within their chronically limited (and even declining on a per hectare basis) budgets. [6: http://www.iucn.org/about/work/programmes/gpap_home/gpap_quality/gpap_pacategories/]

Although the country has policies and laws in place that support biodiversity conservation, they are often not implemented effectively or are often even directly contradicted by other laws. For example, the ZIDRES law[footnoteRef:7] and CONPES 3797 to promote the development of the Orinoquia and Altillanura create major new challenges to achieving conservation objectives established for the region. As well, regional and local public institutions operate with very limited budgets and lack the necessary human resources to adequately carry out sound decision making on natural resource management. For example, Law 388 of 1997 requires the establishment of land use plans, but 20 years later there are still few cases in the country where these plans are effectively being implemented. [7: http://www.elespectador.com/noticias/politica/asi-quedo-ley-de-zidres-articulo-606601]

The private sector is a key stakeholder in the economic development of the country and is anticipated to play a more important role in post-conflict regions, as the security environment improves. Productive activities and other economic incentives for conservation connected to markets have shown to be one effective approach to improve livelihoods and conserve biodiversity. The development of ecotourism, the generation of new products from non-timber forest products to create new value chains and establishment of agroforestry and silvopastoral systems, have all delivered important progress towards biodiversity conservation and income generation in different regions of the country. Commitments from the private sector to operate more sustainably in the country have had a strong potential to make important contributions to the country’s achievement of peace and sustainable development.

On the other hand current government plans for the development of major new highway infrastructure to connect the previously unconnected regions of the country and associated plans to boost private investment in new mining, oil and agroindustry concessions in these regions, represent new threats to conservation efforts. The effective implementation of current environmental policies on biodiversity offsets, ecosystem restoration, as well as the national strategy to reduce deforestation, represent new tools to help assure private sector development and conservation can be compatible in the context of the post-accord environment.

4. OBJECTIVES AND REQUIRED RESULTS

Colombia more capable of successfully implementing a sustainable and inclusive peace is established in the USAID/Colombia Country Development Cooperation Strategy (CDCS) as the overall goal for U.S. development assistance in Colombia.

Progress toward this goal will be achieved through four development objectives (DOs): (DO1) Effective presence of democratic institutions and processes in targeted areas; (DO2) Reconciliation advanced among victims, ex-combatants and other citizens; (DO3) Improved conditions for inclusive, rural economic growth; and (DO4) Environmental resiliency and low-emissions development strengthened. The public version of the CDCS can be found here and should be used as a key input into proposals.

Under the CDCS, the Activity will contribute directly to the achievement DO 4, “Environmental resiliency and low-emissions development strengthened” through the following intermediate result (IR):

IR 4.1: Natural resource management improved.

Sub IR 4.1.2: Conservation of biodiversity promoted.

The objectives of the Activity are:

1. Colombian biodiversity conserved through more effective protection of priority ecosystems and species

2. Development of financial incentives for populations living in priority conservation corridors linked to their commitment to conservation actions

3. Priority conservation areas are established in land-use planning policies and major threats to biodiversity conservation mitigated

Objective 1: Colombian biodiversity conserved through more effective protection of priority ecosystems and species

Objective 1 seeks to increase the conservation of strategic and under-protected ecosystems of the Caribbean and Orinoquia regions (Tropical Dry Forest, Orinoquia Wetlands and Orinoquia Savannas) by incorporating conservation priorities into planning tools at different scales (local, regional and national), supporting the creation and management of protected areas and promoting the use of proven, as well as new and innovative conservation approaches. The active participation of the private sector in biodiversity conservation through regulatory compliance and/or voluntary actions is considered essential to the protection of the country’s biodiversity and to address the threats posed by rapid economic development in these regions, particularly from large-scale commercial agriculture, extractive industries and infrastructure development.

USAID/Colombia considers the achievement of the following three specifications, at a minimum, as critical for attaining this Objective:

Required Result 1.1: Increase the area under legal protection for priority ecosystems in target sub-regions

Colombia has made an international commitment to increase the area under legal protection by 2.5 million hectares, which includes both protected areas of national (approximately 1M hectares) and regional (close to 1.5M hectares) scale. There are advanced plans and actions to implement this commitment. The government is planning the creation of 8 new national protected areas and over 50 regional protected areas to be established by the regional corporations to meet this target. Based on Decree 1374 of 2013, 6 of these 8 potential national protected areas have been temporarily protected from mining activities and all are priorities of the government to declare as protected areas. Many of these will be in the Activity’s targeted sub-regions. These new protected areas will create great new challenges for the national protected areas system, which is already extremely challenged in terms of resources and institutional capacity to manage the existing protected areas. There are also many hard lessons learned from the establishment of the existing protected areas that should be taken into account. The Activity must support the GOC in establishing these new areas focusing on opportunities that present a good potential for declaration in the near term that can effectively be supported through the Activity or other mechanisms to guarantee its financial sustainability for successful conservation. At the same time, the Activity will look at ways and opportunities to consolidate conservation of protected areas already in place or planned, including the development of new and innovative ways to legally protect land.

Required Result 1.2: Management and financing of legally protected areas in targeted sub-regions strengthened

The effective protection of both existing and new protected areas (as well as other existing or potentially new conservation categories) will require capacity building to improve the management of these areas. The Activity must work to assure that protected areas in its targeted sub regions have adequate management plans and the capacity to implement them. In the case of private reserves, these require a monitoring system to oversee the effectiveness of conservation in order to report them as hectares contributing to the country’s conservation targets. The Activity must also work to strengthen the financial resources available to implement these management plans and include local community participation and benefits.

Required Result 1.3: Regulatory and voluntary mechanisms/initiatives designed and implemented for private sector contributions to national and regional conservation goals

Private sector involvement in conservation is supported by different national and international conservation initiatives. For example, the global Tropical Forest Alliance 2020 (TFA2020)[footnoteRef:8], pursues sustainable use of natural resources by reducing deforestation along participating company’s commodity value chains. Based on initial implementation efforts with TFA2020 in Colombia, it is apparent that this and similar initiatives require strong in-country leadership from the private sector to achieve effective implementation. The implementation of corporate sustainability policies has also demonstrated a capacity to produce some good results. Voluntary actions emphasizing conservation and sustainable use of natural resources are currently led by corporate social responsibility (CSR) programs. Existing and new Corporate Social Responsibility (CSR) initiatives supporting different types of social and economic projects for local communities can be linked to conservation efforts in the region. In Colombia, for example, there are initiatives promoting best management practices by producer associations like FedePalma, Federación Nacional de Cafeteros. Going beyond CSR initiatives, the Activity must help demonstrate the benefits and cost-effectiveness of including conservation actions as part of a company’s core performance metrics. While initiated and managed by the private sector, these initiatives require clear support from the government to assure that these efforts are appropriately verified in order to be counted toward relevant national deforestation and conservation targets. [8: https://www.tfa2020.org/]

On the private sector regulatory side, increasing the effectiveness of the implementation of existing and new regulations will require working with relevant authorities at multiple scales, including ministries. There are regulations that require the private sector to take environmental considerations into account. Decree 2820 of 2010 establishes the measurements to compensate the impacts and adverse effects generated by a project, construction work or other activity that cannot be avoided, corrected, mitigated or substituted; Resolution 1517 from 2012 requires the adoption of the handbook to appoint offsets for biodiversity loss; several laws (Law 99 of 1993, Law 373 of 1997, Law 812 of 2003) and Decree 1900 of 2006 establishes that projects using water must set aside 1% of the investment towards the recovery, preservation and surveillance of the watershed that supplies the resource. But very few of these resources have been utilized as the result of poor coordination and processes between the different levels of government involved. Most of the regional corporations lack the capacity to strategically use these resources to support national conservation and natural resource management objectives. These and other existing regulations represent a critical number of underutilized tools and resources to strengthen conservation efforts in Colombia. The Activity must work to unlocking and provide the appropriate use of these resources to offset and/or reduce biodiversity loss within the framework of regional and local land-use planning.

Objective 2: Development of financial incentives for populations living in priority conservation corridors linked to their commitment to conservation actions

The Activity will support the generation of new and innovative financial incentives based on the use of ecosystems services provided and associated with biodiversity conservation. The Activity will link new and existing productive activities with market opportunities to create incentives for the adoption of best management practices, such as the incorporation of conservation actions at the farm level. The Activity will also take advantage of any existing and/or new incentive payments for conservation such as Payment for Environmental Services or Payment for Performance mechanisms linked to biodiversity conservation actions.

Conserving biodiversity at a landscape scale through improved connectivity is a socially inclusive process requiring the active participation of a wide range of stakeholders, including beneficiaries of the ecosystem services supplied through conservation actions. The involvement and participation of the government and private sector is of key importance to create win-win ventures linking economic development with biodiversity conservation. Objective 2 is closely aligned with and will contribute directly to the NDP (2014-2018) green growth strategy objective: “Protect and assure sustainable use of natural capital and improved environmental quality”. Objective 2 seeks to improve environment quality by strengthening environmental performance of productive sectors seeking to improve competitiveness.

USAID/Colombia considers the achievement of the following three specifications, at a minimum, as critical for attaining this Objective:

Required Result 2.1: Definition and implementation of conservation corridors to increase the ecological value and connectivity of the productive landscape in relation to existing protected areas

The Activity will work to enhance biodiversity conservation in the selected ecosystems through the establishment of conservation corridors taking into account the connectivity analysis already developed for both sub regions (Annex A). On one level, a conservation corridor is a geographic prioritization of areas that are of particular ecological importance to the regional protected areas system and their associated species. For the Activity, they will define the areas in which to invest in economic activities and private land based conservation efforts. But to be more than this, they must also be incorporated into appropriate land use planning processes and policies, such as those under Result 3.1. Developing these corridors with active participation of the relevant stakeholders is a prerequisite to their legitimacy.

Implementation of a conservation corridor requires increasing the ecological value of the landscape at a significant scale. Corridor design should take into account the key ecological processes, including hydrology (and associated water management), species migratory patterns and genetic flows, as well as the presence and activities of people.

Systematization of successful corridor implementation must be developed as examples to be used by the Government for future replication. Monitoring system(s) must accompany the design of corridors as a tool to evaluate the effectiveness of biodiversity conservation; designs of monitoring systems must take into consideration the strengthening of stakeholders responsible of carrying out the monitoring activities, the fund sourcing and equipment necessary to implement these systems at appropriate intervals. Monitoring systems must include innovative technologies that facilitate the exercise, are cost effective and scientifically valid, where feasible. Monitoring data and reporting should be standardized and shared with relevant stakeholders and government agencies.

Required Result 2.2: New and existing market-based economic opportunities developed and scaled up as an incentive for people adopting best practices in conservation corridors.

In the context of the land use planning and conservation corridors, the Activity will support the best options to stimulate economic development with strong linkages to local conservation efforts. Market-based opportunities for goods (e.g. agriculture, agroforestry and non-timber forest products) and services (i.e. tourism) will provide an incentive to local communities to support conservation efforts and/or adapt on-farm best practices to increase the ecological value of their farm. In addition to farm activities, community enterprises present another opportunity to create incentives for improved protection of local ecosystems[footnoteRef:9]. [9: Tallis H. et al. An ecosystem services framework to support both practical conservation and economic development. Proceedings of the National Academy of Science of the United States of America.Vol 105, no. 28, pg 9457-9464.]

Required Result 2.3: Payment for Environmental Services and/or Payment for Performance mechanisms developed and/or utilized to incentivize conservation actions on private lands.

Payment for Environmental Services (PES) and Payment for Performance (PFP) mechanisms encourage people to develop actions to sustainably manage natural resources and protect ecosystems as a source of income. Colombia is designing a new policy document on PES (DNP CONPES11/22/2015) establishing these mechanisms as a priority. There is also a growing body of successful experiences --including in Colombia-- in establishing PES mechanisms, particularly in the form of water funds. PFP mechanisms are a more recent development, stemming from efforts to establish forest based carbon off-sets and to reduce deforestation on a much larger scale. PFP mechanisms can positively impact biodiversity conservation actions at the local level, whether indirectly as PFP’s for carbon offsets or improved natural resource management, or, directly through PFP’s designed for biodiversity conservation purposes. The duration of PFP’s as a source of income for local population must be taken into account to be able to guarantee efforts from the Activity may be sustained through time.

The primary challenge in establishing any PES/PFP system is in identifying secure and sustainable funding sources upon which to base the mechanisms incentives payments. The Activity must not make such incentive payments out of its budget, but rather must design mechanisms based on other sources of funding. The Activity may also facilitate participation in existing mechanisms.

Objective 3: Priority conservation areas established in land-use planning policies and major threats to biodiversity conservation mitigated.

Although the GOC has established extensive processes for the management of natural resources through many different types of mechanisms, including management plans for watersheds (POMCAS), land use planning at the municipal level (EOT/POT), regulations to compensate use of water and other natural resources and offset biodiversity loss from development projects and others, it has failed to adequately implement these mechanisms to date. Considering the ambitious economic plans of the GOC in these sub-regions, as well as the strong rural development focus of the peace agreement, it is a critical moment to resolve the shortcomings of these important processes in order to be able to assure that Colombia’s natural capital continues to be a sustainable foundation for growth.

Efforts must focus support to contribute to the following strategies under the NDP 1) Conservation and sustainable use of the natural capital of Colombia, 2) Integral land use planning for sustainable development and 3) Institutional strengthening and governance to optimize the National Environment System performance, education, research, information generation and environmental knowledge.

USAID/Colombia considers the achievement of the following two specifications, at a minimum, as critical for attaining this Objective:

Required Result 3.1: National, regional and municipal land use planning strengthened to support conservation goals

Environmental governance is at the center of successful natural resource management for protection and conservation of biodiversity. As such, the Activity must work to effectively improve environmental governance with the necessary capacity building for local and regional public institutions as well as civil society and by providing tools and information for efficacy in environmental governance implementation.

Regional and local institutions lack the adequate human resources, both in number and skills, to generate positive changes in biodiversity conservation at these levels. The National Planning Department (NPD) is supporting regional and local governments in the definition of their new development plans at local and regional levels. As set out in the green growth chapter of the NDP, these plans must incorporate environmental considerations, as the foundation for sustainable development. This responsibility is supported by ongoing definition of appropriate land use by the technical arm (UPRA) of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development. Effective implementation of these plans is key and the need to have these plans address environmental priorities and promote sustainable natural resource management is of great importance to further the efforts of biodiversity conservation in Colombia. The NPD has an ambitious goal of supporting the formulation of 30 Management Plans for Watersheds (POMCAS) in the next 4 years to ensure environmental risk factors in these plans are incorporated. The latter is of great importance for the Orinoquia and Caribbean regions due to their long history and intense flooding and drought events.

The implementation of the NDP at the departmental and municipal level will also require a closer look at the tradeoffs between economic development and sustainable natural resource management. Current threats to biodiversity in Orinoquia primarily include oil & gas exploration and exploitation and agroindustry development. A similar scenario occurs in the Caribbean region, with the additional challenge of being a much more densely populated region with more significant contributions to the national economy, with associated higher demands for ecosystems services and greater impacts on the remaining natural resources. In all cases, the development of economic activities generally fail to follow a proper land use management plan and adequate monitoring of performance and compliance by land owners or companies with the relevant regulations.

Required Result 3.2: National and regional capacity to monitor, analyze and advocate for the mitigation of potential large-scale threats to biodiversity conservation strengthened.

Many of the most significant threats to biodiversity conservation are driven by land-use changes from large-scale economic development projects, such as extractive industry concessions, hydroelectric dams and new national highways. In Colombia, widespread illegal mining, illicit crops and illegal logging are also important drivers to the destruction of natural ecosystems. While primarily focusing on geographic specific interventions to achieve tangible conservation results, the Activity has to make sure that it doesn’t miss the forest for the trees. The Activity must strengthen existing capacities or create new ones to detect, analyze and work to assure appropriate, legally required mitigation measures are implemented for large development projects. The Activity must also support the generation of better information on the main threats to biodiversity conservation in Colombia.

5. GEOGRAPHIC FOCUS:

This is a national Activity with the capacity to respond to conservation priorities throughout the country. It will also have two main sub-regional focuses on a) the natural Orinoco ecosystems (natural grasslands, morichales, riparian forests, piedmont forest) in Casanare and Vichada, and b) tropical dry forests of the Caribbean region in Bolivar and Cesar where important fragments of this ecosystems still exist offering a good conservation opportunity. The Activity will also complement, as necessary, efforts currently implemented through USAID’s Environment Peace Initiative in Colombia (EPIC), focused on the Colombia Amazon, including through results on biodiversity conservation policy and institutional capacity at the national level.

6. OTHER CONSIDERATIONS

In addition to the specifications stated above, Offerors’ proposal must also address and integrate each of the following requirements throughout the work envisioned and the performance measures.

6.1 Cross-cutting Technical Issues

Addressing Root Causes of Conflict

· Illicit crops (coca) Illegal crop production is one of the most important drivers of conflict in Colombia. While not directly addressed by the Activity, offerors should analyze and present the risks and actions to undertake, in the overall technical approach. At a minimum, the approach should be neutral in not contributing to a potential aggravation.

· Land tenure and related issues Land tenure is a pivotal element to be considered across the technical proposal considering that: 1) Insecure land tenure and property rights are considered to be some of the main drivers of the decades-long Colombian conflict: 2) Land and property rights offer valuable opportunities to deliver peace dividends to war-weary populations, as well as long term improvements in livelihoods governance, and the economy; 3) The GOC is currently developing inter–institutional and inter-sectorial rural development solutions to improve the effectiveness of land management and administration. The multipurpose cadaster developed by the government will guide land use planning and development; 4) implementation of land and rural development policies in isolation from environmental considerations has already had a series of costly environmental and social consequences such as conflicting land uses between agriculture, mining, conservation, among others.

Science, Technology, Innovation and Partnership (STIP) USAID has a strong commitment to STIP based approaches and solutions. Environmental issues inherently require a STIP based approach. Offerors’ should make clear the role STIP plays in their overall approach.

Gender and Vulnerable Populations Gender and vulnerable populations must be integrated into the design and implementation of the activity. Women and vulnerable groups (indigenous persons, Afro-Colombians, persons with disabilities and the LGBTI community) must be active participants of the activity. Existing inequalities must be addressed in the proposal and implementation phase.

6.2 Partnership Based Approach

Colombia has strong central institutions, a robust environmental civil society (including in-country affiliates of the major U.S. international environmental organizations), as well as regional and local governments that are central to successfully achieving peace and sustainable development in Colombia. The Activity will be a USAID facilitated partnership with a diverse set of these Colombian organizations.

Partnership implies more than assigning a specific task to another organization or incorporating one or two of their staff into the offeror's teams. A robust partnership involves incorporating partners in the design and annual planning of the Activity; assigning them a piece of the Activity through which they have the responsibility and resources to fully demonstrate their organizational capacity and expertise. The role of the contractor in the partnership should be one of strategic leadership, integration of partners’ efforts, overall management responsibility, and accountability for results; in addition to the direct implementation of components of the Activity not delegated to partners.

The Colombia Conserva Activity must have the ability to establish different types of partnerships:

· Private Sector: The primary objective of private sector partnerships is to bring their ‘know how’ into the Activity as well as to leverage their core business interests (i.e. markets) for sustainability.

· Civil Society/NGOs: Partnering with NGOs, universities and other civil society organizations will allow the Activity to leverage these organizations’ experience and knowledge as well as resources.

· Public Sector: Partnerships with the different levels of public sector entities should primarily be focused on coordination and collaboration, rather than on financial support. Where feasible, work should facilitate access to public funds, such as the Colombian ‘regalias’.

There is no required number of partnerships or target level of resources to be leveraged, but a strong commitment to a partnership based approach is a key consideration in the evaluation criteria for this contract.

The proposed approach must be closely coordinated with relevant GOC entities at the national, regional and local level (including MADS, NDP NNP, IAvH, MADR/UPRA, CARs, Regional Governments and Municipalities), the private sector and civil society (local NGO’s and communities).

6.3 Grants Under Contracts Mechanism

This Contract requires the establishment of a Grants Under Contracts (GUCs) mechanism, as provided in the associated GUCs provisions in this solicitation. The GUCs mechanism does not have a fixed budget amount. GUCs funding can be used as a activity implementation mechanism as offerors deem appropriate, subject to the GUCs approval requirements contained herein.

6.4 Mobilizing Non-USAID resources

Per the section above on a partnership based approach, USAID welcomes offeror’s efforts to mobilize non-USAID resources in support of the Activity’s objectives. Any such mobilization during implementation must be tracked and reported based on an established, clear methodology. The Mission does have a standard indicator that will be required to be used to measure non-USAID resource mobilization.

6.5 Flexibility to Respond to Opportunities to Support the Colombian Peace Agreement:

The Offeror must ensure financial, technical and Activity flexibility within and across Activity components to respond to changing circumstances in the areas covered by this Activity. The Contractor may also propose to the USAID Contracting Officer additional or different approaches within the scope of this contract to demonstrate flexibility to accommodate changes. Should a peace accord be signed between the GOC and the FARC and/or ELN guerrillas the project will need to be prepared to accommodate Activity changes as directed by the CO and COR.

6.6 Coordination with U.S. Embassy-USAID/Colombia, GOC and Donors USAID will take the lead in coordinating the Activity with the U.S. Embassy, GOC and other Donors/Embassies.

The Activity should aim to coordinate to the highest extent possible with existing USAID activities. This goes beyond the extensive environmental portfolio and includes all USAID activities operating in shared geographies.

The offeror must plan and carry out activities with a clear understanding of the scope and impacts of other donor or lender efforts in the environmental sector so as to avoid duplication or inconsistencies in efforts, leverage maximum impact, and identify opportunities for joint implementation or collaboration.

Colombia Sostenible is the GOC’s flagship peace and environment initiative that was announced by President Santos at the Paris UNFCCC meeting in December 2015. The Activity must be aligned with Colombia Sostenible’s priorities of work. Offerors should be prepared to coordinate with the GOC agencies and implementing partners and may be required to co-brand the Activity as part of Colombia Sostenible.

6.7 Security Management

Colombia remains a country with significant security risks. This Activity will operate in remote and/or post-conflict areas where these threats are higher than in other parts of the country. The Contractor must plan to have a capacity to monitor, assess and respond to such potential threats. This includes communicating and coordinating with the U.S. Embassy Bogota’s Regional Security Office, as well as with police and security forces in the high-risk areas where the Activity is operating. Reporting any significant security incidents is mandatory.

7. PERFORMANCE STANDARDS AND QUALITY ASSURANCE & SURVEILLANCE PLAN

Proposals must be accompanied by a robust set of performance standards for each intervention proposed, establishing the performance level and/or acceptable deliverable for that activity that will help meet or exceed USAID’s Objectives. Such standards must be relevant to the work performed, measurable, credible and verifiable, in order to allow for an objective assessment of performance.

7.1 Activity Monitoring & Evaluation Plan (AMEP)

In addition, the proposals must also be accompanied by an Activity Monitoring & Evaluation Plan (AMEP) that includes objectives, results and sub-results, and indicators (including but not limited to Standard Foreign Assistance indicators) that will measure progress towards meeting the performance standards as defined by the objectives and required results of this solicitation. The AMEP data must meet reasonable standards of validity, reliability, timeliness, precision and integrity, and be disaggregated by gender as appropriate and feasible. Once the Activity begins, the AMEP will be further refined. The contractor and USAID will agree upon the final choice of performance indicators useful for timely management decisions. The contractor will report on the AMEP on a quarterly basis as part of the periodic progress reports.

The AMEP should also include a set of third-party “context indicators,” that provide an independent measurement of the status of the higher level outcomes the Program is seeking to contribute towards. These context indicators are outside the manageable interest of the contract, but are intended to provide a ‘reality check’ on the Programs own performance indicators.

Proposals must include a draft plan to conduct a baseline study for the targeted communities. Whereas the implementer will conduct the baseline at the beginning of the Project, USAID will conduct an independent assessment at the end of the Activity to measure the results achieved.

7.2 Learning, Knowledge Management and Communications

A crosscutting component for learning, knowledge management and communications seeks to build USAID’s expertise and connect stakeholders to the latest field findings, best practices and lessons learned. The purpose of this requirement is to provide a solid learning, knowledge management and communication agenda to properly document lessons learned, best practices and results to prevent mistakes from being repeated, increase opportunities to improve project impact in future investments and disseminate outcome results. To learn from this Activity, the Contractor will document best practices and lessons learned and share this information with practitioners, donor organizations, the environmental sector, the development community, stakeholders and the GOC. The Contractor will measure and document project achievements and shortcomings so that USAID’s multiple stakeholders gain an understanding of the returns from the investment in this activity.

7.3 Performance Evaluation:

The Activity may be subject to performance evaluation, fully compliant with the requirements of USAID’s 2011 Evaluation Policy, which can be found on the following web site:

http://www.usaid.gov/evaluation/. Offerors who respond to this Request for Proposals (RFP) should be familiar with the content and requirements of this policy.

Moreover, the Contractor will be required to cooperate with and facilitate the work of an independent organization that would design and implement the evaluation. The suggested approach includes mixed methods, whereby the information is both quantitative and qualitative to strengthen its findings. USAID encourages the involvement of relevant stakeholders, therefore the Contractor can be asked to coordinate meetings and provide logistics support in the field.

The Contractor may also be required to cooperate with an independent organization if the Mission decides to conduct a more rigorous sector evaluation or impact study across the Development Objective 4 including baseline and mid-term evaluation.

The performance evaluation may take place a year and a half before the project’s termination, in order to give the implementing partner the opportunity to make course corrections if these are relevant. In consequence, it is important for the contractor to incorporate the findings, conclusions and recommendations in the project cycle.

DRAFT---NOT A SOLICITATION---DRAFT

Annex A. Conservation Corridors

CARIBEAN REGION

ORINOQUIA REGION

Source: Lasso, C. A y C. Matallana (Compiladores). 2012. IV Taller binacional para la conservación y uso sostenible de la biodiversidad en la cuenca del Orinoco: avances, perspectivas y propuestas de trabajo conjunto bajo el contexto del cambio global. Instituto de Investigación de Recursos Biológicos Alexander von Humboldt. Bogotá, D. C., Colombia. 99 pp.

Annex B. Relevant Environmental Policies

Decree 4742 / 2005 Law 1151 / 2007 Law 1450 / 2011 Decree 1900 / 2006 It corresponds to the rate that water users should pay. The rate of the fee depends on the volume of water captured.

Decree 1498 / 2008 It corresponds to the rate that must be paid by the harvesting of forest or the extraction of non-timber products.

Electricity Sector Payments

Decree 1933 / 1994 Decree 1640 / 2012 Law 1450 / 2011 It corresponds to the fee that certain companies must pay to municipalities and Regional Autonomous Corporations by the use of water in electricity production.

Decree 2820 / 2010 Resolution 1526 / 2012 It is the authorization granted by the environmental authorities for the execution of a project that can cause severe deterioration of renewable natural resources or the environment or introduce considerable or notorious modifications to the landscape.

The licensee must develop corrective actions, mitigation and compensation of environmental impacts to compensate and give back to the communities, regions, etc., by impacts or negative effects that can not be corrected, mitigated or replaced.

Some existing compensation measures are:

- Compensation for use of forest reserve areas.

- Compensation for use of threatened species.

- Compensation for biodiversity loss.

Resolution 058 / 2002 Resolution 601 / 2006 Resolution 627 / 2006 Resolution 909 / 2009 Permission granted by environmental authorities to perform air emissions.

Law 373 / 1997 Law 812 / 2003 Decree 1900 / 2006 All project who makes use of water shall allocate no less than 1% of total investment for the recovery, preservation and monitoring of the suppliers watershed.

Fishing use fee

Law 13 / 1990 Decree 2256 / 1991 Resolution 602 / 2012 Fisheries exploitation in Colombia is subject to payment of charges and fees for commercial, research and sport fishing, as well as by processing and marketing.

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