Background

This study, commissioned by the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC), aims to develop a consolidated historical analysis on the valuation of reforestation in terms of disaster risk reduction in the Republic of Korea (ROK). Reduced disaster risk in terms of, for instance, landslides and flooding is an assumed indirect but still not quantified benefit of the massive reforestation that the Republic of Korea underwent after the war. Today, ROK has 64% forest coverage in a landscape dominated by small mountains.

The findings of this study will serve to inform other (developing) countries of potential benefits of protecting existing forests and/or reforesting. It will also inform the future work of the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre.

The UNDP Seoul Policy Centre

In November 2009, UNDP and the Republic of Korea (RoK) agreed to establish the ‘UNDP Seoul Policy Centre for Global Development Partnerships’ (hereinafter USPC). According to the Agreement, the functions and activities of the USPC include the following:

  • To serve as immediate interface with the ROK Government on all aspects relating to the evolving Republic of Korea-UNDP partnership;
  • To serve as knowledge center for comparative experiences and approaches of new development partners in reducing poverty and achieving sustainable human development; and
  • To facilitate and promote learning, networking, policy dialogue and consultation among new development partners and to contribute to capacity development in developing countries.

The UNDP Seoul Policy Centre collaborates with the Government of the Republic of Korea on important areas of global development agenda, such as implementation of the Global Partnership on Effective Development Cooperation. It also works with a network of UNDP regional and country offices on thematic initiatives – Development Solutions Partnerships - connecting them with knowledge and resources from the Republic of Korea. The Centre also conducts policy research and analysis of Korea’s development experiences.

As the United Nations’ global development network, UNDP advocates for change and connects countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build better lives. UNDP’s 2014-2017 Strategic Plan recognizes and outlines how the organization can strengthen links between environmental sustainability and all other areas of UNDP’s policy and programming work, including poverty, governance, gender equality, and resilience.

Recognizing the benefits of forests to livelihoods and to ensuring ecosystem services, including carbon sequestration, UNDP’s contribution to sustainable forest management ranges from strengthening forest governance to ensuring the inclusion of indigenous peoples and civil society in sectoral decision making, working with the private sector and governments to promote deforestation-free commodity supply chains, and strengthening the livelihoods of forest-dependent communities. UNDP also works to integrate issues of climate, disaster risk at the country level with a focus on building resilience and ensuring that development remains risk-informed and sustainable.

There is a timely convergence of UNDP’s work on climate change, disaster risk management and sustainable forest management with the Republic of Korea’s successful interventions in reforesting the country.

In the 1960s, the introduction of the ‘Forest Law and the Erosion Control Law’ and establishment of the Korea Forest Service (KFS) marked the start of Korea’s reforestation policy. The Korea Forestry Research Institute (KFRI), an affiliate agency under KFS, conducted Korea’s first forest inventory survey (1964-1969) with support from UNDP and FAO. This field study mapped Korea’s forest areas and analysed the land quality and soil conditions. It was followed by other UNDP support for the development of the national forest policies and plans.  The increase in Korea’s forested area is a testimony to achievements. In the early 1960s about 56% was covered by forest, today it is 64% -- an additional 840,000 hectares. In 2009 and 2014, the Republic of Korea submitted national reports on sustainable forest management to the Montreal Process of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

According to the 2014 report, the market based contribution of the forest sector, including wood products, to Korea’s GDP was a mere 1% in 2012. In terms of carbon sequestration, according to a KEI 2005 study, total net removal of CO2 from land-use change and forestry increased from 6.5 MtC in 1990 to 9.5 MtC in 2001, demonstrating a growth of 3.5% per year. Beginning from 1970, the Korea Forest Service conducts comprehensive periodical survey on forest resource and annually publishes Yearbook of Forest Statistics including information on land area by forest type, growing stock, commercial harvest, import and export of forest products. However, other ecosystem services from forests such as water, water and air purification, nutrient recycling and soil formation are not well quantified. The same goes for the value of reduced or avoided disasters such as flooding.

Concerning disasters, statistics of actual landslides over the period 1976-2012 are available and published in the 2014 report along with quantification of damages and recovery costs in the period 2003-2012.

However, the extent to which landslides may have been avoided in the past due to resilience of reforested slopes/areas that would otherwise have been at risk, has not been estimated properly for all of Republic of Korea, including with regard to quantification of spared damages and recovery costs. While such an estimation can only be a guess – we cannot rewrite history – it can be an educated guess based on, inter alia, meteorological, topographical, and demographic data and comparison with the above-mentioned data series from landslides that actually took place. Desk study reveals that Korea Forest Research Institute has some done historical analysis on landslide and soil erosion based valuation based on sample areas in Korean language—but the scope of that work and methodology are not available widely or in English. As part of preparing this TOR, these researchers have been contacted to ensure the technical study will build on all relevant existing work in Korea.

This study will be conducted by reputed international and Korean experts --and will be guided by UNDP’s own development experience and work in Korea in earlier years as well as UNDP’s substantive involvement of reforestation and disaster risk reduction interventions in other areas of the world.

Rationale of the study

While a brief desk review does not provide any immediate example of study done elsewhere on economic valuation of disaster risk reduction (DRR) directly attributed to forests or reforestation, related studies on natural resource management and DRR are available that can be utilized to further advance this relatively unexplored area of research. This will lead to useful sustainable development related data and analysis in the context of Korea.

Korea is one of only four countries and the only (former) developing country that has a successful history of forest rehabilitation following World War II.  Therefore, a generalization can be made in terms of the extent of challenges of reforestation and overall sustainable development of developing countries --struggling to achieve the MDGs and from Jan 2016, the new Sustainable Development Goals. In this context, analysing the example of Korea and quantifying some of the intangible of indirect benefits is indeed useful.

With the positive experience of reforestation in Republic of Korea at hand, it is useful to examine this experience from an academic and research viewpoint especially in terms of adaptation; and in the short and medium terms manifestation of disaster risk reduction. A historical and quantitative analysis is the focus of this study.

Such a study focusing on Korea can provide useful reference point for developing countries to validate the hidden benefits of reforestation that goes beyond long-term advantage of climate mitigation by providing direct valuation of DRR and climate adaptation that has impacts of people’s lives and livelihoods within their lifetimes.

Duties and Responsibilities

Objective:

This research study commissioned by the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) aims to: develop a consolidated historical analysis of quantification of disaster risk reduction benefits/challenges resulting from reforestation in Korea in the last 50+ years.

The research will include a combination of desk reviews, primary and secondary data collection, modelling and analysis. The analysis will include (i) meteorological data (chronological and site specific climatic data on rainfall and evapotranspiration), (ii) topographical data (including surface features Korea’s various regions), (iii) forestation data, (iv) demographic data, (v) land use data and (vi) loss and damage data (more specifically calculation of potentially avoided loss of lives and assets due to natural disasters). Other data, that may be needed, will include information on site specific and chronological land use patterns in terms of human settlements, agriculture and other usage; scale of reforestation interventions, geographical and spatial data available through GIS, FGIS and other management systems.

Specific to disaster impacts, data will be collected on (but not be limited to) both monetary and non-monetary impacts at a direct and indirect level and will, where possible, be segregated by sectors, e.g. Social/households, Economic (private, public), Environmental (flooding, landslides, drought) etc. Historical qualitative data will also be collected from interviews with key country experts and development practitioners who have been involved in the reforestation and disaster risk management activities in Korea.

The collected data will be utilized to conduct a rigorous cost benefit analysis of disaster risk management with reforestation interventions in Korea. The study conclusions will also benefit from review from UNDP advisers and experts in selected developing countries. Therefore, to a limited extent, this study will also draw from UNDP’s country-level experiences and programming expertise in reforestation and disaster risk management in its analysis.

At the outset, the paper will be technical in nature and will not recommend prescriptive solutions; but offer consolidated information and reflections to inform a long-term policy exchange development on sustainable development. If the data is not promising in terms of establishing a positive co-relation between reforestation and impacts on disaster risk reduction—this is also a lesson learned in itself.

However, if a strong co-relation between Korea’s historical reforestation and disaster risk reduction efforts is indeed established, this quantitative and historical analysis may possibly serve as a launching pad for discussions and partnership activities among key stakeholders in Korea, with UNDP’s engagement, as to how lessons learnt from Korea and UNDP could be applied, and what kind of adaptations and external support would need to be made to facilitate such application in other developing countries.

The technical paper preparation will be led by the International Team Leader who will work with two Korean experts in finalizing the study.

Scope of Work:

The selected expert along with international team leader and national GIS/DRR expert will undertake the following tasks:

  • Send inputs to the team leader on the methodology for the study. Highlight how this methodology compares with, or builds on the methodology that has been used by KFRI for its sample based analysis of landslide and soil erosion of reforestation in parts of Korea;
  • Conduct primary and secondary data collection on topography, meteorology, land use and human settlement and reforestation in Korea based on GIS, FGIS, land use planning and other related tools; and compare with disaster risk management data in Korea in terms of both structural and non-structural measures desegregated based on hazard type (including soil and environmental aspects) and include both direct and indirect (to the extent possible) costs and benefits for a comprehensive cost-benefit analysis (CBA). If CBA is found not to be effective, contribute to the development of other tools for valuation of reforestation is terms of disaster risk reduction as directed by the team leader. Utilize established qualitative research methods to complement the findings of quantitative data. The division of the data collection between national experts will be agreed with the team leader;
  • Prepare an analytical chapter describing the above analysis and results;
  • Exchange drafts with the team leader and work closely with the reference team (consisting of USPC staff, selected experts from UNDP and possibly other organizations);
  • Present the draft and pertinent research questions at the May 2016 Seoul workshop, and facilitate the event as key resource persons;
  • Incorporate the discussions and feedback from the external workshop into a final draft report as directed by the team leader.

The report shall also contain a comprehensive bibliography based on the draft reference listed at the end of this TOR.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

The national forestry expert along with international team leader/NRM expert and national GIS and DRR expert will be responsible 40-45 pages-long paper, with an executive summary and relevant annexes, which summarizes the results of the quantitative analysis (including but not limited to cost-benefit analysis) of primary and secondary data; and key findings from the relevant literature and research, partner interviews, as well as formal consultations with relevant stakeholders.

The paper shall present a critical analysis of primary and secondary data collected for this exercise; and provide reflections on economic valuation of reforestation in terms of DRR-- based on the lessons learned from the experience in Korea in the past 50 years, as well as of UNDP. The reflections will lead to research questions to further investigate the co-relation between reforestation and DRR (for example, research questions may highlight different policy and economic contexts and trajectories in which the interventions and follow up results may or may not be replicable).

More specifically, the national expert along with the two other experts shall produce the following deliverables, each of which would need to be reviewed and approved by UNDP:

  • Deliverable 1: Contribute to the proposed for the research project and an annotated outline of zero draft of research report for comments and approval by USPC;
  • Deliverable 2: Contribute to the first draft of the valuation of reforestation document in Republic of Korea in terms of DRR; and lessons learnt for review by USPC;
  • Deliverable 3: Presentation at a technical workshop in May/June 2016, and facilitation of the discussions on the first draft, as well as key research themes and critical questions;
  • Deliverable 4: Contribute to the Final Report, which incorporates the feedback on the first draft, as well as the discussions at the May 2016 workshop.

The Team leader will be responsible for the overall draft.

Institutional Arrangement:

The consultant will report to the UNDP Seoul Policy Centre, which will coordinate and consult with partners for strategic guidance and timely feedback.

Timeline and implementation arrangement

UNDP Seoul Policy Centre (USPC) will coordinate a team of experts: consultant team leader (an expert on valuation of NRM); an expert on DRR and GIS and the national forestry expert, and relevant UNDP and other practitioners in disaster risk management and forestry issues (the latter will work as peer reviewers).

The USPC Green Economy Policy Specialist will facilitate the overall study implementation; and work with the team leader in finalizing the study draft. She will also be responsible for overseeing the overall quality of the research in consultation with the peer reviewers. The study activity will take place between May 2016 and July 2016.

 Selected consultant will work (both from home and in field visits) to collect data, consolidate their findings and apply them to draft report.

Details of the work programme will be finalized by USPC in consultation with the experts and relevant partners--after the selection of experts/consultants is complete.

The draft report will be shared and discussed at a technical workshop in Seoul (May 2016), inputs from that workshop will be integrated into the final report.

UNDP Seoul Policy Centre will fund the research project. The expert(s) will report to the Centre, which will coordinate and consult with partners for strategic guidance and timely feedback.

Contract duration: 20 work days in total from 2 May 2016 to 31 July 2016

Duty Station: Home-based in Seoul with no travel required.

Competencies

  • Strong analytical, research and synthesizing skills;
  • Excellent organizational and time-management skills; ability to work independently against tight deadlines;
  • Ability to actively engage in substantive discussions related issues;
  • Ability to write and speak in English clearly and convincingly, adapting style and content to different audiences;
  • Proficiency in the usage of computers and office software packages;
  • Excellent writing, editing and oral communication skills in English essential.

Required Skills and Experience

The team will work with USPC GE Specialist who will facilitate the process; finalize the final draft in terms of substance and structure along with the international expert. Peer reviewers will include other UNDP staff with expertise in relevant field.

National Consultant on Forestry shall have the following qualifications:

Education:

  • Postgraduate degree forestry/forest management.

Experience:

  • Minimum 8 years directly relevant experience in the area of with expertise applied research on disaster risk reduction, forestry or related issues;
  • Experience in applied research on forestry related issues (at least 7 years) Sound knowledge of FGIS and other forest management related tool;
  • Knowledge of Korea’s reforestation history Excellent track record of high quality research on policies relating to sustainable development and international development related area;
  • UN work experiences and familiarity with UN programming and practice preferred.

Language requirements: 

  • Good command of English both written and spoken.

Price Proposal and Schedule of Payments:

Consultant must send a financial proposal based on Lump Sum Amount.

The total amount quoted shall be all-inclusive and include all costs components required to perform the deliverables identified in the TOR, including professional fee, travel costs, living allowance (if any work is to be done outside the IC´s duty station) and any other applicable cost to be incurred by the IC in completing the assignment. The contract price will fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the herein specified duration. Payments will be done upon completion of the deliverables/outputs and as per below percentages:

  • Deliverable 1: Contribute to the proposed for the research project and an annotated outline of zero draft of research report for comments and approval by USPC: 20% of the total contract amount;
  • Deliverable 2: Contribute to the first draft of the valuation of reforestation document in Republic of Korea in terms of DRR; and lessons learnt for review by USPC: 20% of the total contract amount;
  • Deliverable 3: Presentation at a technical workshop in May 2016, and facilitation of the discussions on the first draft, as well as key research themes and critical questions: 20% of the total contract amount;
  • Deliverable 4: Contribute to the Final Report, which incorporates the feedback on the first draft, as well as the discussions at the May 2016 workshop: 40% of the total contract amount.

In general, UNDP shall not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the event of unforeseeable travel not anticipated in this TOR, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and the Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed.

Evaluation Method and Criteria:

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology

Cumulative analysis

The award of the contract will be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

  • responsive/compliant/acceptable, and;
  • having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical (70%) and financial criteria (30%) specific to the solicitation.

Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment. Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 350 technical points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation.

Technical Criteria for Evaluation (Maximum 500 points)

  • Criteria 1: Experience related to services– Max 250 points;
  • Criteria 2: Qualifications, Expertise and Availability.- Max 250 Points.

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 350 points (70% of the total technical points) would be considered for the Financial Evaluation. Financial score shall be computed as a ratio of the proposal being evaluated and the lowest priced proposal received by UNDP for the assignment.

Documentation required:

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications. Please group them into one (1) single PDF document as the application only allows to upload maximum one document:

  • Letter of Confirmation of Interest and Availability using the template provided in Annex 2;
  • Personal CV or P11, indicating all past experience from similar projects, as well as the contact details (email and telephone number) of the Candidate and at least three (3) professional references;
  • Financial proposal, as per template provided in Annex 2;
  • Technical proposal, including a) a brief description of why the individual considers him/herself as the most suitable for the assignment; and b) a methodology, on how they will approach and complete the assignment.

Incomplete proposals may not be considered.

Annexes :

For any clarification regarding this assignment please write to brh.gef.procurement@undp.org