Background

Within the framework of the “Save Our Mangroves Now!” (SOMN) initiative, funded by the Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), Wetlands International is awarding a contract for updating the Global Mangrove Watch extent and change maps.

The Save our Mangroves Now! (SOMN) Initiative
Wetlands International, as part of a consortium with WWF Germany and the International Union for the
Conservation of Nature (IUCN), in collaboration with the German Federal Ministry for Economic
Cooperation and Development (BMZ), is implementing an international initiative for the protection of
mangroves. Now in its third phase (SOMN3), the four partners are working together to stop global mangrove loss under the title “Save Our Mangroves Now!” (SOMN).

The overall project goal is to ensure that the conservation and restoration of mangroves are accelerated and scaled up in the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region for the benefit of people, biodiversity, and climate through the implementation of existing national and regional commitments.
SOMN3 builds on the achievements, findings and lessons learnt from the first two phases of the initiative (SOMN1 & SOMN2), which focused on developing knowledge products, capacity-building, advancing policy at the various levels from international to regional (WIO) and national (Kenya, Madagascar, Mozambique, Tanzania), as well as accelerating partnerships related to mangrove conservation and restoration. In its third phase, SOMN focuses on further supporting the implementation of the commitments made by Mozambique and Kenya towards mangrove protection, aim to support the WIO region in unlocking additional finance, and building capacity on international best practice tools, knowledge and initiatives.
The project is designed as a WIO regional contribution to the Global Mangrove Breakthrough, which aims to unlock USD 4 billion to secure the future of 15 million hectares of mangroves globally by 2030 through collective action on halting mangrove loss, restoring half of recent losses, doubling protection of mangroves globally and ensuring sustainable long-term finance for all existing mangroves. To achieve this in the Western Indian Ocean region, SOMN aims to reduce barriers to effective mangrove conservation and restoration in the Western Indian Ocean region. These barriers are regularly identified as lacking policies, limited capacities and limited financial resources. The project therefore has the following sub-objectives:

(1) National and local policy frameworks on mangroves restoration and conservation are enhanced; (2)
Government representatives, practitioners and community representatives working in mangrove
management have the knowledge and capacity to successfully implement restoration activities at scale;mangrove
(3) Additional finance options for upscaling mangrove restoration are initiated.

Objectives & scope

The geographic scope of this assignment is the global mangrove habitat and the temporal scope consists of the years 1996, 2007 – 2010, 2015 – 2023. The main objectives are:

1. Fill gaps in mangrove coverage in the existing GMW dataset
2. Redo the mangrove extent and change timeseries analysis based on the newly corrected JAXA LBand SAR data using the new GMW 2020 baseline
3. Update the Global Mangrove Watch timeseries by producing new annual updates for the period
   2021 – 2023

Expected Deliverables

1. Updated mangrove mask
2. Mangrove extent and change layers for the years 1996, 2007 – 2010, 2015 – 2023
3. Summary statistics for:
   a. Countries
   b. Protected areas
   c. Marine ecoregions
4. Peer-reviewed paper
5. Scripts published in GitHub GMW repository

Requirements

• The mangrove extent and change timeseries is to be based on change from the existing GMWv4
  10m baseline for 2020.
• Mangrove change is to be analysed using JAXA’s newly corrected L-band SAR data from the JERS
  and ALOS missions
• The mangrove extent and change data have an accuracy, as measured by kappa, of >90%
• The data outputs are to be made available under a CC-BY-4 license
• The peer-reviewed paper is published as open-access
• Any scripts / software developed for the analysis are published under an open-source license in
  the GMW GitHub repository (access will be provided)
• The mangrove extent and change have minimum 25 meters resolution

Profile of consultant

The consultant/organisation will have:

• Expertise in mangrove ecosystems
• Expertise in earth observation and GIS with proven experience in using satellite imagery to map
  and monitor mangrove extent and change
• Familiarity with existing mangrove datasets and published literature
• Proven track record in scientific publishing
• Other relevant skills needed to perform this consultancy

Available budget and payment structure

Wetlands International has a maximum available budget of 66,000 euros for this consultancy, including all taxes. Payments will happen on an invoice basis with the final 25% being paid after delivery and acceptance of the final deliverables.

Timing and duration

The work will take place between June 24th 2024 and December 31st 2024.

Technical and Financial Proposal

A technical and financial proposal must be submitted to Wetlands International, including the proposed methodology, work plan, timelines and a detailed cost breakdown for the achievement of the deliverables. It must be accompanied with the following minimum supporting documentation:

1. CVs (establishing competence and demonstrating qualifications/skills relevant to the ToR) of the
   personnel proposed to work on the consultancy.
2. Profile of the organisation, including the mission of the organisation and date of founding.
3. Evidence of previous relevant experience that qualifies the organisation/consultant to undertake
   this work.

Contact

Proposals should be sent to Wetlands International by June the 21st 2024, to the attention of Ana Colorado McEvoy, SOMN3 Project Manager, at the following e-mail address: [email protected]

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