1. Environmental Impact Assessments

The environmental impact assessments will examine the potential positive or negative environmental effects of the 7 to 8 climate action projects that have a strong focus on improving sustainable land use practice, managing natural resources, or safeguarding ecosystems and the environment, in specific areas of Egypt, Indonesia, Kenya, Liberia, Nigeria, Somaliland or Tanzania. The impact assessments will also support the start-ups and SMEs implementing the projects to understand their environmental impact, and to develop monitoring and contingency plans, to sustainably develop their digital solutions for climate resilience.

The project activities are limited in scope and scale; thus the environmental impact assessments will be streamlined to focus only on key environmental issues relating to the project intervention. The sectors, context and mobile and digital technologies used in of each of the projects are different, thus the environmental impact assessments will be varied and tailored to meet the needs of each project. The environmental impact assessments are expected to cover the following areas. However, suggestions for alternative approaches are welcomed by interested consultancy firms/specialist consultants:

• Overview of existing environmental assessments, policies and legislative frameworks
• Environmental assessments
  • Agriculture – land use, soil quality, ecology and biodiversity
  • Aquaculture – water quality, waste management, ecology and biodiversity
  • Forestry – land use, ecology and biodiversity
  • Wastewater treatment – water quality, crop contamination and health
  • Transboundary resources
  • Conservation and protected areas
• Recommendations

The environmental impact assessments are expected to consider the following methodology, though suggestions for alternative approaches are welcomed by interested consultancy firms/specialist consultants:

• Rapid desk-based review of each project to determine need and approach for environmental impact assessment. It is expected that a couple of the projects may not require full environmental impact assessments based on this rapid review, due to existing environmental impact assessments of similar projects which can be utilised or adapted, or the limited nature of some of the projects may require a streamlined approach for assessment.

Then for each of the projects that require a full environmental impact assessment:

• Rapid desk-based review of key policies and legislations relating to the project.
• Completion of relevant environmental assessments e.g., ecological impact assessment.
• Recommendations for action for GSMA and the grantee
• Final report outputs (of steps b to d, for each project, following a consistent template format)

1. Environmental Monitoring and Management Plans

The environmental monitoring and management plans are directly connected to the recommendations from the environmental impact assessments. For each project, a concise outline of what needs to be monitored, tracked and managed throughout the project lifecycle to ensure that positive environmental impact can be evidenced, and any negative environmental impact can be mitigated at the earliest opportunity. These plans can be embedded within the environmental impact assessments.

1. Environmental Data Collection and Testing

Based on the recommended data collection and testing activities outlined in each of the environmental monitoring and management plans, the consultancy firm/specialist consultants will be required to advise and support, or where appropriate, lead on the data collection and testing required during the project lifecycle. Examples of data collection and testing which may be required include:

• Water quality
• Soil quality
• Biodiversity
• Aerial survey or satellite imagery-based GIS mapping of land use and forest cover