Consultancy Assignment to Conduct an Assessment and Develop a Mitigation Strategy of HEC in Dak Lak Province

Project code: 40001657/200001 Supervised by: Project Manager, WWF Vietnam Technical report to: Project Manager, WWF Vietnam Work location: Based location and Dak Lak Province, Vietnam Duration: Feb - May, 2020

Background of consultancy assignment/ project

WWF was one of the first International non-government organizations working in Vietnam. In 1985, WWF began working on a national conservation strategy and since then has worked closely with the Vietnamese Government on a diverse range of environment issues and implemented field activities across the country. Find out more at http://vietnam.panda.org/.

Vietnam’s wild elephant (Elephas maximus) population has been in a steep decline for decades, with a total remaining population of about 100 individuals divided across multiple small populations in multiple provinces. The largest of these populations is located in Dak Lak Province, where 60-70 animals remain centered in Yok Don National Park (YDNP), an area of quality dry deciduous dipterocarp forest covering 1,115 km2. One of the Vietnam’s largest protected areas, YDNP represents the best opportunity for mega-fauna conservation and population recovery in Vietnam. More broadly, both Dak Lak Province and Yok Don National Park form an integral part of the Eastern Plains Landscape (EPL), commonly referred to as the “Serengeti of Asia”, which covers an area of 30,000km2 and straddles the Cambodia-Vietnam border. This is the largest remaining intact block of dry forest in Southeast Asia. The landscape supports the largest Asian elephant (Elephas maximus) population remaining in Indochina (Cambodia, Vietnam, Lao PDR) numbering between 200 and 400 individuals.

WWF-Vietnam, in collaboration with YDNP and the Elephant Conservation Center (ECC), is implementing Phase III of a USFWS-funded project aimed at conserving the largest population of Vietnam’s critically endangered elephants. The project objective 2 aims to reduce human-elephant conflict within the landscape to minimize impacts on community livelihoods and avoid retaliatory killings throughout Develop a strategy to mitigate human-elephant conflict using the SAFE Systems approach and develop capacity among local stakeholders to address human-elephant conflict.

WWF has developed various tools to address human-wildlife conflict (HWC) in general (Brooks 2015), and has conducted assessments of effectiveness of mitigation measures for HEC in particular (Houtman 2016). Approaches for mitigating HWC need to address the issue in a holistic fashion. The Human Wildlife Conflict SAFE Systems approach (2015) enables the development of a holistic strategy to address HWC through comprehensive conflict assessments that address key aspects of conflict management and balances the safety of people, assets, wildlife, and habitat. This approach will be applied in this project to first assess the issues of HEC in the landscape, develop a strategy, and support to local communities to implement locally-appropriate solutions on the ground.

WWF also funded for the assessment on the mitigation and gaps of human elephant conflict conducted by Dr. Cao Thi Ly in 2016 in Dong Nai, Dak Lak and Nghe An province. Because this works package covers related issues of HEC including: policy, prevention, mitigation, understanding conflict, response, and monitoring so that WWF is looking for a consultant. With the support from WWF-Int., the consultant will update the assessment of HEC mitigation based on SAFE system approach and develop a mitigation strategy, as well as building capacity among local stakeholders for mitigating HEC specific to Dak Lak Province. Please refer to the attached ToR for more details.

Objective of the consultancy

There are three objectives of the assignment:

To conduct a Rapid Assessment of HEC mitigation based on SAFE system approach;
To develop HEC strategy specific to Dak Lak Province;
To build capacity among local stakeholders for mitigating HEC.

3. Scope of Work

Develop a work plan for HEC assessment and mitigating strategy development. Ideally, it should be undertaken as a consultative process with relevant stakeholders;
Facilitate consultation workshop with relevant stakeholders to conduct a rapid assessment of HEC mitigation based on SAFE system approach including an assessment on the current status of HEC in Dak Lak province;
Develop a strategy for mitigating HEC in the context of Dak Lak province;
Provide TOT training for key staffs of YDNP and ECC on HEC mitigation and training skills;
Facilitate on developing HEC prevention and mitigation operation manuals using a participatory approach for one HEC mitigation the groups.

4. Required profile