Consultant to Prepare the Maps of Payment for Forest Carbon Sequestration and Storage

SCOPE OF WORK

USAID Green Annamites Project

STTA Consultant to prepare the maps of Payment for Forest Carbon Sequestration and Storage (C-PFES) to support C-PFES piloting in Thua Thien Hue and Quang Nam provinces

I. Project overview

ECODIT is implementing the USAID Green Annamites Project (the Project) in Quang Nam (QN) and Thua Thien Hue (TTH) provinces in central Vietnam. The purpose of the Green Annamites activity is to assist Vietnam’s transition to climate-smart, low emission, and resilient development that protects people, landscapes, and biodiversity in Vietnam’s priority forested provinces. The project will be implemented from September 26, 2016 until December 16, 2020 with its three main tasks as follows:

Increased application of low emission land use: conserve the existing carbon sink; stop emission from small scale deforestation and degradation, and unsustainable agricultural practices; and increase carbon sequestration from restoration of degraded landscapes. A key component of Green Annamites’ intervention strategy is the focus on livelihood improvement and value chains, aiming at generating sustainable revenue streams for communities living in forested areas and in or around protected areas.
Strengthen biodiversity conservation: mitigate threats to the globally significant biodiversity in central Vietnam, including poaching and activities that destroy habitats for wildlife and cause habitat fragmentation (e.g., deforestation, forest degradation, and conversion of natural forest into plantation)
Increase resilience for vulnerable communities: ensure that results of activities supported under the two other components are not affected by climate change impacts. In addition, under this task the Program conducts standalone activities to build resilience for vulnerable communities. Many of these activities reflect findings and recommendations from the climate vulnerability assessment findings.

Key program results include improving the livelihoods of 20,000 forest dependent people; improving biodiversity of over 400,000 hectares of natural forest, mobilizing at least $20 million in public and private resources for sustainable livelihoods and forest conservation; and sequestrating the equivalent of at least 7 million metric tons of carbon dioxide from the atmosphere.

To support the implementation of Task 1, the Project supports to conduct activities of Payment for Forest Environment Services (PFES) policy, institutionalization and implementation, including PFES M&E, E-payment, PFES expansion for clean and industrial water and the C-PFES piloting in T.T. Hue and Quang Nam provinces to inform nationwide application.

II. Activity background

Forests play a crucial role in protecting watersheds, preventing soil erosion, maintaining the water cycle, building resilience for communities and responding to climate change by adaptation. They are also home to wildlife and biodiversity. But economic development and growing demand for food, energy and wood resources are putting increasing pressure on Viet Nam’s forests and landscapes. To protect these vital ecosystem services, in 2010 the Government of Viet Nam became the first country in Asia to institutionalize a national-wide policy on the PFES (Decree 99). Due its vital roles to the forest protection, biodiversity conservation and local livelihoods, the PFES has been further stipulated in more details and roles in the New Forestry Law 2017 and Decree 156/2018/ND-CP for legal support and effective implementation. Mandated through the New Forestry Law and Government Degree, the PFES policy requires users of forest environmental services to make payments to suppliers for five categories of services, including (i) soil erosion control and soil protection, (ii) surface and underground water regulation and control (iii) forest carbon sequestration & storage (C-PFES), and mass emission organization and plants have to make payment for this; and the reduction of emission through deforestation and forest degradation (REDD), (iv) landscape beauty protection and biodiversity conservation, and (v) mangrove system services and aquacultures.

PFES in Vietnam has been a dynamic success by the VNFF (Vietnam Forest Protection and Development Fund) of MARD and its provincial FPDF system so far for watersheds, soil and water protection and landscape and biodiversity conservation, but not yet, even though with great potentials for the C-PFES, REDD and mangrove and aquaculture services. The VNFF is now planning to expand its program for the C-PFES for strategic goal to contribute about $1 billion for its Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) to the Paris Agreement on Climate Change by 2030 to ensure success of Vietnam’s proactive climate change policies. With strong experience and potentials for the PFES and C-PFES, QN and TTH provinces have been selected for the PFES extension. Yet a number of technical considerations and capacity issues must be considered before the C-PFES can be nationwide up scaled.

To support the extension of PFES Vietnam, the USAID Green Annamites Project is preparing the C-PFES piloting in QN and TTH provinces. For this, the C-PFES map would need to be done in advance. Similar to the hydropower PFES map, a C-PFES map comprises all the forested areas and all forest owners in all districts and communes/villages in each province. However, the PFES maps are based on catchment maps, the C-PFES map instead is prepared just using the updated forest inventory and monitoring datasets and the criteria defined for location and area selection by aggregation method (Article 57, 60, 61, 62 and 63 of Decree 156/2018/ND-CP; Handbook for PFES Map Production issued by VNFOREST’s Decision 392/QD-TCLN-KHTC 13/9/2018; and MARD 2019ⁱ ) The identified areas for the C-PFES are also prioritized, so that C-PFES payments would be made on the high priority areas for forest conservation. This Scope of Work (SOW) is prepared to recruit a STTA Consultant for the C-PFES maps for QN and TTH provinces.

III. Activity purpose

The purpose of this assignment is to prepare the maps of payment for forest carbon sequestration & storage (C-PFES) to support the C-PFES pilot implementation in QN and TTH provinces.

Specific objectives of this assignment include:

To prepare the C-PFES maps with area identification & prioritization for QN and TTH provinces following the VNFOREST and MARD guidance for selection criteria, methods and datasets.
To support QN & TTH FPDFs to prepare their detailed C-PFES payment plans based on the amount expected to be collected from the firms participating in the piloting process (coal-based power and cement plants).
To support QN & TTH FPDFs on preparing the C-PFES Guideline Handbook with a chapter on C-PFES map preparation and production.

IV. Activities to be implemented

Under supervision of PFES Specialist from the Project and in close collaboration with FPDFs of QN & TTH province as well as relevant stakeholders, the successful candidate is expected to implement the following activities:

Perform a desk review on updated documents of C-PFES pilot proposal submitted by MARD to the Government, PFES and C-PFES mapping guidance, and other relevant documents
Prepare a detailed work-plan for implementing the assignment including technical approach, activities, outputs, timeframe, role and responsibility of counterparts, and location; work with the Project and QN and TTH FPDFs to agree on the detailed work-plan.
Define and agree with the Project QN & TTH FPDFs on the specific criteria for:

1. Selection of suitable districts, communes and villages for the C-PFES pilot implementation, and,
2. Identification of forest sites, areas (Has) and forest owners in each commune/village for C-PFES piloting.

Work with QN & TTH FPDFs and the Project to prepare a step by step practical and technical guideline on C-PFES map preparation (necessary inputs, technical approach, methods and criteria for location & site selection, data sources and dataset management) to support the preparation of the C-PFES Guideline Handbook in both provinces.
Review and update with available information a GIS-based database on forest status (rich, medium, poor), its function (special use, protection and production), forest origin (natural forest and plantation), and their respective areas. The database must include all forest owners registered under the existing forest inventory, forest monitoring and PFES database.
Prepare the C-PFES maps with area identification & prioritization with the updated datasets and defined criteria with reference and support from SMCA (Spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis) tool and Handbook for PFES Map Production issued by VNFOREST’s Decision 392/Q?-TCLN-KHTC 13/9/2018, and Decree 156/2018/N?-CP; Three kind of C-PFES maps need to be prepared in each province as follows: (i) C-PFES map for group 1 forest owners (individual, household, community) at communes and districts scale 1/10.000; (ii) group 2 forest owners (organization like PFMB, SUFMB, and so on) at scale 1/25.000-1/50.000); and (iii) C-PFES map for the whole province at scale 1/100.000).
Present the draft CPFES maps to the FPDFs and relevant stakeholders in a consultation meeting organized in each province.
In collaboration with the Project, support QN & TTH FPDFs to prepare their detailed C-PFES payment schemes, using as input the expected revenue from participating firms in the pilot and the C-PFES maps.
Facilitate a handover meeting to present the results and maps to the QN and TTH provinces and relevant stakeholders.
Prepare a final report on the assignment

V. Deliverables and Schedule

The table below shows list of deliverables and due dates:

Deliverables	Main contents	Activities included	Due Date	Format
1. Detailed work-plan and technical guideline on C-PFES map preparation, for the C-PFES Handbook in QN and TTH provinces	The detailed work-plan includes technical approach, activities, outputs, timeframe, role and responsibility of counterparts, and location Technical guidelines on the C-PFES map preparation for QN and TTH provinces The step by step guideline covers necessary preparations, technical approach & specific methods, criteria for location & site selection, data sources and dataset management, other information,	1,2,3 and 4	May 2020: 4 weeks after contract signed	Digital, by email, in MS Word/ MS Excel in VN and EN
2. C-PFES maps with area identification and prioritization	03 kinds of C-PFES maps prepared for each province include (i) for group 1 forest owners (individual, household, community) at communes and districts at scale 1/10.000; (ii) for group 2 forest owners (organization like PFMB, SUFMB, so on) at scale 1/25.000-1/50.000); and (iii) C-PFES map for the whole province at scale 1/100.000). Format, contents and features of the C-PFES maps should follow the guidance and regulations of MARD and MONRE (reference to Handbook for PFES Map Production by issued by VNFOREST’s Decision 392/Q?-TCLN-KHTC 13/9/2018; Decree 156/2018/N?-CP)	3,4,5 and 6	June 2020: 9 weeks after contract signed	Digital, by email in VN and EN. Maps as images and ArcInfo shapefiles.
3. Submission of a final report on completion of the assignment, including detailed C-PFES payment schemes and hand over meeting report	Final report to cover the whole process of the assignment C-PFES payment schemes based on the revenue to be collected from C-PFES participating firms and the C-PFES maps prepared Meeting report on handing over of the the results (C-PFES map guidelines, C-PFES maps and C-PFES payments schemes) to QN and TTH provinces for: 2 x 30 participants	1 to 9	July 2020: 12 weeks after contract signed	Digital, by email, in MS Word/ MS Excel in VN and EN

VI. Activity timeline and LOE of assignment

The assignment is tentatively scheduled to implement from end of May to July 2020 in Da Nang, QN and TTH provinces. The table below shows the activity timeline and Level of Effort.

#	Activity	LOE	2020
#	Activity	(day)	4	5	6	7	8	9
1	Perform a desk review on updated documents of C-PFES pilot proposal submitted by MARD to the Government, PFES and C-PFES mapping guidance, and other relevant documents	5		x
2	Prepare a detailed work-plan for implementing the assignment including technical approach, activities, outputs, timeframe, role and responsibility of counterparts, and location; work to agree with the Project and QN and TTH FPDFs on the work-plan	3		x
3	Define and agree with the Project and QN & TTH FPDFs on the specific criteria for: location selection of suitable districts, communes/villages for the C-PFES pilot implementation, and forest site selection of specific area (ha) with relevant forest owners in each commune/village for the C-PFES piloting	3		x
4	Work with QN & TTH FPDFs and the Project to prepare technical guidelines on C-PFES map preparation (necessary preparations, technical approach, methods and criteria for location & site selection, data sources and dataset management, other information, step by step) to support for C-PFES Guideline Handbook preparation/finalization for the two provinces	9		x
5	Review, update and setup datasets including GIS-based arrangement of current forest status/quality, forest function, forest origin, boundary and areas of all forests and forest owners (from available forest inventory, forest monitoring and PFES).	8		x
6	Prepare the C-PFES maps with area identification & prioritization from updated datasets and defined criteria with reference and support from SMCA (Spatial Multi-Criteria Analysis) tool and Handbook for PFES Map Production by issued by VNFOREST’s Decision 392/Q?-TCLN-KHTC 13/9/2018, and followed Decree 156/2018/N?-CP Work to agree with the FPDFs and relevant stakeholders on the C-PFES maps prepared for implementation through consultation process/meeting	16			x	x
7	In collaboration with the Project to support QN & TTH FPDFs to formulate their detailed and good schemes for C-PFES payments based on the amount planned to collect from C-PFES participating firms, and the C-PFES maps prepared	7			x	x
8	Conduct a meeting for handing over of the results and maps to the QN and TTH provinces and relevant stakeholders	2				x
9	Prepare a final report for submission and completion of the assignment	5				x
	TOTAL	58

VII. Requirements, application and selection

Qualification requirements

MSc or higher academic degree in Geoscience, Applied GIS, GIS-based mapping/NRM/forest management, or related fields.
Proficiency in written and spoken English.

Professional experiences

At least ten years of professional experience in GIS-based NRM, GIS-based forest management and Land-use.
At least five years of experience in GIS-based mapping and applied GIS for forest management and land-use, REDD+ and PFES; knowledgeable with C-PFES and C-PFES mapping
Previous experience on GIS-SMCA-based landscape/forest evaluation, area prioritization; PFES mapping, zoning and planning.
Experiences with similar forestry projects in QN and TTH provinces, and good working experience with provincial DARD, FPDFs, FPDs of QN and TTH.

Interested candidates should send application including:

A cover letter
Updated CV
A technical proposal presenting the overall technical approach, methods, tools to be used, inputs and output schedule (Three pages max.).
Three references of past performance

By April 25^th, 2019 to the following address: Recruitments.OP@ecodit.com.vn

No phone calls please. Only shortlisted candidates will be contacted for an interview.