Consultant on Forest Inventory

Consultancy announcement

Position: Consultant on forest inventory for developing GESI mainstreamed Sustainable Forest Management Plans (SFM Plans) for target communities in CFM demonstration sites in Quang Tri and Quang Nam provinces for the USAID Sustainable Forest Management Project, RECOFTC Viet Nam

Sub-Activity Code: 1.2.5.1&1.2.6.1 Develop and implement GESI integrated forest management plans for demonstrating CFM communes

Estimated number of consulting days: about 60 man days, from June till September 2022

Application deadline: 5.00pm. Hanoi local time, 20 June, 2022

At RECOFTC, we believe in a future where people live equitably and sustainably in and beside healthy, resilient forests. We take a long-term, landscape-based and inclusive approach to supporting local communities to secure their land and resource rights, stop deforestation, find alternative livelihoods and foster gender equity. We are the only non-profit organization of our kind in Asia and the Pacific. We have more than 30 years of experience working with people and forests, and have built trusting relationships with partners at all levels. Our influence and partnerships extend from multilateral institutions to governments, private sector and local communities. Our innovations, knowledge and initiatives enable countries to foster good forest governance, mitigate and adapt to climate change, and achieve the Sustainable Development Goals of the United Nations 2030 Agenda.

The USAID Sustainable Forest Management Project (The SFM Project) will work with the Government of Vietnam (GVN) to reduce carbon emissions associated with deforestation, the degradation of natural forests, and poor plantation management. The SFM Project will implement a “Green Prosperity” approach that strengthens local communities’ ability to protect their natural resource base and reduce emissions while building a strong foundation for sustainable livelihoods and equitable economic growth.

The SFM Project will work in seven provinces (Lao Cai, Son La, Hoa Binh, Thanh Hoa, Nghe An, Quang Tri, Quang Nam) and focus on five objectives:

• Improve and expand community forest management
• Increase conservation-friendly enterprises in forest-dependent communities
• Increase functionality of law enforcement system for forest crimes
• Improve production forest management practices
• Mobilize domestic resources for forest management and protection

The SFM Project is being implemented during the period 2020-2025 by DAI in collaboration with RECOFTC and Preferred by Nature as partners, with the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development (MARD) as the counterpart and the Management Board of Forestry Projects (MBFP) as project owner.

RECOFTC Viet Nam is now inviting applicants for a consultant on forest inventory for developing SFM Plans for target communities in CFM demonstration sites in Quang Tri and Quang Nam provinces.

Background

Background

Forest dependent communities’ participation is increasingly recognized as an important factor in effectively maintaining forests. Communities have been engaged into forest management and protection in various forms. Four main types of these engagements include: traditional community forests; introduced community forests; groups of households managing forestlands; and individual households, who all individually own forestland, collaborating in forest management.

Under the SFM Project, the concept of community covers two forms of local people's participation in forest management. The first modality is community forest management (CFM) in which residential communities/villages manage their allocated forests. This also covers the modality where communities manage household’s allocated forests as a community group (community forest household groups). The second modality is community-based forest management (CBFM) in which village communities manage contracted forests with protection forest management boards.

With CFM modality, local communities can access different financial sources, including but not limited to forest protection expenditures, PFES program, NTFP income, joint cooperation/investment and other credit programs to support communities to more effectively fulfill the roles and responsibilities of forest owners under CFM.

In order to strengthen the capacity of communities to manage, protect, sustainable use and develop the allocated forest resources, communities will actively develop SFM Plans with support from The SFM Project. Through this process, communities will effectively perform the role of forest owner to protect the forests, promote multi-purpose of forest, and protect the environment of the forest, increase the supply capacity of forest and ensure the long-term use of forest products, especially NTFPs. Communities can also effectively explore the potential of eco-tourism, cultural tourism, and environmental education. This process strengthens capacity of the community, towards self-sufficiency in part of financial resources through revenue from forest protection, from PFES, from sustainable exploitation of non-timber forest products, from organizing ecotourism activities to contribute to economic development, poverty reduction, and sustainable livelihood improvement.

Composition of the consultant team:

In order to carry out the tasks of developing SFM Plans for communities whose allocated land and forests, the SFM Project recruits a CFM Consultant team including:

• Consultant 01: is the team leader, responsible for organizing, coordinating, assigning, checking and supervising team members during the implementation. The team leader will directly participate in the survey, development of intervention activities, coordinate forest inventory and synthesize the development of sustainable forest management plans for the selected communities.
• Consultant 02: is a team member, responsible for performing forest inventory tasks, with the participation of the team leader and consultant 03.
• Consultant 03: is a team member, responsible for carrying out the tasks of surveying, developing interventions, participating in forest inventory, developing village conventions/ regulations on forest protection and managements.

The CFM Consultant team will also cooperate with Expert on Gender Equality and Social Inclusion (GESI) to ensure proper integration of GESI considerations into CFM planning processes.

Total expected LOE to develop SFM Plans for target communities who are allocated forests and land in two provinces of Quang Tri and Quang Nam is 164 man-days in which 64 man-days for Quang Tri and 100 man-days for Quang Nam.

Objective of the consultancy

Review and assess the current status of forest resources allocated to communities to inform for the development of SFM Plans for selected communities

Tasks

Consultant 02, a team member, is responsible for performing the following tasks:

1. Collect relevant documents:

Collect and synthesize relevant information and documents to carry out the Forest Inventory for the community, including:

• Maps and data on forest status
• Maps and data on planning for three types of forests
• Maps, data and reports on commune-level land use planning
• Other information and documents related to forest status.

2. Conduct participatory community forest inventory:

The implementation of community forest inventory task follows the guidance in Articles 10, Article 11, Article 14, Article 15, Article 19, Article 20 of Circular 33/2018/TT-BNNPTNT dated November 16, 2018 of the Ministry of Agriculture and Rural Development on forest survey, inventory and monitoring, which are supplemented and updated according to Session 3- Part 2 in the CFM Manuals of the Project, including:

• Forest area inventory: review and update the latest forest status map of the Forest Protection Department, with field verification 
• Forest stock volume inventory
• Investigation of forest regeneration
• Investigation of non-timber forest products
• Investigation of endangered and rare forest plants
• Investigation of endangered and rare forest animals
• Determination of forest biomass and carbon stock

3. Conduct on the job training sessions on field forest resources inventory for communities

During the forest resources inventory, conduct on-the-job trainings for the community to strengthen their capacity to carry out forest resources inventory and serve  community's forest monitoring missions in the future.

Scale and sites for implementation

The CFM consultant team is expected to develop SFM Plans for the following 02 selected communities:

1. Community in Gia Gia village, H??ng Hiep commune, Dak Rong district, Quang Tr? province; Area: 1.626 ha.
2. Community in Pa Da village, Ca Di commune, Nam Giang district, Quang Nam province; Area: 3.251 ha.

Anticipated duration, level of effort (LOE), timeline and deliverables

Duration

The estimated time for the team leader to carry out this task is 60 man-days, expected to start in June 2022, and submit the final report on September 10, 2022. Details are in the following table:

LOE

Implementation plan and deliverables

Schedule to develop SFM Plans for 02 communities whose allocated forest and land in Quang Tri and Quang Nam provinces are presented in the table below:

Requirements of deliverables

1. Reports: in Vietnamese, including:

• 02 reports on forest inventory for 02 communities

2. Maps: in Vietnamese, edited with specialized software Map/info according to TCVN 11565:2016 standard, including:

• 02 Forest status maps for 02 communities
• 02 Distribution maps of endangered and rare forest plants and animals for 02 communities

3. Data: Forest inventory results sheets and forms in Vietnamese for 02 communities as prescribed in the CFM Manuals.

Required qualifications

• Vietnamese nationality only
• A bachelor’s degree or higher, majoring in forest inventory and planning; forest protection or related fields
• Having at least 10 years of experience in the forestry sector
• Having experiences and expertise in using GPS and GIS technology in forest inventory and planning; having experiences in updating and developing forest status maps
• Having experiences and expertise in biodiversity and NTFPs inventory
• Having experience, skills in teamwork
• Experience and skills in writing reports in Vietnamese; Able to use English at work

RECOFTC’s core values

At RECOFTC, our core values are the foundation of our culture and guide all our work. In addition to job specific skills and experience, the applicant should possess the following characteristics, attitudes and skills:

• Embrace innovation
• Adapt to, and learn from, challenges
• Collaborate with partners and stakeholders
• Nurture commitment, responsibility and ownership
• Prioritize sustainability
• Cultivate participation, social inclusion and gender equity

How to apply

Interested individuals are requested to submit their CV and a cover letter indicating why they are suitable for this consultancy along with the expected fee or daily rate and current contact details of three references, to [email protected]. Please quote the consultancy title in the subject line of the email. Only shortlisted individuals will be notified.

For any further information you may need about the consultancy, please contact [email protected].

To learn more about RECOFTC, please visit our website www.recoftc.org