National Consultant / Group of Consultants on Economic Evaluation of Ecosystem Services

The USAID Vietnam Forest and Deltas Program is embarking upon a five-year effort that will support four provinces to accelerate their transition to climate resilient, low emissions development through investments in reducing net emissions from forests, and enhancing resiliency of people, places, and livelihoods in the delta regions to short and long-term climate impacts. In collaboration with MARD, the Program will support sustainable forests management and strategies to increase sustainability and climate change resilience, improve livelihoods, and reduced pressure upon forest ecosystems, or to manage them in a more equitable and sustainable manner.

The concept of ecosystem services is becoming popular as a way to encourage discussion about the dependence of people on nature and what this means both socially and economically. Ecosystem services are crucial to survival and to the social and economic  development of human societies. Individuals, rural and urban areas as well as industries rely on the services that ecosystems provide. An important prerequisite for integration of ecosystem services into planning processes is the availability of reliable information on the dimensions of the benefits and costs of land-use and management of ecosystem services. This information can provide a sound basis for decision-making and good arguments for local and regional governments with regard to the importance of sustainable  management of land and natural resources. It advocates a step-wise approach through which it is possible to recognize, demonstrate and capture the value of biodiversity and ecosystem services for development planning. It aims to provide practitioners with a practical and policy-relevant framework for integrating ecosystem services into development planning.

The aim of this study is to identify the key ecosystem services in the Thanh Hoa – Nghe An landscape, undertake an economic assessment of the key ecosystem services and values, undertake a cost-benefit analysis based on different development scenarios and to identify mechanisms for mainstreaming into socio-economic and land  use planning at provincial levels. The data will be key to determining a green growth vision for the landscape, and to ensure that ecosystems and the services they provide are maintained for sustainable economic development.

The major objectives of the study will be to identify and assess the major upland, lowland, coastal and urban ecosystem services important for land use planning, and generate an economic and baseline geospatial assessment that can inform land use planning. The economic valuation will focus on a range of ecosystem services provided, which potentially include but are not limited to: provision of forest products (timber and non-timber), regulation of greenhouse gas fluxes (including carbon sequestration), regulation of water quality and quantity, subsistence and recreational uses of fish and game, pollution remediation, pollination, local climate regulation, agricultural services, and retention of soils and sediments. The economic and geospatial assessment should assist to identify areas and localities important for provision of ecosystem services and their main users. Based on the landscape assessment specific interventions for land use, taking into account both economic and conservation perspectives, will be proposed based on the findings from the assessment.

The approach of the economic valuation will be to undertake a rapid valuation based mostly on such existing data, and limiting the collection of additional data to the cases where the study’s robustness will be lower certainty.

Please see the TOR for further information.

Your offer, comprising a technical proposal and financial proposal, should reach the following address no later than 17:00 Hanoi time,15th  June 2014 to [email protected].