Scope of Work

Consultancy Services: Biodiversity monItoring under RLLV

This assignment is exclusively for Vietnamese nationals or registered Vietnamese organizations

1. Introduction

IUCN is a membership Union composed of both government and civil society organisations. It provides public, private and non-governmental organisations with the knowledge and tools that enable human progress, economic development and nature conservation to take place together.

Working with many partners and supporters, IUCN implements a large and diverse portfolio of conservation projects worldwide. Combining the latest science with the traditional knowledge of local communities, these projects work to reverse habitat loss, restore ecosystems and improve people’s well-being.

SNV, the Netherlands Development Organization, and Global Evergreening Alliance (GEA) have jointly designed Restoring Land and Livelihoods (RLLV) in Viet Nam. RLLV is a landscape restoration initiative to transform and rejuvenate degraded agricultural and forest land, restore their productivity, resilience and ecological vitality while enhancing community well-being through inclusive value chain development.

RLLV is expected to generate greenhouse gas emission removals to be verified and issued. RLLV will be implemented in selected districts in Son La and Lam Dong Provinces by a consortium led by SNV with IUCN and ICRAF as partners. IUCN is responsible for designing a biodiversity monitoring system that can efficiently and effectively measure the impact of forest restoration on above- and below-ground biodiversity. GEA has hired the European Forest Institute (EFI) to provide technical assistance to the consortium.

2. Goal and tasks

The RLLV inception phase runs from July 2024 to January 2025. For the inception phase, IUCN is responsible for two tasks:

1. Establish a biodiversity baseline for different forest types
2. Design a biodiversity and forest connectivity monitoring system

About 70% of the forest restoration will take place on farms and about 30% in Protection Forests or SUFs.

3. Expected specialist team composition and level of effort

To help complete these objectives, IUCN wishes to contract with a team of Vietnamese nationals or a Vietnamese organization with expertise in biodiversity monitoring in both agricultural and forest landscapes. Team members should have relevant technical backgrounds and demonstrated experience working on similar assignments, ideally in Son La and Lam Dong. The team should have no more than six members. Positions can be merged or adjusted depending on the team members’ expertise. The total estimated level of effort is no more than 90 days including office and field work.

Table 1. Proposed positions, roles and approximate number of days per position

No.	Position	Roles	Days
1	Team Leader: Ecologist/Bird Specialist	Lead to whole team to implement the activities agreed in the inception report/work plan Develop a detail work plan for the team Be responsible for managing and delivering report timely in close collaboration with other assessment team members	16
2	Reptile & Amphibian Specialist	Identify potential indicators for monitoring Develop a monitoring protocol for reptiles and amphibians Conduct two field surveys and data collecting Data analysis and group report	13
3	Fish & Aquatic Biodiversity Specialist	Identify potential indicators for monitoring Develop a monitoring protocol for fish and aquatic animals Conduct two field surveys and data collecting Data analysis and group report	13
4	Entomologist	Identify potential indicators for monitoring Develop a monitoring protocol for insects Conduct two field surveys and data collecting Data analysis and group report	13
5	Soil Health/Invertebrate/ Nematode Specialist	Identify potential indicators for monitoring Develop a monitoring protocol for soil invertebrates and nematodes Conduct two field surveys and data collecting Soil sampling Data analysis and group report	28
6	GIS Specialist	Conduct two field surveys at the sites Vegetation/habitat mapping Species distribution mapping	7
	TOTAL		90

4. Expected methodology and outputs

• Review the RLLV project documentation and guidelines and IUCN’s Land Health Monitoring Framework.
• Meet SNV and ICRAF to discuss selection of districts/communes in both provinces and to design a survey sampling strategy.
• Conduct biodiversity surveys in sites in both provinces that cover the range of land uses where RLLV will intervene and an SUF to serve as reference.
• Analyze survey data to determine initial patterns of above and below ground biodiversity in relations to land use.
• Visit sites in both provinces to repeat biodiversity surveys using revised methodology based on result of first visit.
• Analyze survey data to:

1. Map patterns of above and below ground biodiversity in relation to land use
2. Design a cost-effective long-term biodiversity monitoring protocol for RLLV

• Present the initial and final results and recommendations at RLLV meetings and provide written input to RLLV reports, as needed.

5. Deliverables

Table 2. Key deliverables

No	Description	Deliverable	Due date	MoV
1	Inception report, including the detailed work plan, methodology for carrying out the tasks in the field	Inception report	7 days after signing of contracts	Approval by IUCN
2	Field report	Field report	October 31	IUCN technical team provide comments
3	First draft Report	First draft report	November 31	IUCN technical team provide comments
4	Final report incorporating comments from stakeholders	Final report	December 15	Approval by IUCN

6. Contract and supervision

The applicants will be contracted through consultancy contracts if applying as individuals or through a service contract if applying as an organization.

The team will work under the supervision of IUCN Vietnam Biodiversity Coordinator.

7. Proposal

As well as the fees for team members, the proposal should include budget for. The consultant will submit a proposal including:

• Proposal that describes the technical approach, time frame, and role of each team member.
• List of up to five similar projects that the team members have conducted.
• Budget that includes the fees for team members and at least two visits to both sites, so at least four field trips.
• CVs of team members.

8. How to apply

Applications should be sent to [email protected] copy [email protected] with subject line Applicant full name Biodiversity Monitoring no later than 30 September 2024.

Applications will be reviewed as they are received, and candidates are strongly encouraged to apply as soon as possible.

Only short-listed applicants will be contacted.

Organization: IUCN
Location:
Application deadline: 2024-09-30
Send application to: [email protected]; [email protected]