UNDP Jobs - 60757- International Spatial Landscape Planner for Integr

International Spatial Landscape Planner for Integrated Ecosystem Mapping

Location :

Phnom Penh, CAMBODIA

Type of Contract :

Individual Contract

Starting Date :

15-Nov-2015

Application Deadline :

10-Nov-15 (Midnight New York, USA)

Post Level :

International Consultant

Duration of Initial Contract :

30 days, and from November 15, 2015 to December 30, 2015

Languages Required :

English

Expected Duration of Assignment :

30 days, and from November 15, 2015 to December 30, 2015

UNDP is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality and culture. Individuals from minority groups, indigenous groups and persons with disabilities are equally encouraged to apply. All applications will be treated with the strictest confidence. UNDP does not tolerate sexual exploitation and abuse, any kind of harassment, including sexual harassment, and discrimination. All selected candidates will, therefore, undergo rigorous reference and background checks.

Background

Cambodia is rapidly transiting from a low to a middle-income country. The Gross National Income per capita is USD 950 with an annual GDP growth of 7.4 percent (World Bank 2013). Economic developments have been accompanied by a rapid expansion of Economic Land Concessions (ELCs), Social Land Concessions (SLCs), hydropower dams, mining and road building in rural areas. While they have brought some important economic benefits, they raise concerns over the growing pressure on ecosystems and rural livelihoods. For example, forest coverage declined from 73% in 1965 to only 57% in 2011 (FA 2011).

Aside from leading to the loss of biodiversity and species at risk, the depletion and degradation of ecosystems have other effects. Not least, it constitutes a significant threat to the livelihoods of rural people, especially the poor who are highly dependent on the continued viability of ecosystems for their livelihoods. 80% of the Cambodian population is estimated to reside in rural areas. They collect fuelwood for daily cooking, timber for house construction, fish, and Non Timber Forest Products (NTFPs) for subsistence and income. Women are particularly dependent on ecosystem goods and services for livelihoods and domestic responsibilities. It is also notable that most rural people are subsistence farmers exercising rain-fed agriculture. They are subject to growing threats from climate change effects with increasing incidents of droughts, floods, and windstorms, and rising sea levels. At the time of droughts or floods, ecosystems provide a crucial safety net by offering supplemental or alternative sources of income. By regulating water flows and reducing agricultural and residential damage from flooding and droughts, watersheds offer another kind of safety. Hence, the loss and deterioration of ecosystems will increase the risk that rural people lose their livelihood bases and subsequently fall back into poverty. Moreover, a growing volume of empirical evidence suggest that environmentally harmful developmental activities are less effective in lifting people out of poverty than initially expected.

Duties and Responsibilities

The assignment for the international DSS expert covers initial activities of the first and second components of the ecosystem mapping initiative, e.g., 1) designing an initial scope of a decision support system (DSS) to guide land use decisions, and 2) consolidating existing geographical information related to land tenure and land uses, forest cover and types, key biodiversity areas, climate change vulnerability areas, agricultural areas, and development activities.

Specific activities for this assignment are to:

In collaboration with a national expert assigned for the task, provide technical inputs for a one-day national meeting on ecosystem mapping with members from technical working groups for the Environmental Code to introduce about the DSS, and how DSS could be used for making decisions related to the Code. The meeting will include a morning session to introduce international and national examples of using DSS for land use decisions and an afternoon session for each sub technical working group (STWGs) to discuss the kinds of geographical information they need and what kinds of queries need to be included for the DSS.

Based on recommendations made by STWGs, in collaboration with the national expert, develop an initial proposal for priority objectives including the scope of data collection and DSS design options. Proposed options to meet objectives must be possible within the time frame of Environmental Code development, which will conclude by 2017. Among others primary targets this will include identification of critical habitats, ecosystems and areas of high biodiversity values.

According to the priority objectives defined by the previous processes, and in collaboration with the national expert, query participating agencies (such as NGOs and international organizations), on available datasets, which meet objective criteria. Assess freely available global datasets and review literature to identify the availability of additional spatial data which may be suitable to support the DSS. Example of data types include (see Annex 1 for potential data sources):

Ecosystems and biodiversity including forest cover/types, Key Biodiversity Areas, key wetlands and watersheds, Important Bird Areas, location and distribution of IUCN Listed species;
Rural livelihoods including areas of high rates of poverty, areas of high density of Indigenous Populations, location of community based tenure systems (Community Forestry, Community Protected Areas, and Community Fishery);
Areas highly vulnerable to climate changes based on crop types, soil maps, crop suitability precipitation patterns, and water distribution;
Areas that are contaminated by mines and explosive remnants by war;
Current and projected areas for energy demand and supply including fuelwood, hydro power stations, areas suitable for adoption of clean energy (solar, wind, biofuel);
Current and projected locations of commercial development activities that are likely to impact on ecosystems including ELCs, mining, hydro power, oil/gas, and other infrastructure developments;
Jurisdictions: areas under Forestry Administration (FA) (Protected Forest, Production Forest, Conservation Forest), Fishery Administration (Fish Sanctuaries), Ministry of Environment (MoE (Protected Areas), APSARA Authority (Forest lands in Cultural Heritage sites) and other state lands (e.g. managed by Ministry of Industry, Mine, and Energy (MIME), Minitry of Rural Developmnet (MRD), Ministry of Land Management Urban Planning and Construction (MLMUPC)).

Note: There will be a follow-up activity to this assignment to identify and consolidate data that is managed by government agencies.

In collaboration with the national expert, consolidate the identified spatial data provided by participating agencies. This activity requires:

Visiting the officers of participating agencies to review, collect and assess the spatial data provided;
reating an archive to save all the collected data and information;
Systematic organization of raw data, shape files, remote sensing data;
Recording of methodologies and definitions that were used for developing maps;
Produce a report summarizing the datasets collected and how they may support the DSS system and a gap assessment of available spatial data based on requirements identified during the national meeting on ecosystem mapping and further recommendations made by STWGs.
In collaboration with the national expert, provide technical inputs for a technical meeting among NGOs and international organizations. This includes presenting initial results or the status of DSS design and data collection. This meeting will also include NGOs and International Organizations to present and discuss kinds of data and information they possess and strengths and gaps of the data.

Expected Outputs and Deliverables:

Provision of technical contents for the national meeting on DSS. This includes 1) preparation of introductory presentation on DSS, and how DSS could be used for land use decisions, 2) acting as a facilitator for afternoon sessions for STWGs to discuss on data needs and key strategies of DSS, 3) consolidation of recommendations from the STWG for the design of DSS and 4) an initial proposal for priority objective and scopes of data collection and for DSS;
Consolidation of the identified spatial data provided by participating agencies including 1) an archive to save all the collected data and information, 2)recording of methodologies and definitions that were used for developing maps, and 3) production of a report summarizing the datasets collected and how they may support the DSS system and a gap assessment of available spatial data based on requirements identified during the national meeting on ecosystem mapping and further recommendations made by STWGs;
Presentation of initial results, status of data collection, and update of objectives based on consultancy results for follow-up actions.

Interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=25856 for more detail information about term of references, instructions to offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online.

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

Knowledge of various data systems and DSS methods applied to conservation, development and spatial planning, including protocols of access, usage and security;
Professional specialization in GIS, spatial planning and database management applied to conservation including consolidating, managing and updating spatial databases.

Corporate Competencies:

Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

At minimum, a Bachelor’s Degree in GIS, Geography, or other related fields.

Experience:

More than 7 years of experience with spatial planning including GIS analyses;
Prior experience with environmental regulatory and compliance systems;
Prior experience in designing and developing a Decision Support System for land use decisions and conservation;
Prior experience in Environmental Analysis and Mapping by mapping locations of natural features and phenomena such as soil type, forestation, species, waterways, and floodplains;
Prior experience in cadastral data analysis including visualizing legal boundaries of areas under different line ministries’ jurisdictions;
Prior working experience in Cambodia is a plus.

Language:

Fluent in English.

Interested offeror must read the Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice, which can be viewed at http://procurement-notices.undp.org/view_notice.cfm?notice_id=25856 for more detail information about term of references, instructions to offeror, and to download the documents to be submitted in the offer through online.

UNDP reserves right to reject any applications that is incomplete.

Please be informed that we don’t accept application submitted via email.

Interested Offerors are required to submit application via UNDP jobsite system as the application screening and evaluation will be done through UNDP jobsite system. Please note that UNDP jobsite system allows only one uploading of application document, so please make sure that you merge all your documents into a single file. Your on-line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e-mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email dalis.heng@undp.org and cc procurement.kh@undp.org. While the Procurement Unit would endeavor to provide information expeditiously, only requests receiving at least 5 working days prior to the submission deadline will be entertained. Any delay in providing such information will not be considered as a reason for extending the submission deadline. The UNDP's response (including an explanation of the query but without identifying the source of inquiry) will be posted in Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice page as provided above. Therefore, all prospective Offerors are advised to visit the page regularly to make obtain update related to this Individual Consultant (IC) Procurement Notice.