Background

In 1993 the Royal Government of Cambodia (RGC) issued a Royal Decree designating 23 areas, covering about 3.3 million ha (18.3 % of total land area), as protected areas. In 2015-16 the RGC has increased its total conservation area to approximately 7.5 million ha that includes 45 landscapes and three Biodiversity Conservation Corridors. Cambodia has brought approximately 41 per cent of its total area under conservation management.

These areas are governed by a regulatory framework that includes the Constitution of Cambodia (1993), the Protected Area Law (2008), and the Law on Environmental Protection and Natural Resources Development (1996). These regulations are complemented by the National Protected Area Strategic Management Plan (NPASMP).  The NPASMP is an important policy instrument to provide directions, strategic objectives and action plans with the aim to achieve effective management of Protected Areas.

Among other things, the NPASMP identified “inadequate government funding” as a major challenge in ensuring effective management of Protected Areas. It further highlighted the urgent need to develop a sustainable finance plan using a diversified set of funding sources to address the funding needs.

In October, 2016, the RGC officially approved advancing the dialogue on Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) as one of new sustainable financing options for concerning Protected areas, and also to address the funding needs identified by the NPASMP.  This decision included a proposal to implement two PES pilot projects in Kbal Chhay in the Preah Sihanouk province in Preah Jayavarman-Norodam “Phnom Kulen” (Phnom Kulen National Park) in the Siem Reap province.

One of the proposed pilot sites, Phnom Kulen National Park, is well known for its history, its cultural heritage sites, and its ecological importance. It is the most sacred mountain in Cambodia and the birthplace of the Cambodian Kingdom with more than 50 sacred ancient temples. Its ecosystem provides critical habitat for a number of globally threatened species and plays a vital role as a water source for the Siem Reap town and the aquifer that maintains the stability of the Temples of Angkor.

In June, 2017, the Ministry of Environment requested the United Nations of Development Programme (UNDP) to lead feasibility studies in designing Payment Ecosystem Services (PES) in Phnom Kulen National Park and to contribute to the design of a PES policy in coordination with the Conservation International.

One of main components of the proposed feasibility studies is an in-depth research of the Kulen Mountain, to collect background information to be used for designing PES.  These include

  • Historical resources and land uses to generate maps of watershed with past and current land uses, land tenure and socioeconomic conditions;
  • General socio-economic situations of areas and major livelihood activities
  • Institutional and governance analysis in relation to the national park
  • Key ecosystem services related to water, eco-tourism, continued life-support systems, and cultural values
  • Key stakeholders and target groups which may be interested in financing a PES, and map their interests, including any existing PES practices;
  • Possible payment transfer and distribution mechanisms; and
  • Key issues and challenges government, companies, and communities are likely to face in the PES engagement

Duties and Responsibilities

The main tasks of the Consultant are two folds. The first is to collect background information to be used for designing PES in the Phnom Kulen National Park and the second is to contribute to ongoing and future discussions in designing, and operationalizing PES. 

Part I: Background research;

Background research consists of three main components 1. land and resource use analysis, 2. socio economic analysis, 3 institutional and governance analysis, and 4. policy recommendations.

1. Land and resource analysis in the Kulen Mountain.

Main objectives of this section are to 1) visualize major lands uses and changes over time, 2) identify key environmental, economic and cultural values and services of the Mountain, 3) identify major threats to the ecosystem of the mountain and 4) present possible environmental risks of deforestation and forest degradation. This analysis should not be limited but include:

  • Latest maps of major land uses including locations of temples, roads, village settlements (legal and non legal), agriculture fields, tourism sites, water networks (streams, rivers), habitats of endangered species.
  • Maps and pictures to visualize the changes in forest cover, agriculture lands, village settlements, and roads and other infrastructures (to trace changes over time)
  • Analysis of key environmental, socio-economic and cultural services and goods which the Kulen Mountain provides to people in PKNP and the surrounding landscape (e.g. water, timber, firewood, Non-Timber Forest Products, Medicinal plants, wildlife, archaeological values, agriculture, and ecotourism). This analysis should capture multi dimensions of ecosystem services (e.g. Kulen water has many dimensions: as a necessity, as a commercial item, as critical for agriculture/livelihoods (upland/lowland), as spiritual/political value (Kulen water is used at Royal Ceremonies), and supporting the foundation of Angkor Wat.
  • Assessment of the state of the Phnom Kulen in terms of ecosystem services that are slowly dominating the ecosystem at the expense of other services, to capture the notion of trade-offs (cashew vs water)
  • Detailed analysis of major factors affecting the ecosystems of the Kulen Mountain with pictures. These factors should be also categorized by the level of significance
    • Direct factors (e.g. Land encroachment, slush and burn agriculture, Illegal logging for timber, Illegal hunting of wildlife, over use of pesticides, wastes, pollution from vehicles) with an analysis of the drivers behind these illegal logging, and emerging dominance of cashew
    • Indirect factors (e.g. Law enforcement, tourism concessions, equipment)
  • Possible impacts of deforestation and contamination of Kulen Mountain, drawing on narratives of villagers when and if scientific data is unavailable   
    • Volume and quality of water for Kulen Mountain and downstream watershed in the Angkor Area

Note: wherever available, both qualitative and quantitative data should be used for the above analyses. In the case when quantitative data is unavailable, qualitative data or description of factors can be used.

2. Socio and economic analysis in the Kulen Mountain

This section analyses 1) socio economic status of villagers residing in and around Kulen mountain, 2) main livelihood activities in the past and present, 3) main drivers behind current patterns of land uses and 3) how their use of natural resources has transformed the landscapes over time.

  • Background information of villages in the Kulen Mountain to present a brief history of migration, types of villages in terms of the times they migrated, their legal status, and their ethnic backgrounds.  Maps should be included to show the locations of these villages.
  • Economic analyses of incomes generated by livelihood activities with attention to their transformative impacts on the watershed in cooperation with a national ethnographer who will lead this component of the work.
    • Cashew (annual per ha)
    • Timber per cubic meter
    • Firewood—how much firewood do they extract? —how much per kg do they sell—who are main buyers?
    • Charcoal- how much firewood, do they extract during dry seasons—how much per kg do they sell—who are main buyers
    • Brick production
    • Non-Timber Forest Products
    • Medicinal plants
    • Tourism—restaurants, shops
  • Analysis of livelihood activities of villages (more than 10 villages) in cooperation with a national ethnographer who will lead this component of the work. This includes making profiles of each village:
    • Brief village background (year of formation, legal status, size of population, size of lands, major land uses, poverty level (if available))
    • Size of land holding by level of wealth
    • Main livelihood activities (e.g. agriculture (slush and burn agriculture), forest based livelihoods, tourism, services etc) drawing on individual and/or focused group interviews.
      • What are major income sources of different segments of villagers?
      • How are different segments of villagers dependent on natural resources?
        • Why do people use resources as they do?
        • What are their perceptions of the state of forests over 10 years?
        • What do they think are major challenges and issues when forests are degraded?
      • What do they think need to be improved- ecosystems, infrastructure?
      • How do they use lands and natural resources? Is there any change before and now in the use of natural resources? Categorize their patterns of use differentiated by levels of wealth, types of occupation and gender
      • How did the shifting cultivation transform over time- in a manner that adds mounting pressure on the Kulen Mountain?
      • How these have impacted/had consequences for the resilience of the Phnom Kulen and surrounding watershed?  The analysis should link livelihoods to the transformation of the watershed noting that it is people who drive the dominance of one ecosystem service over the other, the implicit trade-offs, and the ultimate resilience/lack of resilience.
    • Dynamics of decision making
      • What are decision making mechanisms at the village level? How collective decisions have been made on the use of natural resources?
      • What are the decision-making mechanisms at inter-village level?
      • What are existing decision making mechanisms at the provincial, district, commune and village levels in relation to Natural Resources Management?
      • How do different decision makers (Ministry of Environment (MoE), APSARA, Provincial, District departments, commune ad village councils) interact to make any decisions related to the Kulen Mountain at different inter-linked levels? Any coordination mechanisms?

3. Institutional and governance analysis

  • Analysis of laws, policies and programmes related to Kulen Mountain
    • Relevant laws, policies, and programmes
    • How effective these regulatory frameworks have been? Patrolling? Fines?
  • Analysis of major institutions and their roles in relation to the management of the Kulen Mountain
    • Village, commune, district councils, provincial governments, MoE and Apsara
    • MoE roles/mandates/capacities
      • Their mandates and roles in relation to the management of Kulen Mountain?
      • How much funds do they have for the management? How are the funds used?
      • How many officers assigned to manage the Kulen Mountain? What are their qualifications, capacities, motivations and behaviors in relation to the management?
      • How often do they patrol the Protected Area (PA)? How large area are they responsible for?
      • What are major constraints in carrying out their mandates
        • Number of staff? Salary level? Lack of expertise? Lack of equipment?
        • Social relationships?
      • What are their perceptions of the state of the forests compared to 10 years ago?
      • What are main challenges and issues in law enforcement?
    • Apsara authority roles/mandates/capacities
      • Same questions for MOE to be asked
    • Local based organizations
    • Community Protected Areas (CPAs)
      • How many CPAs are there? Where are they located?
      • What are their mandates and roles?
      • What are their views on CPAs?
        • What are major issues and challenges CPAs face?
        • What are major points, which need to be improved for CPA to be effective?
    • Archaeological Protected Areas (APAs)
      • What are their mandates and roles?
      • What are their views on APAs?
        • What are major issues and challenges APAs face?
        • What are major points, which need to be improved for APA to be effective?
  • Reflections on the effectiveness in the past and current measures taken to arrest deforestation and forest degradation
    • Boundary demarcation
    • CPAs and APAs
    • Law enforcement
    • Reforestation and afforestation
    • Promotion of alternative livelihoods
  • Analysis of fund collection and distribution mechanisms inside and around the Kulen Mountain
    • What are main current sources of fund for Kulen Mountain?
      • How much is entrance fee?
      • How many tourists (international and national tourists) visit the site? (to estimate a total volume of income generated by tourism)
    • Who manage and govern the fund?
    • How are they distributed among different actors? For what purposes

4. Initial policy recommendations for interventions in support for PES.

  • Reflections of factors which may transform villagers’ behaviours
    • What may change behaviours from resource extraction to sustainable use?
    • What are other options available as alternative livelihood activities?
  • Reflections on what ecosystem services would benefit (become more resilient) from putting a price to them and whether it is viable to use tourism and water as a means to ensure that other ecosystem services are maintained (e.g. paying people to get off cashew or putting in place plantations for fuelwood)
  • Reflections of possible measures which can be applied for effective conservation of the Kulen Mountain. These measures include law enforcement, demarcation, CPAs and APA, awareness raising and analysis of alternatives. Working with Monsanto for alternatives?
  • Possible sources of funding for PES
    • Entry fees?
    • Restaurant at the waterfall?
    • Water companies?
    • Brick factories?
  • Possible payment distribution mechanisms? Who should manage the funds? Who should receive payment for what kinds of activities?

5. Make a presentation on key findings and prepare a draft report (not more than 50 pages) to cover the above four components for comments

6. Final report incorporating comments from UNDP and relevant partners

Part II: PES Designing

  1. Join and contribute to a series of design sessions for PES as a resource person

Competencies

Functional Competencies:

  • Demonstrated skills in working across multi-stakeholders (local communities, government)

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;

Required Skills and Experience

Education: 

  •  A Master’s degree in Anthropology, Archaeology or other relevant discipline (a PhD degree is preferred)

Experience:

  • At least 10 years of experiences working in the field of Protected Areas, national parks, protection of archaeological sites and working with local communities and governments. Prior working experience in Cambodia and knowledge of the Kulen Mountain and its archaeological values is an asset
  • Prior experience in conducting socio economic research, writing reports and in designing and implementing development and livelihood programmes

Language Requirement:

  • Fluency in written and spoken English. Knowledge of Khmer is an asset

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=39389 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 on­line applications submission will be acknowledged where an email address has been provided. If you do not receive an e­mail acknowledgement within 24 hours of submission, your application may not have been received. In such cases, please resubmit the application, if necessary. Please combine all your documents into one (1) single PDF document as the system only allows to upload maximum one document.

Any request for clarification/additional information on this procurement notice shall be communicated in writing to UNDP office or send to email pheara.lek@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.