Antecedentes

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 in order 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.

 To address the 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 the PAs. 

 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
• Assess potential to develop PES schemes related to hydropower and ecotourism activities and
• Design a PES policy in cooperation with relevant ministries

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

Deberes y responsabilidades

The main task of the Consultant is to propose PES designs for the selected two pilot sites. The Consultant is to perform the following specific tasks:

1. Develop a workplan and time schedule for this assignment

2. Make a presentation on other countries’ PES designs, experiences, and lessons learned to the PES working group and have initial recommendations for how PES could work in the context of Cambodia. The presentation should not be limited but include

• Key ecosystem services under PES
• Payment transfer from users to managers of the ecosystem services
• Who manages the fund
• How the fund has been distributed
• Any issues and challenges in relation to operationalizing PES 

3. Conduct field visits to two pilot sites in Kbal Chhay in the Preah Sihanouk province in Preah Jayavarman-Norodam “Phnom Kulen” (Phnom Kulen National Park) in the Siem Reap province. These field visits should include rapid assessments of:

• Values of ecosystem services related to water and eco-tourisms, the costs associated with the loss of these services, and the opportunities associated with their realization;
• General socio-economic situations and land uses to generate maps of watershed with current land use, land tenure and socioeconomic conditions;
• 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

                Note that most of information for Phnom Kulen are already available.

4. Prepare and discuss a draft report (not more than 30 pages) for discussion with the PES working group, UNDP, Conservation International and other stakeholders.

This draft report should include:

• Brief documentation of other countries’ PES experiences and lessons learned
• Brief documentation of background information of two sites
  • Values of ecosystem services related to water and eco-tourisms, the costs associated with the loss of these services, and the opportunities associated with their realization;
  • General socio-economic situations and land uses to generate maps of watershed with current land use, land tenure and socioeconomic conditions;
  • Key stakeholders and target groups which may be interested in financing a PES, and map their interests, including any existing PES practices;
  • Key issues and challenges government, companies, and communities are likely to face in the PES engagement
• Proposals for PES designs for two sites defining
  • Potential key ecosystem services/goods subject to payments under PES
  • Potential key users of services – payment transfer mechanisms
  • Possible units for measurement—how these would be measured and monitored
  • Potential payment transfer mechanisms between users and managers of services—how to collect funds from users and distribute them among actors with attention to pro-poor benefit sharing? What are best ways for payments to be used to achieve conservation and protection objectives?
• Identification of additional data needs and priority actions which are required to operationalize PES in the two pilot sites (if it is difficult to estimate actual ecosystem services, what would be proxy measures to be used?)
• Policy recommendations to propose key elements for a PES policy for Cambodia

5. Finalize a draft report (not more than 30 pages) incorporating the comments from the PES working group, UNDP, Conservation International and other stakeholders.

Competencias

Functional Competencies:

• Professional specialization in economic valuation of the environment and use of quantitative models and integrated management of water resources

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;

Habilidades y experiencia requeridas

Education: 

• Master degree in Environmental Economics or other relevant discipline

Experience:

• At least 7 years of working experiences in sustainable financing for biodiversity conservation and in protected areas
• Prior experience in designing and implementing PES in developing countries.

Language Requirement:

• Fluency in written and spoken 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=39392 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.