National Consultant - Forest Landscape and Biodiversity Conservation Specialist

Project Preparation Phase of UNDP/GEF-GOM project on Improving Connectivity in the Central Forest Spine (CFS) Landscape, in Peninsula Malaysia

The Forestry Department Peninsular Malaysia (FDPM), Ministry of Natural Resources and Environment, Malaysia, and United Nations Development Programme with funding from Global Environment Facility (GEF) will carry out a full-sized project for Improving Connectivity in the Central Forest Spine (CFS) Landscape, in Peninsula Malaysia.  The project will contribute to the objective  of Sustainable land and forest management in the Central Forest Spine (CFS) Landscape that will secure the critical wildlife habitats, conserves biodiversity and maintains continuous flow of multiple ecosystem services including water provisioning, carbon storage and sequestration through the removal of the aforementioned barriers. The outcomes of the project will greatly enhance the timely and cost-effective implementation of the CFS Master Plans, through capacity building and establishment of integrated landscape management system, and diversification of financing sources for conservation management. Covering an area of approximately 5,100,000 ha (>38% of the total terrestrial area and >85% of forest areas in Peninsular Malaysia), the project will enable the FDPM to do planning, compliance monitoring and enforcement framework for integrated forest landscape management, sustainable landscape management operationalised in three priority forest complexes within the CFS, and diversification of  financing sources for conservation. The project will consolidate and strengthen the enabling legal, planning and financing, and institutional framework governing the management of CFS for FDPM which will be done by working together with federal line ministries and State level authorities.
 
FDPM and UNDP are preparing the Project Document for this project and are looking for consultants to support to design the full size project through appropriate situation analysis and extensive stakeholder consultations. A key objective of this preparation phase is to establish the baseline context, to clarify GEF increment and to plan activities to all stakeholders, and to develop a strategic results framework development that has optimal resource allocation from GEF and other stakeholders to meet the project objective. The key activities that will be conducted include policy framework and institutional capacity review; landscape profiling and GEF Tracking Tool baseline assessment; local stakeholder and gender assessment, Payment for Ecosystems Services  pre-feasibility study; analysis of wildlife trade and law enforcement; development of the Biodiversity Intactness Index (BII); feasibility analysis and budget, and project institutional arrangements and M&E system development.

Proposal should be submitted to:

United Nations Development Programme,
Wisma UN, Kompleks Pejabat Damansara,
Jalan Dungun, Damansara Heights,
50490 Kuala Lumpur, Malaysia.

Any request for clarification must be send in writing to rfp@undp.my
Please write the Project Code in your e-mail heading.
The deadline for submitting requests for clarification/questions is 20 June 2012.

The specialist will take the lead, in collaboration with key stakeholders, implementing and executing agencies, the preparation of  baselines and necessary assessments for project consolidation. The work involves facilitating the implementation of other activities under this preparatory phase, ensuring quality and timely completion of the activities.  The specialist will act as the lead national consultant to ensure generation of necessary information for project formulation/design. The specialist will:

• Review policy and legal framework in relation to the CFS Master Plan implementation, identifying contradictions or critical gaps which may hamper the progress of implementation, and suggest measures to remove the barriers.
• Assess the capacity of various agencies and stakeholder groups, in respect of:  their roles, functions and/or responsibilities in the CFS Master Plan and/or NPP implementation; their influence on, and importance in, the implementation of the proposed project; their capacity constraints, strengths and weaknesses in supporting or implementing project activities, in view of identifying the capacity development needs of the different stakeholder groups to ensure the sustainability of project investments beyond  the term of the project.
• Based on the above assessment, develop:

    (i) a detailed profile of institutional analysis identifying clear roles in project implementation;
    (ii)  recommendations for institutional/agency capacity development activities to strengthen collaborative and oversight capacities;
    (iii) a detailed partnership involvement strategy and plan for various agencies in the project implementation phase;
    (iv) a description of the project governance and implementation arrangements.

• Review existing data, reports and studies to collate detailed information on the three proposed demonstration landscapes in the CFS, in order to establish the baseline and landscape specific project interventions and targets.
• Conduct  field-based research to cover critical information gaps, possibly including:

    (i) an analysis of threats to biodiversity in the priority landscapes;
    (ii) policy, social, regulatory, socio economic, institutional, technical and knowledge barriers to establishment of the ecological linkages and effective management of the landscapes;
    (iii) the developmental context (key business sectors, socio-economic development, political environment) and its current and future impacts on the biodiversity conservation in the landscapes;
    (iv) the spatial distribution, and conservation status of permanent reserved forests and protected areas;
    (v) the spatial extent and development of satellite images and maps of the proposed priority landscapes;
    (vi) conservation and economic development plans, projects, programmes and initiatives affecting or impacting on the proposed project activities;
    (vii) a review and establishment of baseline information for each of the priority landscapes;

• Collect information on the government and partners’ baseline activities, as well as complementary activities by various partner organisations.
• Compile GEF tracking tools in consultation with the executing agencies and stakeholders (BD-2, LD-3 and SFM).
• Organise stakeholder consultation sessions in order to solicit inputs and ensure stakeholder involvement in and buy-in to the project.
• Ensure the completion of the Project Document with the support of FDPM and UNDP.

• Extensive knowledge in the field of forestry and biodiversity.
• Fluency in written and spoken English and Bahasa Malaysia.
• Familiar with Malaysia’s institutions and policy framework in forestry and biodiversity.
• Excellent report writing skills.

Education:
The consultant shall have :

• An Advanced Degree in Forestry/Biodiversity or any other environment relevant.  Bachelor degree with extensive experience can be considered as well.

Experience:
The consultant requires knowledge and experience of:

• At least 10 years of extensive working experience of forestry and or biodiversity management;
• Experience with coordinating stakeholder inputs;
• Experience in project financing and funding management;
• Experience in international projects, preferable with UNDP and or GEF;
• Knowledge of the Malaysian government structure and roles of federal and state authorities related to land use;
• Experience in or ability to perform programme monitoring and evaluation for policy making support;
• Ability to compile and consolidate various consultants’ reports.

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSAL.

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal – Provide a brief methodology on how they will approach and conduct the work. The methodology must address all aspects of the TOR, implementation schedule, and quality assurance measures if applicable.
2. Financial proposal – Based on the deliverable and terms of payment, please provide a financial proposal. 
3. Personal CV and UN P11 (https://sas.undp.org/Documents/P11_Personal_history_form.docx) including past experience in similar projects and at least 2 references.

Incomplete applications will NOT be considered. Please make sure you have provided all requested materials.