Vacancy for An international consultant on wildlife conservation
TERMS OF REFERENCE
For an Individual International Consultant
Project: Wildlife Consumption in Vietnam: Reforming policies and practices to strengthen biodiversity conservation
1. Background
Unsustainable levels of wildlife consumption pose one of the most significant threats to the conservation of biodiversity within Vietnam's forests, wetlands and protected areas – and to the survival of a substantial number of globally threatened species. Even where good quality stands of forests remain, most forest areas in Vietnam have been largely depleted of those species that can be sold for illegal trade and consumption. This has given rise to the phenomenon of “empty forests” in which wildlife density is very low – a result of over-hunting and illegal wildlife trade.
The annual demand for wildlife used for food, medicines, and ornamental purposes and export is reported to vary between 3,700 tons to 4,500 tons (excluding birds and insects).[4] Research studies estimate the number of confiscation cases of illegal wildlife trade to represent from five to twenty percent of the actual figures. Extrapolating from this, thousands of tons of wild species and hundreds of thousands of individual specimens are being annual consumed domestically or are being smuggled annually to other countries.
Vietnam has quickly transformed from a source state feeding export markets (mostly in China) to a major importing consumer of wildlife. Research has shown that Vietnamese consumer markets are increasingly the destination for species such as tiger and bear, pangolin, freshwater turtles, snakes, and monitors sourced from other Asian countries. Evidence over recent years has also shown that animal products like rhino horn and ungulate horns sourced in Africa are frequently traded to Vietnam for domestic consumers.
In terms of domestic consumption, most wildlife is consumed in specialty restaurants or is used in traditional medicine. The rapid growth of Vietnam’s economy over the past 20 years has inflated demand for luxury goods, including high value wildlife products. This has taken place before a corresponding shift in attitudes has taken place towards a conservation ethic typically found in many middle-income countries. Demand is greatest in large cities (e.g. Ho Chi Minh City and Hanoi) where there are higher concentrations of wealthy businessmen and state officials.
This proposed project will largely focus on the third strategy of reducing demand as much less attention has been paid to addressing the underlying demand drivers of illegal trade and hunting. In practice however it is not possible to draw a clear distinction between effort to reduce consumption and efforts to reduce illegal trade
The project will seek to reduce illegal demand for wildlife at the national level. However, two components will focus on the major metropolitan conurbation of Hanoi which support a substantial part of the urban population and where a major proportion of illegal wildlife consumption takes place. These components will include “scale-up” mechanisms that will enable the approaches, materials and capacity developed in the target areas to be disseminated and taken-up nationwide. It is also critical to build awareness and reduce demand for wildlife product consumption in rural areas that are both suppliers and consumers.
The project seeks to achieve its objectives through three substantive components that together will achieve a real impact on how wildlife is consumed in Vietnam: (a) Strengthening legal framework and policies; (b) Monitoring and enforcing regulations on wildlife consumption; (c) Awareness building for behavior change;
Wildlife trade and consumption is not a problem within a country border, yet involved the international context. Therefore, international expertise is much required so that their inputs on international viewpoints will be taken into account to the project.
2. Job requirements
The international consultant shall provide technical inputs to all components of the project with specific jobs as detailed below:
a) Design ToRs for local consultants and provide technical inputs on service products produced by the local consultants.
b) Provide technical inputs on draft of legal instruments, policies or recommendations for revisions of legal documents and make sure quality assurance on the drafts of the revisions, amendments and new legal instruments.
c) Provide review/analysis of international experience in the management and conservation of wildlife/biodiversity and propose solutions to the Vietnamese context including the trading, conservation breeding, sustainable use of wildlife, establishment and management of conservation facilities, etc.
d) Provide technical inputs on baseline survey on wildlife trade and consumption in Hanoi including comments to the outline/research tools/summary report and finalization of the full report.
e) Technical inputs on analysis and identification of the effective approaches to tackle illegal trade and consumption of wildlife in Vietnam
f) Provide technical inputs to the outline/final version of the manual on wildlife law enforcement based on the designed detailed TOR;
g) Provide technical inputs on designing, finalizing and implementing the communication strategy on wildlife consumption reduction.
h) Provide other technical inputs to PMU as necessary to ensure the achievement of project objectives.
3. Service outputs
- Guidelines/outlines/Instructions/finalization of TORs to national consultant services;
- Technical inputs to the outline and finalization of the report of the review on legal framework and policy on wildlife trade and consumption;
- Technical inputs to the outline and finalization of the report of the survey on wildlife consumption in Hanoi;
- Report on international experiences on biodiversity/wildlife conservation and management including conservational breeding, rescue procedures, establishment and management of conservation facilities and protection and sustainable use of wildlife resources;
- Finalization of effective approaches to tackle illegal trade and consumption of wildlife in Vietnam
- Communication strategy on wildlife reduction in Vietnam.
- Technical inputs to the manual on wildlife law enforcement.
4. Qualification requirement
· Having at least four year university degree in wildlife conservation or conservation biodiversity;
· Having at least 10 year experiences in conducting/supervising wildlife conservation/trade related surveys, studies including on enforcement, awareness campaigns, etc;
· Strong technical background in wildlife conservation, as demonstrated by authored articles in peer- reviewed international journals;
· In-depth knowledge and understanding of wildlife and biodiversity conservation in Vietnam and South East Asia context;
· Excellent research and writing skills;
· Excellent analytical and organizational skills, good inter-personal, communication and team building skills;
· Demonstrated ability to work in a multicultural environment, and establish harmonious and effective working relationships; demonstrated ability to work independently;
· Ability to manage priorities and workload within general schedule of work, instructions and standardized practices, and maintain composure under pressure;
· Full competence with computer skills (Word; Excel; Outlook Express; PowerPoint; etc.);
· Currently work in wildlife/biodiversity/forestry fields in Vietnam would be an advantage.
5. Reporting:
The consultant will report on a weekly and monthly basis to the Project Director/Deputy Directors/Manager/Coordinator with copies and documentation in English language to relevant stakeholders/donors if requested.
6. Application
Interested candidates can send the Cover letter and CV to Ms. Nguyen Thi Nhung at ntnhung.wlc@gmail.com or contact us at +844 37955471 for any question.
Deadline for application: April 15, 2013
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