Biologist

İşin təsviri

Procurement Reference No. AZE/IC-10
CWP Activity 5.2

TERMS OF REFERENCE

Preparation a guide book on the Ismailly forest plants (hiring a biologist)

a) Initial Project Information 

The European Union (EU) funded “European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) East Countries Forest Law Enforcement and Governance (FLEG) II Program” (the “Program”) is aimed to support the participating countries strengthen forest governance through enhancing their forest policy, legislation and institutional arrangements, and implementing sustainable forest management models on a pilot basis. The Program will be implemented in seven countries of the EU’s European Neighborhood and Partnership Instrument (ENPI) East region: Armenia, Azerbaijan, Belarus, Georgia, Moldova, Ukraine, and the Russian Federation.
The Program builds on initiatives undertaken under the first EU funded FLEG Program. It will be carried out over a four-year period, with end disbursement date of June 30, 2017. The Program is supported by the European Commission contributing to a single-donor trust fund administered by the World Bank (WB). Implementation of the Program is led by the WB, working in partnership with the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Wide Fund for Nature (WWF). The Program has three Development Objectives:

1) To make progress implementing the 2005 St. Petersburg FLEG Ministerial Declaration in the participating countries and support the participating countries commit to a time-bound action plan to ensure its implementation and follow-up activities (regional level).
2) To review or revise (or establish a time-bound action plan to review or revise) forest sector policies and legal and administrative structures; improve knowledge of and support for sustainable forest management and good forest governance (including the impact of related EU regulations) in the participating countries (national level).
3) To test and demonstrate best practices for sustainable forest management and the feasibility of improved forest governance practices at the field-level on a pilot basis in all participating countries (sub-national level).

Main Program activities to be conducted by WWF in Azerbaijan for public awareness, education, communication and information will include awareness raising activities for the general public; increase the level of involvement of local NGOs and communities in forestry activities.
Preparation of a guide book about forest plants of the Ismailli Forest area will assist to increase general knowledge of local Ismailly community about ecological value and richness of their forest. The Ismailly forest area has been selected because it is a pilot area to conduct a sustainable forest management. Preparation of the guide book will be a good awareness raising tool for the local communities that are in or near by Ismailly Forest Management Union.

b) Objectives

The preparation of the guide book aims to increase general knowledge of local Ismailly community about forest plants found in their forests. It will provide general information about trees, shrubs, wildflowers, grasses, ferns, mosses and lichens. This guide book simply and concisely gives the basic information to nonprofessional “botanist”. With this guide book it will be easy to respond frequent question about name and species of plants found in Ismailly forest area.

The objectives of the guide book are:

• Definition of forest and forest plants 
• Identification of common forest plant species of the Ismailly Forest area
• Illustration of the identified forest plant species with full-color photographs
• Description the importance of identified forest plant species

This scoping study would contribute to the fulfilment of the FLEG2 Program Development Objective “Improve knowledge of and support for sustainable forest management and good forest governance (including the impact of related EU regulations) in the participating countries (national level)”.
 
c) Scope of Services

The guide book should clearly define forest plants found in Ismailly forest area and describe the importance of identified forest plant species and demonstrate with color photos common forest plants of the area. This guide book simply and concisely gives the basic information to nonprofessional “botanist”. With this guide book it will be easy to respond frequent question about name and species of plants found in Ismailly forest area. For aforementioned purposes the Consultant should identify common forest plant species found in Ismailly forest area, describe the importance of identified forest plant species and guide photographer hired by WWF Azerbaijan to illustrate identified forest plants in colored photos.

Color photos will show overall appearance including bark, branching, patterns, leaf, fruits, flowers of all identified species in spring, summer, fall and winter.   

The duration of the assignment is approximately 100 working days, including 50 working days dedicated to forest plant monitoring and to illustrate  identified forest plants in different seasons within the period of one year. Work will start at the end of June 2015.
The guide book about forest plants found in Ismailly forest are will be prepared in Azerbaijani language and translated into English. Publication and distribution of the guide book to the local communities that are in or near by Ismailly Forest Management Union will be done by WWF Azerbaijan.

a) Producing and Approval Procedures

The consultant should send a plan to WWF Azerbaijan within approximately 20 days from the beginning of the assignment. The plan should describe technical specifications, the flow of content and design, how the study of the Ismailly forest area will be conducted, including a tentative schedule for all activities in short given amount of time.  The Final Draft of the guide book will be prepared within approximately one year from the beginning of the assignment. All products should be sent to Konul Ahmadova, Project Coordinator WWF Azerbaijan ([email protected]).

WWF Azerbaijan will provide feedback to the consultant within five working days after receiving each product. If no response is received by the consultant after the expiration of this period, the product will be deemed as accepted, unless a written request is provided to allow for a few more days for the revision. The comments and requests for further information/corrections should be addressed by the consultant in a timely manner. After the satisfaction of WWF Azerbaijan with the quality of the products (clearly expressed in a written form), the consultant may complete the remaining parts of the work. Only after the formal acceptance of the Final Product by WWF Azerbaijan (by signing the acceptance form by both parties) can be considered as completed.

b) WWF’s Input

WWF Azerbaijan will provide all information available at their office, which might be useful for the completion of this assignment, free of charge, including the FLEG II communications strategy related documents. WWF will assist the consultant in organizing his/her travel to the Ismailly forestry area. In addition, WWF Azerbaijan will assist in organizing and will fully cover the costs of the travel to the Ismaillyforestry area.

c) Institutional Arrangements

WWF Azerbaijan (represented by Konul Ahmadova, Project Coordinator) will be responsible for coordinating the consultant’s work. The consultant is directly accountable to WWF Azerbaijan and should send all applicable products to the latter. WWF Azerbaijan is authorized to evaluate the consultant’s products and either accept them or require further updates.

d) Qualification Requirements for the Consultant

• University degree or equivalent in biology
• Extent of experience in the field of plant monitoring and classification
• Knowledge of the forests of Azerbaijan would be an asset
• Extent of experience in conducting studies in plants of Azerbaijan
• Strong communication skills
• Working knowledge of Azerbaijan; ability to communicate in English would be an asset.

WWF-Azerbaijan tərəfindən digər vakansiyalar

• Country Director
• Fundraising & Partnerships Manager
• Tender
• National Project Coordinator
• High Conservation Value Consultant