TERMS OF REFERENCE
Provision of GIS Service to the Consultants for the Preparation of a Sustainable Forest Management Plan for Ismailly Forest Management Unit in Azerbaijan

• 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: 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:

• 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).
• 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).
• 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 will involve the evaluation of the forest biodiversity and ecosystem functions (scoping study level), exploration of the forest certification potential in the country, promoting sustainable forest management planning and awareness raising of the stakeholders about the importance of sustainable forest management and the roles of the FLEG2 program in this respect.
Sustainable forest management planning is one of the important components of the Program. It is essential to prepare and implement sustainable and innovative forest management plans for the forest management units operating in Azerbaijan. These plans should be multipurpose, including social, economic and ecological aspects. They should also be based on optimal functional zoning of the forest management unit, which should safeguard obtaining maximum socio-economic benefits without jeopardizing biodiversity and ecological functions of natural ecosystems.
This assignment involves the provision of GIS service to the two consultants selected by WWF Azerbaijan (hereafter – the consultants) who will prepare a sustainable forest management plan for Ismailly forest management unit (FMU) in Azerbaijan. This FMU has been selected because its management regime, local socio-economic conditions and natural forest types are characteristic of much of the country. These circumstances create favorable conditions for implementation of similar assignments in other FMUs in Azerbaijan.

 

• Objectives of the assignment

The objective of this assignment is to assist the consultants by preparing GIS maps and necessary attribute information (please, see the Annex below). Implementation of this assignment would contribute to the fulfilment of the FLEG2 Program Development Objective “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)”.

• Scope of services

The territory represents Ismailly FMU – a state enterprise managing the total forest area of 64,000 ha. This enterprise is located in Ismailly District in central Azerbaijan. The proposed forest management plan (FMP) should consider not only local forestry and ecological factors, but also socio-economic needs of the local population. The outputs should contain GIS maps and relevant text. The total duration of the assignment is approximately 50 working days within the period of four calendar months. The work of the GIS expert should start in approximately one month after the commencement of work of the consultants. Several visits to Ismailly FMU should be made jointly with the consultants. The following stages of work are envisaged:

1. Obtaining relevant information from the consultants about the distribution of forest resources within the boundaries of Ismailly FMU.
2. Analysing and processing this information (including digitizing) and producing initial versions of GIS maps and other attributed data.
3. Revising the maps and other relevant information based on the comments of the consultants and producing final outputs.

The maps, including those depicting forests with High Conservation Values (HCV), should have forest compartments as smallest units. GIS maps showing harvesting areas should have either forest compartments or forest sub-units as smallest units, depending on the quality of available data. 
The GIS expert should attend the common meetings with the stakeholders in Ismailly and Baku, which will be conducted by the consultants. The costs of the meetings with stakeholders in Ismailly and Baku will be fully covered by WWF Azerbaijan. These include: Meeting facilities, translation and interpretation, stationery, meals and local transportation.  

• Reporting and Approval Procedures

The GIS expert should send the Interim Report to the Project Coordinator after the completion of the stages 1-7 by the consultants outlined in their Terms of Reference (see the Annex below), within approximately three calendar month after the beginning of his/her work. This report should briefly describe initial findings and include relevant text and GIS maps (the maps could be sent in pdf format). The Final Report with associated maps (in English) should be sent within approximately four calendar months after the beginning of the service. The reports should be sent to Konul Ahmadova, Project Coordinator from WWF Azerbaijan ([email protected]).
The coordinator will provide feedback to the GIS expert within five working days after receiving each report. If no response is received by the expert after the expiration of this period, the report will be deemed as accepted, unless a written request is provided by the coordinator to allow for a few more days for the revision. The comments and requests for further information/corrections should be addressed by the GIS expert in a timely manner. After the satisfaction of the coordinator with the quality of the reports (clearly expressed in a written form), the expert may complete the remaining parts of the study. Only after the formal acceptance of the Final Report by the coordinator (by signing the acceptance form by both parties - the expert and the coordinator) can the contract be considered as completed.

• WWF’s Input

WWF Azerbaijan and WWF-Caucasus Programme Office will provide all information and facilities available at their office, which might be useful for the completion of this assignment, free of charge. WWF Azerbaijan will purchase necessary satellite and/or related images and topographic maps, based on recommendations of the GIS expert. WWF Azerbaijan will also help organize and cover the costs of the common stakeholder meetings, including the costs of translation and interpretation.  

• Institutional arrangements

The assignment should be conducted in close cooperation with the consultants, Ismailly FMU and, if necessary, Forest Development Department of the Ministry of Ecology and Natural Resources of Azerbaijan. WWF Azerbaijan Project Coordinator will be responsible for supervising the GIS expert’s work. The GIS expert is directly accountable to the coordinator and should send all applicable reports to the latter. The coordinator is authorized to evaluate the expert’s reports and either accept them or require further updates.      

• Qualification requirements for the GIS expert

• University degree or equivalent in Geography or a related field, which has included GIS in the curriculum/training program, or training certificate in GIS/remote sensing;
• Minimum of three years of experience in the use of GIS programmes, which includes digitising, mapping and data analysis, preferably in forestry or a related field;
• Working experience in remote sensing would be an asset;
• Good communication skills;
• Good knowledge of English and Russian.

Annex
EXTRACTS FROM TERMS OF REFERENCE
Preparation of a Sustainable Forest Management Plan for Ismailly Forest Management Unit in Azerbaijan
Objectives of the assignment
The aim of this assignment is to prepare a sustainable and multipurpose forest management plan (FMP) for Ismailly FMU in Azerbaijan. The specific objectives are to:

• Get a clear understanding of the current management planning system implemented at Ismailly FMU
• Identify and map optimal functional zones of the forest area and, based on this,
• Prepare the sustainable and multipurpose forest management plan, based on integrated approaches and taking into consideration the relevant principles of Forest Stewardship Council (FSC).

Implementation of this assignment would contribute to the fulfilment of the FLEG2 Program Development Objective “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)”.
Scope of services
The territory represents Ismailly FMU – a state enterprise managing the total forest cover of 64,000 ha. This enterprise is located in Ismailly District in Azerbaijan. The proposed forest management plan (FMP) should consider not only local forestry and ecological factors, but also socio-economic needs of the local population. The outputs should contain text and maps. The total duration of the assignment is approximately 100 working days within the period of five calendar months. Work will start at the beginning of the calendar year 2015. Several visits to Ismailly FMU should be made. The following stages are recommended:

• Collection of very general information about forestry sector of Azerbaijan, with the focus on management planning at the local (forestry unit) level.
• Getting acquainted with the current forest management regime at Ismailly FMU, including the obtaining of copies of forestry maps.
• Collection of information about forest use by local population – conducting surveys for this purpose; documenting the results of the survey; in parallel, studying the overall condition of forests near population centres.
• Preparation of GIS maps, demonstrating optimal functional zones of forests (with forest compartments as smallest units). 
• Preparation of the first draft of the forest management plan, taking into consideration advanced international experiences (above all, FSC Principles and Criteria) and requirements of relevant international conventions and other agreements.
• Meeting local population and other key stakeholder representatives in Ismailly District to discuss initial findings (one or two-days).
• Meeting with key stakeholder representatives in Baku for the same purpose (one-day).
• Preparation of the final version of the FMP, including the text and maps.

These activities do not require the conducting of forest inventory – existing inventory data can be used in combination with stakeholder views and proper socio-economic and ecological considerations. The Senior Consultant will be responsible for identifying the information needs and relevant stakeholders, designing the surveys and conducting major parts of the analysis. The Assistant could mainly be involved in collecting the information and conducting the surveys. The meetings with the stakeholders in Ismailly and Baku should be conducted at least one calendar month before the expected completion date of the assignment. The costs of the meetings with stakeholders in Ismailly and Baku will be fully covered by WWF Azerbaijan. These include: Meeting facilities, stationery, translation and interpretation, meals and local transportation.
 
Recommended components of the FMP
The proposed FMP could cover the period of 10 years. Among others, the management plan could contain the following components:

• Background information (physical-geographic and climatic conditions of the study area; wood and non-wood resources; current management regime, including Red List species and biodiversity conservation in general; socio-economic conditions and cultural-historical aspects).
• Brief description of key stakeholder groups.
• Local demand for wood and other forest resources; balance of supply and demand for these resources.
• Brief description of agricultural use of surrounding lands (including grazing) and their impacts on forest cover.
• Overall dynamics of forest cover in the last 10 years.
• Existing road network (with implications to logging and transportation of forest products).
• Information about the last forest inventory.
• Currently conducted types of wood cutting and forest regeneration measures.
• Management planning:
• Identified optimal functional zones of forests, including forests with High Conservation Values (HCV), based on the six internationally recognized values (http://www.hcvnetwork.org/about-hcvf/the-six-high-conservation-values), adapted to the local conditions – maps and attributed text
• Allowable volumes of wood cutting (all major types – fuelwood, maintenance cuttings etc.) for each forest sub-unit or compartment – annual volumes as well as cumulative figures for the entire period of the management plan
• Potential use of various forest resources (including adding value of these products) by local population, within sustainable limits
• Measures of biodiversity conservation (including the protection of Red List species); forest protection from poaching, fires and pests and diseases; forest restoration measures, taking into consideration climate change aspects
• Plans to cooperate with local stakeholders and actively involve them in forest management
• All applicable components of Principle 7 of FSC standard STD-01-001-V5 on forest management planning. 
• Provisions for monitoring of the implementation of the FMP.