RFI_RFI-442-16-000002_Prey_Lang.pdf

REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

Date Issued: August 9, 2016 Issued by: USAID/Cambodia/OAA Closing Date: August 19, 2016 Closing Time 4:00 PM (Phnom Penh Time)

Reference: Prey Lang Extended Landscape Initiative

USAID/Cambodia is seeking public comments on the draft Statement of Objectives of an anticipated Request for Proposal (RFP) for the implementation of the Prey Lang Extended Landscape Initiative. The potential period of performance is five years with an award range of $10-$24.99 million. This is not a Request for Proposal, and comments must not include any proprietary information. The comments will be taken into consideration in preparing the final version of the Statement of Objectives and solicitation. Responses to this request for information are not binding on the U.S. Government and do not obligate USAID to issue a solicitation, nor do they commit USAID to pay for any costs incurred in the preparation and submission of comments. This RFI does not restrict the Government's acquisition approach on a future solicitation. USAID/Cambodia will not provide responses to the comments.

Comments must be submitted to phnompenhoaa@usaid.gov no later than 4:00 PM Phnom Penh time on August 19, 2016. The subject line must read, “RFI No. RFI-442-16-000002, Prey Lang Extended Landscape Initiative.”

Brief Project Description

The purpose of the Prey Lang Extended Landscape Initiative is to promote resilient, low-emission development and inclusive, sustainable management of the Prey Lang extended landscape. The Activity will create a replicable model of inclusive, sustainable natural resource management and land use decision-making in Cambodia. This will be achieved through a systemic approach to increase sustainable economic opportunities, encourage inclusive governance, and improve conservation efforts and land management for agriculture, forestry, water, and other uses, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change.

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REQUEST FOR INFORMATION

DRAFT STATEMENT OF OBJECTIVES

OVERVIEW OF PROGRAM REQUIREMENTS AND PARAMETERS

Title

TBD [Working title - Prey Lang Extended Landscape Initiative (PLELI)]

Activity Purpose: To promote resilient, low-emission development and inclusive, sustainable management of the Prey Lang extended landscape.

Activity Goal: To create a replicable model of inclusive, sustainable natural resource management and land use decision-making in Cambodia. This will be achieved through a systemic approach to increase sustainable economic opportunities, encourage inclusive governance, and improve conservation efforts and land management for agriculture, forestry, water, and other uses, while reducing greenhouse gas emissions and increasing resilience to climate change.

Recognizing that a shift toward more sustainable and resilient development pathways is a medium-to-long-term endeavor, the [Prey Lang Extended Landscape Initiative] will build an evidence base of effective methodologies, practices, and results that contribute toward this longer-term goal, and disseminate them to stakeholders within the Prey Lang extended landscape and at the wider national and regional levels.

Geographic Scope

The geographic scope for the Activity is the Prey Lang extended landscape. For the purposes of this Activity, the extended landscape consists of the newly-declared Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary, several nearby protected areas, and the three catchment basins hydrologically connecting these areas to the Tonlé Sap ecosystem. The protected areas are the Preah Vihear Protected Landscape, Chheb Wildlife Sanctuary, Preah Rokar Wildlife Sanctuary, Kulen Promtep Wildlife Sanctuary, and Boeung Per Wildlife Sanctuary. The three catchments are the Stung Chinit, Stung Sen, and Stung Stoung that flow from these protected areas into the Tonlé Sap, as well as portions of the Prey Lang and Preah Vihear forests draining into the Mekong River.

This extended landscape includes a mosaic of land cover and land use types, including Economic Land Concessions, the Boeung Chhmar Ramsar site, and several other smaller protected areas, numerous community forest (CF), community fishery (CFiA), and community protected areas (CPA), municipalities, and agricultural lands under different tenurial arrangements and crop or livestock production. The Prey Lang extended landscape consists of approximately 24 districts, within Preah Vihear, Kampong Thom, Stung Treng, and Kratie provinces, plus neighboring districts in Oddar Meanchey and Siem Reap provinces. The total area is approximately two million hectares.

Results Framework / Intermediate Results

This integrated Activity will support and align with the goals and requirements of USAID’s Biodiversity Policy and the Presidential Global Climate Change Initiative. This Activity will support Cambodia’s Intended Nationally Determined Contribution (INDC) to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), and its goals of lowering emissions from the deforestation and degradation of forest and other landscapes, while increasing the resilience of landscapes, people and livelihoods to climate change.

This Activity will contribute to USAID Cambodia’s Development Objective: “Sustainable and Resilient Pathways out of Poverty Strengthened.” Three Activity Level Objectives will contribute toward meeting this Development Objective:

1: Improved biodiversity conservation and ecosystem health in Prey Lang extended landscape 2: Increased sustainable economic opportunities and natural capital reinvestment 3: Strengthened inclusive and effective landscape governance

Activity Level Outcomes and Objectives

The anticipated overall outcome of this Activity is that in five years the Prey Lang extended landscape will be under substantially better and more inclusive management by relevant government authorities, communities/citizens, and private sector stakeholders, that encourages reinvestment in their biodiversity, soils, water, and forest cover to maintain ecosystem functions (including carbon storage), with economic and social co-benefits, including reduced vulnerability to climate change, especially among marginalized populations such as indigenous groups, women, children and youth.

Interventions to achieve each Activity Level Objective will be closely interlinked to improve biodiversity conservation, and landscape and ecosystem health, increase sustainable economic opportunities from conservation and natural resource management, and improve inclusive, participatory governance of natural resources using evidence-based strategies, policies and regulations.

1. Improved biodiversity conservation and ecosystem health in Prey Lang extended landscape

This anticipated outcome for this Activity Objective is improved conservation status and ecosystem health within the Prey Lang extended landscape. By the end of the Activity period, natural capital assets in the Prey Lang extended landscape will be under management systems that are sufficiently improved to value and reinvest in the long-term sustainability of ecosystem services (including climate regulation and carbon storage) and which address drivers and threats to biodiversity. By the end of the Activity period, it is anticipated that at least one million hectares will be under protected status within the Prey Lang extended landscape (including buffer zones of Prey Lang Wildlife Sanctuary) demonstrate improved management resulting in measurably improved conservation status, and measurably improved overall ecosystem health.

Also, at least one million hectares of land in three catchment areas will be under demonstrably improved management, resulting in measurably improved overall ecosystem health.

Interventions to achieve these outcomes are expected to address the drivers of deforestation and landscape degradation, as well as the direct threats to biodiversity loss in the Prey Lang extended landscape. Progress will be measured by positive change in the overall conservation status and ecosystem health of the Prey Lang extended landscape compared to baseline status.

2. Increased sustainable economic opportunities and natural capital reinvestment

This anticipated outcome for this Activity Objective is to increase reinvestment in the natural capital of the Prey Lang extended landscape through market-oriented economic opportunities.

The Activity will establish methods for stimulating the expansion of inclusive, climate-smart economic opportunities that result in reinvestment in the natural capital of the extended landscape: its soils, waters, carbon stocks, and biodiversity assets.

This Activity will collaborate closely with other USAID programs and other donors to identify and implement viable options for climate change mitigation and/or adaptation-related investments. These may include activities that protect or restore catchment basins, increase carbon stocks in the extended landscape, promote agroforestry or ecotourism, promote sustainable community livelihoods, and/or establish payment mechanisms for Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), or Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES). In alignment with RGC national strategies, policies and regulations, this Activity will also support the RGC to create and manage transparent financial mechanisms to prevent or mitigate environmental degradation from economic development activities. Progress will be measured by increases in natural capital investments, enhancement of ecosystem values and carbon stocks across the Prey Lang extended landscape, unsubsidized adoption of climate-smart production practices, and subsequent reductions in climate vulnerability.

3. Strengthened inclusive and effective landscape governance

The anticipated outcome of this Activity Objective is strengthened inclusive processes for good governance within the Prey Lang extended landscape. By the end of the Activity period, the governance systems for the selected livelihoods and sustainable management of natural resources will be functional, transparent, accountable, inclusive and equitable for the targeted populations in the Prey Lang extended landscape. Citizens, civil society, and government officials alike will understand their roles and responsibilities in implementing and enforcing any applicable laws, regulations, policies and action plans pertaining to natural resource management, conservation of forests and biodiversity, and climate change adaptation. The progress will be measured by the degree to which participation and decision making on natural resource management, land use, and climate change in the Prey Lang extended landscape is inclusive, transparent, effective, and accountable. Progress will also be measured by the degree to which those processes are advanced in a way that is informed by relevant, accurate data and information.

Development Hypothesis

If natural resource governance improves in extended landscapes, including broader participation by stakeholders in evidence-based decision-making, and opportunities are increased for people in these landscapes to benefit economically from the sustainable use of, and reinvestment in, natural resources and ecosystem services, and these landscapes are managed more effectively to protect those services (including biodiversity, climate and water regulation, soil stabilization and productivity);

Then these key ecosystems will be better protected and managed so that they continue to provide sustainable benefits to the people of Cambodia, and provide a model for broader, systemic change in how ecosystems are valued and managed across Cambodia.

Rationale

The Prey Lang extended landscape was selected for developing this model of more ecologically, economically, and socio-culturally sustainable development in a changing climate for the following reasons:

a) Threat - all of the protected areas are facing severe threats to their essential functions, including ecosystem services such as regulation of hydrology, climate, and soil stability.

Deforestation, land conversion, mining, and other land degradation activities are undermining ecosystem health across the Prey Lang extended landscape.

b) Connectivity - the three catchments originating within the protected areas and providing ecosystem services for downstream users provide an exceptional opportunity to demonstrate the integrated landscape approach as a way of connecting stakeholders and their interests in order to coalesce a critical mass for more sustainable and climate-resilient development.

c) Focus and concentrate - The Presidential Policy Directive on Global Development, Quadrennial Diplomacy and Development Review (QDDR), and USAID policies all require that field programs concentrate resources on addressing the most critical needs, both in terms of which countries receive USAID resources and where those resources are invested within those countries. The USAID Biodiversity Policy encourages efforts to focus on the most severe threats to biodiversity within a country.

d) Government alignment - the RGC is also prioritizing the Prey Lang extended landscape in its efforts to develop models for ecological, economic, and socio-cultural sustainability in a changing climate. The Ministry of Environment designated these protected areas to form the North Central Protected Area Corridor, and these three rivers enter the Tonlé Sap Protected Area Corridor at its point of highest productivity - the southeastern end of the lake as it constricts into the Tonlé Sap River before flowing into the Mekong.

Scales of Activity

To reduce threats and vulnerability, increase resilience, and encourage reinvestment in rather than liquidation of the natural capital assets – and, importantly, the ecosystem services that support the broader national economy – this Activity will work at three scales. First is the scale of protected areas themselves. Second is the extended landscape described above and the communities living in it. Finally, this Activity will work at national scale on appropriate issues and actions.

1. Within the core biodiversity areas in the Prey Lang extended landscape, i.e., the protected areas and their immediate surroundings, this Activity will work at the scale of management units. A management unit could be an area under protected status through legislation or sub-decree; a Community Forest, Community Fishery, or Community Protected Area designated under appropriate regulations or certificate; an Indigenous Communal Land Titling area designated under applicable laws; or an area for which an application is pending for one of these designations.

2. The extended landscape includes those management units as well as the economic and social land areas connected through ecosystem functions, including provision of goods and services. The extended landscape is a common source of persistent pressures and threats to biodiversity and other natural resources, and otherwise influences the health of the core ecosystems to be conserved. This Activity will work at commune, district, province, and catchment basin scales to convene relevant stakeholders at national and subnational levels and support spatial planning to mitigate pressures on natural ecosystems and balance competing land uses.

3. At the national level, this Activity will focus on policy implementation and economic dynamics that exert pressures on forests and biodiversity which cannot be addressed effectively at local scales. An example of the latter is the RGC’s degree of success in reforming the Economic Land Concession system. Actions at this scale may also include continuing support to development and implementing national strategies, policies and regulations and international commitments related to climate change, biodiversity conservation, and sustainable land use, such as Cambodia’s INDC to the UNFCCC.

Development Context

Cambodia has rich natural assets that are unique to Southeast Asia and have global significance, including the third-largest rainforest in Southeast Asia, about 2,300 plant species, more than 500 species of birds, 14 endangered animals and one of only seven remaining elephant corridors in the world. Freshwater fish assemblages in the Mekong and Tonlé Sap systems are ecologically significant and critically important for the food security and livelihoods of millions of people.

These areas create enormous value for human wellbeing by supporting national development priorities such as agricultural production, providing the dominant source of the country’s protein (fish), and serving as a direct source of livelihoods for many of the country’s poorest inhabitants.

Yet these unique assets and the rural livelihoods that they support are under threat and vulnerable to climate change impacts. Rapid, unsustainable degradation of these ecosystems is undermining the political stability, long term economic health, and climate resilience of Cambodia. Economic and demographic pressures strain natural resources, resulting in high rates of deforestation, biodiversity loss, soil nutrient loss, wildlife trafficking, land degradation, and scarcity of arable land and water in some areas. Increases in agricultural production have largely been made possible by the expansion of the cultivated area, rather than sustainable, productivity-enhancing practices on existing agricultural land. In 2006, Cambodia’s forest cover was approximately 59 percent of total land area, equivalent to 10.7 million ha. Data from satellite imagery from 2013 indicates that today’s forest cover is closer to 46 percent, inclusive of tree plantations. Data from the Forestry Administration of the Ministry of Agriculture, Forestry and Fisheries shows the 2014 forest cover at 49.48 percent. Meanwhile, conflicts over land and resources remain polarizing issues.

Key services provided by forested watersheds, such as water provision, weather and climate regulation and carbon sequestration, are generally not well understood and are undervalued. So, too, is the contribution of ecosystem goods and services to reducing the vulnerability of Cambodia’s people to climate change. Cambodia has been identified as highly vulnerable to climate change in regional and global indexes. In particular, more erratic precipitation, and increased intensity and frequency of both floods and droughts, are highlighted in climate change projections. Water availability during the dry season is an increasingly urgent issue, and water insecurity may lead to increased conflict as well as negative impacts on development goals.

Rural Cambodians, especially women and the households they head, have limited adaptive capacity, lacking the knowledge, assets, and tools needed to deal with these impacts.

Cambodia sits at an environmental crossroads, where decisions made over the next few years will affect natural capital management for years to come: Will forests, waters, and soils continue to be mined for current value – essentially liquidating assets – or will investments in sustainability and climate-resilient, low emission development be made that help to ensure long-term economic and social vitality?

Lessons Learned from USAID and Other Development Programs

USAID, other donors, local and international NGOs have a wealth of experience working to protect and conserve Cambodia’s biodiversity, forests and cultural and natural resources and promote climate change adaptation and mitigation. This Activity is expected to build upon lessons learned from these experiences. Other donors with recent experience in land management, conservation of forests and biodiversity, and climate change include the European Union, the United Nations Development Program, Deutsche Gesellschaft für Internationale Zusammenarbeit (GIZ), the Asian Development Bank, and the World Bank, among others.

Some recent USAID Cambodia and USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) projects include:

● Helping Address Rural Vulnerability and Ecosystem STability (HARVEST) project

● Supporting Forests and Biodiversity (SFB) project

● Mekong Adaptation and Resilience to Climate Change (ARCC) activity (2011-2016)

● Lower Mekong Initiative: Lowering Emissions in Asia’s Forests (LEAF) Program

● Low Emissions Asian Development (LEAD) program

● Grassroots Equity and Enhancement Networks in the Mekong (Green Mekong)

Collaboration with Existing Programs in Cambodia

Alignment with RGC international commitments, national strategies, policies, and regulations

The RGC is undergoing a number of regulatory reforms and jurisdictional re-alignments with potentially profound effects on forest and biodiversity conservation and landscape management.

The National Council for Sustainable Development (NCSD) and the Ministry of Environment (MOE) are developing new national regulations, strategies, and action plans. This Activity will support and align with such new endeavors as the Environment Code, the Cambodian Climate Change Strategic Plan, the National Environment Strategy and Action Plan 2016-2023, the National Adaptation Plan, the National Biodiversity Strategic Action Plan, National Forest Program, Green Growth Strategies and Policies, Cambodia’s UNFCCC Intended Nationally Determined Contribution, Cambodian Sectoral Climate Change Strategy, among others.

Moreover, in March of 2016, the Prime Minister transferred the authority of additional 18 new protected and production forest areas from the jurisdiction of MAFF to MOE, and swapped the authority of Economic Land Concessions from MOE to MAFF. With this major transition of authorities, MOE now has jurisdictional authority to protect approximately 80 percent of Cambodia’s forested lands. MOE is currently in a critical period and must rapidly increase and demonstrate their capacity to manage the additional forest areas. Although the jurisdiction and delegation of authority over protected areas between the MoE and MAFF was formally transferred, the corresponding resources are still in the process of being transferred. Additionally, specific areas of focus such a s REDD+, wildlife trafficking, and community forests management and engagement have also not been officially designated as under the purview of one ministry over another. Therefore, both ministries require support and collaboration throughout this transition period, and going forward to develop transparent, participatory processes to carry out their responsibilities and enforce new RGC environmental laws, regulations, policies, and action plans.

The Ministry of Interior’s Decentralization and Deconcentration (D&D) and the Ministry of Environment process to delegate authority to sub-national entities presents an opportunity in the natural resource management sector for this Activity to strengthen sub-national processes to implement sound, inclusive, evidence-based decision-making for land use management, using established processes such as integrated spatial planning, environmental impact assessment, co-management of protected areas, and others. These sub-national processes can be developed and strengthened using a systemic approach to integrate measures to increase resilience to climate change, enhance opportunities for sustainable economic growth and re-investment into natural capital, ensure public participation in decision-making, especially including marginalized populations such as indigenous groups, women, children and youth. By institutionalizing best practices at the sub-national level, future development and improved land use management will help Cambodia meet national goals and international commitments to protect endangered and threatened species, lower greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions, increase forested land cover, and adapt to climate change.

Alignment with other USAID activities

USAID Cambodia’s Office of Food Security and Environment implements a number of activities to support natural resource management, and reduce poverty and vulnerability to climate change.

All activities are expected to collaborate together, whether they are focused on food security, agriculture, natural resource management, or climate change, to take advantage of each other’s experiences, field presence, networks, and relationships with communities and government to help each other achieve individual activity outcomes. The following list is not comprehensive:

On-going and planned USAID Cambodia activities include:

● Environmental Governance and Reform for Sustainable Development, implemented by

UNDP

● Feed the Future Cambodia Rice Field Fisheries II, implemented by WorldFish

● Cambodian Civil Society Strengthening Project, implemented by East-West Management Institute

● Feed the Future Cambodia Horticulture Project, to be awarded

● Eastern Plains Landscape, to be awarded

● Climate Services, to be awarded

USAID Regional Development Mission for Asia (RDMA) activities include:

● Mekong Partnership for the Environment, implemented by Pact

● Countering Wildlife Trafficking, to be awarded

● Sustainable Landscapes, to be awarded

USAID Washington D.C. activities implemented in Cambodia include:

● Climate Finance Readiness Programme, implemented by GIZ

● U.S. Forest Service Sustainable Wetlands Adaptation and Mitigation Program (SWAMP)

● Wonders of the Mekong, to be awarded

Other Donors, Non-Government Organizations (NGOs) and Civil Society

The Activity will be expected to collaborate with other donor programs, local and international NGOs, civil society, communities, and informal grassroots networks working in the natural resource management sector in the target geographic areas. Formal donor and technical working groups are just one type of established forum for collaboration. Informal collaboration among technical and field staff is also encouraged. The Activity should seek to use innovative methods to reach stakeholders, using accepted forums, existing networks, and social media.

Monitoring and Evaluation

USAID collects global data using standard indicators. This Activity will use standard indicators as required for Biodiversity, Global Climate Change/Sustainable Landscapes, and Global Climate Change/Adaptation. The Activity will also be expected to develop custom performance indicators to measure such outcomes as improvements in ecosystem health, increased investment in natural capital, increased incomes derived from sustainable natural resource management use, increased participation of citizens and civil society in land use and natural resource governance decisions.

The Activity should also seek to align indicators with RGC Technical Working Group joint monitoring indicators, and selected national strategy objective indicators.

USAID/Cambodia’s Questions to the Public

1. How can USAID better meet the Activity goal to create a replicable model of inclusive, sustainable natural resource management and land use decision-making in Cambodia, outside of the preliminarily identified three Activity Objectives?

2. Have the Activity’s Objectives been clearly and properly identified? If not, what other objectives would you include?

3. What are other areas/points of intervention not been identified here that could contribute to more inclusive, participatory and sustainable management of natural resources?

4. Many development partners have invested in the conservation of Cambodia’s biodiversity and forests, including USAID. Are there lessons learned from on-going and previously implemented projects that do not seem to be reflected in this document?

5. In your opinion, what are the biggest risks in implementing this Activity, and how should they be mitigated?