Verfahrensangaben

Viet Nam is one of the 20 regions in the world with the highest biodiversity. Intact and diverse ecosystems are key for climate protection. Protected areas in Viet Nam cover a wide range of ecosystems, including various types of forests, wetland or marine areas. Many people living in rural areas, including ethnic communities, depend on the services provided by healthy ecosystems to secure their livelihoods. At the same time, the country"s resource-intensive economic development model steadily increases pressure on ecosystems. Exploitation, industrial or tourist development harm protected areas. This resulted for example in a large part of the natural forests being degraded. Responsibilities for the regulatory framework or for strengthening capacities of protected areas are allocated to different government agencies. Moreover, until now protected area administrations in Viet Nam face a lack of resources, including finances or qualified staff for the tasks of conservation. These factors make it challenging to ensure an integrated and effective management of protected areas with diverse ecosystems.
Funded by the German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ), the project "Management and protection of protected areas with diverse ecosystems in Viet Nam" (MEPA project for short) has officially started in 01/2025 with the major part of the implementation taking off in 2026. It involves diverse state actors, including the Ministry of Agriculture and Environment (MAE) as a political partner, the Department of Forestry and Forest Protection (VNFOREST) as implementation partner, the Department of Agriculture and Environment (DAE), Provincial People's Committees (PPC) and the Protected Area Management Board of three pilot areas (Hoang Lien National Park, Van Long Nature Reserve and Xuan Lien National Park) located in three provinces (Lao Cai, Ninh Binh, Thanh Hoa).
The MEPA project aims to enhance regulatory, institutional and technical capacities for implementing integrated management of protected areas among the responsible authorities and the local population. The project interventions focus on:
- Output 1: Improving the regulatory framework for an integrated management of protected areas in general and in three selected areas through the development of technical guidelines and capacity building for integrated management of special-use forests
- Output 2: Identification and piloting of sustainable financing mechanisms
- Output 3: Development of ecosystem restoration plans and provide support on ecosystem restoration for selected special-use forests
- Output 4: Advancing the capacities of the management authorities and local communities of the selected special-use forests are improved for the planning and implementation of sustainable, community-based tourism.
The collaboration with the management boards of the three protected areas, as well as with the provincial and national authorities will ensure sustained technical capacity building results as well as advancing the overall regulatory and institutional framework. Potentials for fostering gender equality are used throughout all activities.
The effective management and protection of Viet Nam"s diverse protected areas requires coordinated, multi-level interventions and the application of internationally recognised technical expertise. The MEPA project is in the process of completing essential preparatory steps to ensure that technical activities can commence without delay once the project receives approval from the Vietnamese authorities.
In order to ensure the effective implementation of integrated management approaches for protected areas with diverse ecosystems, the project requires comprehensive technical expertise, innovative solutions, and alignment with global best practices. Given the complexity of protected area management - including conservation finance for protect areas, digital approaches to capacity building and biodiversity monitoring, forest carbon, ecosystem restoration, and community-based tourism - the project demands highly specialised knowledge that often extends beyond domestic expertise and resources.

In order to ensure the effective implementation of integrated management approaches for protected areas with diverse ecosystems, the project requires comprehensive technical expertise, innovative solutions, and alignment with global best practices. Given the complexity of protected area management - including conservation finance for protect areas, digital approaches to capacity building and biodiversity monitoring, forest carbon, ecosystem restoration, and community-based tourism - the project demands highly specialised knowledge that often extends beyond domestic expertise and resources.
Services to be provided in the above-mentioned fields shall be in line with international standards and best practices. Required are technical assistance, facilitate capacity building, and introduce international standards and methodologies in protected area management. Required is further a profound understanding of the Vietnamese context and actors in the biodiversity conservation sector to match international best practices to local needs and systems.

Contribution is needed to achieving the outcome and three outputs (outputs 1, 3, and 4) of the project Management and Protection of Protected Areas with Diverse Ecosystems in Viet Nam (MEPA) through delivering on selected indicators and task packages as well as full responsibilty for delivering on one output (output 2) as described in key tasks below.

WP 1 on Output 1: The objective of this output is to improve the knowledge base among the responsible authorities on regulatory and technical aspects of integrated protected area management.
- Studies for informing advancing policy instruments for the integrated management of protected areas in Viet Nam
- Develop, standardise, and digitalise training curriculum on conservation finance

WP2 on Output 2: The objective of this output is to strengthen protected area management boards" capacities for financial planning and management as well as to mobilise additional investment for biodiversity conservation.
- Analysis of the current financial capacity, gaps and needs of the three pilot PAs in responding to their management and protection tasks and responsibilities. This will include the review and analysis of all available fundings and the efficiency in use of current financial resources applying the Protected Area Financing Self-Assessment (PAFSAT).
- Develop sustainable financing "models" through plans and roadmaps for three pilot PAs including identifying potential additional sources of finance for the PA management and protection and how to mobilise/access it. A focus lies on private sector cooperation.
- Coaching, training and facilitated expert exchanges during the entire assessment, planning and model implementation. This may include but is not limited to theory and practice of financial management, accounting, monitoring and reporting; fund raising, application writing and negotiation. Capacity building measures are based on PA"s needs and PA specific training plans are to be developed and implemented.
- Prepare contents for the self-learning training curriculum on sustainable financing to incorporate into the digitalized training modules of the project.
- Standardise reporting and accounting systems according to the requirements and regulations of donors/investors for the pilot protected area. Equip each pilot PA with an up-to-date accounting software if necessary.
- Monitor and evaluate the financial management capacity as well as progress in resource mobilisation of each pilot PA by the project end to see the impact.
Output 2 is outsourced in its entirety, that is the complete responsibility for delivery of results. A a comprehensive concept note is to be developped for agreement with GIZ, VNFOREST and 3 PAs.

WP3 on Output 3: The objective of this output is to advance ecosystem restoration including the halting and reversing ecosystem degradation or unsustainable resource use in protected areas. This should be achieved through participatory, multi-stakeholder and cross-sectoral approaches.
- Carry out study on ecosystem degradation risk / deforestation risk
- Develop and test an approach for using digital tools (drones, remote sensing) for forest carbon assessment of a prevalent eco-system in the PA
- Conduct eligibility and (pre-)feasibility study for a potential forest carbon project
- Standardize carbon stock assessment method for the prevalent eco-system in the PA as an input to the national forest MRV.
- Develop road map with options for financing to advance digital approaches to PA management

WP4 on Output 4: The objective if this output is to improve the professional capacities of the administration and residents of selected protected areas for the planning and implementation of community-based, socially and environmentally compatible tourism.
- Summarise good practices internationally on socially and environmentally responsible community-based tourism
- Develop approach for assessing social and environmental compatibility of tourist development in PAs in Viet Nam
- Assess existing trainings material and trainings on community-based tourism conducted against international best practice

For the implementation of these tasks, core experts for a large part will need to deliver the services in country. The majority of work in the expert pools can be performed from their home bases; individual trips to or in Vietnam are necessary.

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