SCOPE OF WORK
DEVELOPING A STRATEGY FOR ANTI-SNARING AND CONTROLLED LIVESTOCK GRAZING IN VIET NAM’S PROTECTED AREAS
1. Background
IUCN is leading the scoping phase of Nature for Health (N4H) in Viet Nam to develop an implementation project for upstream and primary zoonotic disease spillover prevention. This includes measures to reduce the use of snares to trap wildlife to feed the illegal wildlife trade.
In October 2023, WWF-Viet Nam presented the results of camera trapping in 21 SUFs funded by USAID Biodiversity Conservation Activity (BCA) and the results of 10 years of intensive snare removal in the Central Annamites.
Cheap to produce and easy to set, snares can catch all ground-based wildlife. Snares sustain the illegal wildlife trade by supplying wildlife restaurants with ungulates, civets, and other species that have survived in sufficient numbers to be worth hunting. After five years, the number of snares removed had fallen sharply, but the patrol teams are still removing about 20,000 snares/year from two SUFs covering 30,000 hectares. More worrisome, snaring seems to have stabilized in recent years, with no further decrease.
Investing more in snare removal clearly is not sufficient. The fundamental problem is that the law is so narrowly defined that snaring is de facto legal. Even if it were criminalized, rangers face strong disincentives when it comes to arresting and prosecuting snare layers. As a result, snares continue to get set in large numbers, extirpating ground-based animals.
Meanwhile, unregulated grazing of domestic cows and buffalo in SUFs degrades the landscape, especially wetlands, pollutes water, displaces wildlife cattle and other native herbivores, and causes fundamental changes in vegetation structure that disrupt ecosystem processes. Assessing the extent and impact of grazing in SUFs is crucial for conservation efforts.
In addition to ecological concerns, there exists a pertinent risk of zoonotic disease transmission associated with livestock grazing in protected areas. The proximity of domesticated animals to wildlife populations heightens the potential for disease spillover, posing a threat to wild ungulates and other wildlife.
This assessment will inform management measures and policy advocacy efforts to minimize the impacts of snare use and cattle grazing in SUFs.
2. Objectives of the assignment
The goal of this assignment is to help IUCN, the Department of Forestry, and SUF management boards, especially the management board of Muong Nhe Nature Reserve, respond to these serious and complex threats.
The consultants will carry out the following tasks:
- Review national and provincial policies and published and unpublished documents relevant to snaring/grazing in SUFs to clarify what is legal, what is illegal, what is ambiguous, and the rights, roles and responsibilities of government and local communities. Interview selected DoF and SUF management board staff on their understanding of these activities and their impact on biodiversity.
- Collect all available data from government, management bords, local and international NGOs on snaring/grazing in SUFs to identify trends over the last 5 years and patterns in the incidence and intensity of snaring/grazing in SUFs. Develop a questionnaire that will be sent by official letter to collect data on grazing in all 174 SUFs.
- Visit Muong Nhe to meet the management board, local communities, and other stakeholders to collect information on snaring/livestock, understand what’s driving snaring/grazing, their economic importance, and possibilities to reduce their impact.
- Based on previous tasks, prepare a strategy paper that summarizes findings and provides specific recommendations in terms of policy and practice to reduce the extent and intensity of snaring/grazing. Proposed solutions must be technically, financially, and politically viable.
- Present the results and recommendations at two workshops in Dien Bien and Hanoi to provincial and central government stakeholders.
3. Expected deliverables and timeline
The consultant is expected to collaborate with IUCN Vietnam, the Department of Forestry and other stakeholders to produce the following deliverables with deadlines:
|
No |
Deliverable |
Deadline |
|
1 |
Summary report of policy review and data analysis ( Task 1-2) |
March 31, 2025 |
|
2 |
Field trip report and survey results to Muong Nhe Nature Protected Area (Task 3) |
April 30, 2025 |
|
3 |
Strategy paper on the reduction of the intensity and impact of snaring/grazing in protected areas (Task 4) |
May 5, 2025 |
|
4 |
Workshop material and reports of 2 workshops (Task 5) |
May 15, 2025 |
4. Consultants
To complete the SOW, IUCN will hire a group of three national consultants:
- Wildlife conservation and protected area management specialist and team leader (40 days)
- Legal and policy specialist (20 days)
- GIS and Data analysis specialist (8 days)
Key qualifications:
- Postgraduate degree in biodiversity conservation, forestry, biology, GIS or other related fields.
- Experience in policy analysis.
- Demonstrated experience in developing strategies related to wildlife conservation.
- Familiar with the political and cultural context of Vietnam.
- Experience working with SUF management boards.
- Strong analytical, research, and communication skills.
- Proficiency in English.
5. Reporting
The consultants will report directly to IUCN Vietnam Biodiversity Coordinator – Nguyen Manh Hiep. They will work with the IUCN Viet Nam Office in Hanoi to arrange travel, meetings, and stakeholder workshops.
6. Application process
Applicants must submit:
- Comprehensive CV
- A proposal outlining the proposed approach and budget
These should be emailed to Nguyen Manh Hiep, IUCN Viet Nam Biodiversity Coordinator, [email protected], copy to Pham Thi Hong Nhung, [email protected], by 17 March 2025.
7. Evaluation Criteria
- Professional qualifications
- Relevant professional experience
- Proposed technical approach
- Competitive budget