Guyana Forestry Commission Invitation for Bids/Proposals

Invitation is open to both commercial and non commercial entities/organizations/bodies

Remote Sensing and GIS Consultant Terms of reference and background information
22th December, 2009

Background
The Government of Guyana has embarked on a national programme that aims to protect and maintain its forests in an effort to reduce global carbon emissions and at the same time attract resources to foster growth and development along a low carbon emissions path. Guyana has over 80% of its land area covered by forests, approximately 16 million hectares. There has been a relatively low deforestation rate in Guyana estimated at 0.1% to 0.3% per annum; that is expected to increase in the future. Guyana is committed to provide a contribution to address the second most important source of carbon dioxide emissions world-wide coming from deforestation and forest degradation and is estimated at approximately 18% of global emissions. The cooperation between the Governments of Norway and Guyana expresses a willingness to work together to provide the world with a relevant, replicable model for how REDD-plus can align the development objectives of forest countries with the worlds need to combat climate change. The initiative will require the development of capacities for monitoring, reporting and verification (MRV) of forest carbon stocks and changes. While policy and compensations mechanisms for implementing REDD are still under discussion within the UNFCCC, the draft text on methodology for REDD produced by SBSTA 30 in June 2009 makes it clear that not only reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, but also forest conservation, sustainable forest management and forest enhancement to be included in the agreement. These three elements are jointly referred to as REDD +. This creates some certainty about the contours of the agreement and what will be credited, as well as opportunities to use a variety of approaches to measuring and monitoring. One key measure to quantify the role of a forest for climate change mitigation is the sum of the carbon stored in its terrestrial pools (i.e. vegetation biomass and soil carbon). It can be assumed that any change in the forest carbon stocks from direct or indirect human activities has an impact on the climate with the overall goal to reduce the amount of emissions to the atmosphere and to maintain or increase the overall terrestrial carbon pool. Thus, climate change mitigation activities currently under discussion encourage: the long-term conservation of forests to maintain its current or natural carbon reservoir, to change the impact of human activities (i.e. causing carbon emissions from land use) in forests to stabilize or increase terrestrial carbon stocks in the long-term, a change in current human activities towards reforestation of land to increase the terrestrial carbon sink. These generic and fundamental objectives are addressed in the REDD+ and the LULUCF discussions in a number of concepts, such as deforestation, forest degradation, forest conservation etc. These reflect the need to specify policies to alter human activities towards a more climate friendly way. This includes means to measure and report carbon impacts on the local, national and global level. Current international REDD+ discussions are dealing with carbon and emission-oriented approaches, the national implementation has to consider a cause- or driver oriented perspective to design and implement useful policies. It is currently not practical nor efficient to measure and report the stocks and changes for the whole terrestrial carbon reservoir with the level of detail and certainty to address all drivers

and processes that have a carbon impact on the land. REDD+ readiness activities in Guyana are encouraged to start right away and will need to include a priority setting given that: Countries, in general, start from a diverse set of backgrounds in terms of historical drivers and changes in forest carbon; expected future land use changes due to their development objectives; and current capabilities for measuring and monitoring forest carbon on the national and local level. current human land use impacts causing carbon emissions are focused in specific areas and regions and should, perhaps, be primarily addressed in the very near-term. However, it is the long-term stabilization or increase of the terrestrial carbon reservoir as a whole that will decide on the effectiveness of the activities initiated today and to eventually implement a low carbon development strategy for Guyana, resources to address REDD+ will be limited and not suitable to address all issues everywhere at the same time. While all requirements and forest change drivers and processes should be addressed from the beginning, their entry points will vary and priority setting and efficient implementation strategies will be needed at the international, national and sub-national level.

Objectives
As an initial step to the implementation of a MRVS for Guyana, a road map for the development of a MRV system for REDD+ participation for Guyana was designed following a stakeholder participation session. The development of such a road map considered several aspects that have been elaborated in the facilitation process and for preparing Terms of Reference for developing an REDD MRV system: 1. Requirements for the MRV system: o The accepted principles and procedures of estimation and reporting of carbon emissions and removals at the national level should meet criteria specified by the IPCC Good Practice Guidelines and Guidance for reporting on the international level; o The particulars of the national REDD implementation strategy that have been selected, since different activities have different MRV implications; 2. Bridging the capacity gap through a detailed plan to establish sustained MRV capacities within the country: o Capacity gap assessment based on the state of the existing national forest monitoring technical capabilities and the requirements for the MRV system; o Develop a road map and foster its implementation through a sustained and efficient institutional framework including competence in measuring and monitoring at different levels, support of national policies and REDD+ actions, international reporting and verification, and linking MRV of actions and MRV of transactions. The outcomes of the initiative, as outlined in the MRV capacity development roadmap, are as follows: The overall goal is a capacity development process to establish a sustained MRV for implementing REDD policies and results-based compensation for such activities in the

long-term as a contribution to Guyanas low carbon development pathway and support for the sustainable development of natural resources; The development of a national REDD+ MRV system uses a phased approach along a roadmap that specifies near-term priorities & long-term targets; builds upon existing capacities and data; and international requirements and national needs; and has the objective to support annual estimation; reporting and verification of forest-related carbon emissions and removals at the national level, The MRV system evolution is directly linked with REDD+ policy development and implementation and contains a systematic national monitoring, reporting and verification system and a sub-national program to support MRV for local REDD+ activities; A strong institutional base and the establishment and maintenance of partnership and cooperation at all levels as enabling framework.

Seven specific areas were identified where activities are recommended for the first phase and should start as soon as possible: Develop and implement a national mechanism and institutional framework Implement a comprehensive forest area change assessment for historical periods Build carbon stock measurement and monitoring capacities Develop MRV for a set of sub-national REDD demonstration activities Engagement with the international community Sustain an internal and national communication mechanisms Conduct and support research on key issues

Nature of remote sensing services required

The Guyana Forestry Commission requires the services of an experienced remote sensing consultant to undertake comprehensive, consistent and transparent assessment of forest area change for the historical period of (about) 1990 to 2009 using several times steps of archived Landsat-type satellite data that meet the criteria of the IPCC Good Practice Guidelines for LULUCF. All MRV activities and estimates should follow the five IPCC reporting principles to be transparent, comparable, consistent, as accurate and complete as possible, and should reduce uncertainties, as far as national capabilities and capacities permit). It is further indicated that monitoring systems and their results will be open to independent review as agreed by the Conference of the Parties. While policy and compensations mechanisms for implementing REDD are still under discussion at the UNFCCC, the text on methodology for REDD produced by SBSTA 31 in December 2009 makes it clear that not only reduced emissions from deforestation and degradation, but also forest conservation, sustainable forest management and forest enhancement are to be included in the agreement, usually jointly referred to as REDD +. The technical aspects of the project should follow the IPCC Good Practice Guidance. Consideration will be given to efficient methodologies that provide high-quality results. Guyana has a pool of skill set in the area of GIS and Remote Sensing and the successful candidate will be expected to utilize these skills as far as practicable in the execution of the activities, to maximize local capacity-building and also to minimize costs, particularly for labor intensive tasks in which they can appropriately trained. A strong focus of the initiative is towards building capacity in Guyana. As such preference will be given to proposals that

include elements of using and further developing remote sensing capability of the natural resources management agencies in Guyana and especially at the level of the Guyana Forestry Commission. It is expected that the successful candidate will utilize as far as possible, existing data within Guyana. A Steering Committee as well as a Technical Sub Committee will be appointed to coordinate activities under this initiative. The successful candidate will be expected to work with staff of the technical subcommittee as well as staff of the Guyana Forestry Commission. A comprehensive field inventory of above and below ground biomass is planned for commencement in early 2010, and this will link with the forest area assessment conducted under this initiative. The activities that are required will include working with the national REDD MRV coordination mechanism, to consolidate existing data sets and assistance in the creation of an satellite data image archive. These are expected to inform the development of a benchmark forest map as well as the generation of forest area change maps and national estimates. All results and processes will be subject to an independent accuracy assessments and reporting is required on mapping forest change process as well as the development of a framework for reporting on interim performance indicators. Proponents are invited to provide indicative methodologies and rough budget estimates for all activities listed in the Terms of Reference below. The activities implemented under this project form part of a larger Road Map (See Terms of Reference for Guyanas MRVS, pages 17-21, available at http://www.forestry.gov.gy/publications.html) and work on remote sensing and GIS assessments will extend beyond the time of this contract. For follow up work on those aspects, future invitation for bids will be issued. Candidates with experience in Guyana, in monitoring tropical forest and for capacity building in developing countries will be given preference. The successful candidate will be required to communicate regularly with the Guyana Forestry and may also need to make themselves available for further discussions and possible interview.

Tendering Organisation
Guyana Forestry Commission (GFC) The GFC is a semi-autonomous organization formed in 1979 with a legal mandate to manage and control the utilization of the State Forest Estate. It main role is to ensure the sustainable utilization State Forest Estate in keeping with sustainable forest management principles and guidelines. The GFC also has a development mandate to ensure that that there is a balance among the pillars social, economic and environmental development. The recently passed Forest Act 2009, by Parliament outlines these pillars and outlines key legislative requirements for the Commission work. The GFC has, over the past 10 years, undergone rapid development in the implementation of sustainable forest management, legality, and environmental standards. It has also expanded it geographic scope to 22 field stations and a number of mobile stations on forest concessions and has a total staff complement of 260 employees. Of more recent, are the modern and dynamic forest legislation and suite of Forest Management policies, guidelines and practices that guide the operation of the Commission that have been developed, with many of these

already successfully implemented. The GFC also has a strong community forest programme through which it extends implementation of sustainable forest management practices and overall development support, at the community level. The Commission is the technical agency that has been mandated to lead the implementation of the Monitoring Reporting and Verification system as outlined in the Low Carbon Development Strategy and the Readiness Preparation Proposal under the World Bank, Forest Carbon Partnership Facility. This work will be done under the strategic oversight of the Office of Climate Change and on technical aspects, with various land management agencies such as the Guyana Geology and Mines Commission and the Guyana Lands and Surveys Commission, with close collaboration with stakeholders and community members.

Terms of reference
Overall objective To conduct a comprehensive forest area change assessment for historic period up to 2009 and build national capacities for estimating forest-related activity data using the IPCC GPG on LULUCF. Specific areas of activity 1. Build Capacity and Partnerships Collaborate with international and national partner(s) to assist in processing and interpretation of data, and to finalize the agreement on relevant monitoring variables (i.e. forest definition), standards for the geo-spatial in Guyana etc. Develop a capacity developing framework, conduct capacity building sessions on processing and interpretation of data, and quality insurance. This is required to be done within the country and should aim to build synergies with other international efforts involved in building national MRV capacities (such as UN-REDD) Actively involve the GFC in the independent accuracy assessment of the forest area and forest area change estimates 2. Consolidate and Availability of Archived and Existing data Provide an inventory of archived satellite data available for Guyana with focus on national coverage for historical periods, its costs and technical potentials and limitations, Compile a pre-processed satellite data archive to be delivered to the GFC Use and integrate ancillary data from Guyana agencies that help in the monitoring process (to be delivered by GFC) 3. Conduct Mapping and Assessment of Change in Forest Area Develop Benchmark forest map for 2009 Using historical data in archives (Landsat-type data), map deforestation (and reforestation) starting 1990 (if historical data permit, other options may be proposed) Conduct assessment using of (minimum) four (bi-annual) time steps since 1990 (ideally) using Guidance for methods given by GOFC-GOLD Sourcebook Identification of mapped forest change processes at second step Assess available software for forest change assessment (Spring from Brazil should be explored. Sources in Guyana will be analyzed for suitability)

Develop framework to report on interim performance indicators, and capacity building for the implementation of the MRVS as required by the MoU and Joint Concept Note between the Government of Guyana and the Government of Norway (available at www.lcds.gov.gy)

4. Conduct Independent Accuracy Assessment for Forest Maps and Change Estimates, Following international guidance (i.e IPCC GPG and GOFC-GOLD Sourcebook) provide the framework for an independent accuracy assessment of the historical forest area change assessment. Outputs / Deliverables Report on the consolidation process of existing data and establishment of data archive, and delivery of a digital database of archived satellite data and national spatial datasets to GFC that are used for the forest area change assessment, ensuring compatibility, inter operability of data, and common geo referencing for REDD+ MRV Timeline for delivery: end of June 2010 Implemented capacity building workshops in Guyana on methods and procedures for conducting forest change assessments in this project including processing, data interpretation and analysis Timeline for delivery: end of July 2010 Processing of data, Mapping and assessment of change in forest area: delivery of benchmark forest map for 2009, the forest area change maps for each time step and consistent and transparent national estimates of deforestation and reforestation for each time step. The deliverables includes a report, and all output data in digital format. The maps should be delivered in an compatible format (i.e. GEO TIFF), as well as in pdf format and two large poster size printed maps Preferred timeline for delivery: end of September, 2010 Accuracy assessment completed of forest maps and change estimates by an independent partner and with strong involvement of the GFC, and documented in a accuracy assessment report Preferred timeline for delivery: end of November, 2010 Assessment and reporting on the identification of mapped forest change processes based on the remote sensing data analysis Preferred timeline for delivery: end of December, 2010 Report describing a framework for building national capacities to regularly conduct forest area change assessments by Guyana national agencies (including the assessment of software options) and for reporting on interim performance indictors as defined by Guyana. Preferred timeline for delivery: end of December, 2010

Application process
If your organization/person is interested in bidding for this project, please do the following: Send an email to the Guyana Forestry Commission ([email protected]) advising your intention to bid on the project by 29th January, 2010. Submit a 5-10 page project proposal no later than 26th February, 2010. Bid/Proposals should be addressed to: Mr. James Singh Commissioner of Forests Guyana Forestry Commission 1 Water Street, Kingston, Georgetown, Guyana, South America. Or can be emailed to: [email protected] Following the bidding and selection process, the chosen organization for the project will report to Guyana Forestry Commission on technical, financial and administrative matters. The Proposal should specifically cover: Proposed methodology to undertake the services as specified in this TOR The fees/cost and business conditions associated with the implementation of the services as specified in this TOR Timeline The team undertaking the work (if such is the case) An outline of how quality assurance activities will be undertaken for various activities of the terms of reference. An outline of the approach to capacity building with relevant Guyanese partners for every activity outlined in the terms of reference. In an appendix, the experience / resources you would bring to the project. Applicants are expected to provide named references with proven implementation and business experience in the terms of reference outlined. This appendix should cover your organizations previous work experience, as well as work relating to this area. Bids must be submitted in English and costs must be quoted in US dollars. Some of the Assessment Criteria for Bids include: o Technical strength and credibility of proposal in meeting required international guidelines and standards. o Approach to capacity building involving relevant Guyanese Partners. o Experience of the Provider in monitoring tropical deforestation, working with various aspects of monitoring, reporting and verification of carbon stock and forest areas assessment, capacity building in developing countries and overall regional and international experience. o Cost Considerations and efficiency of approach o Consideration for independent accuracy assessments o Assessment of quality assurance proposal

DEADLINE: We look forward to receiving your proposal no later than the close of business on Friday 26th February, 2010. The project will be awarded no later than 31st March, 2010. Project commencement should be as soon as possible following that date.