Background and Rationale:

Due to production-orientated forest management, especially replacement of natural forests with plantation of selected exotic species, encroachment and land-use modification, bio-diversity in almost all the reserved forests (except for the Sunderbans) as well as in the unclassified state forests (USF) of the Chittagong Hill Tract has decreased drastically. In order to conserve the remaining species of flora and fauna in different forest types, the Forest Department (FD) has established 23 protected areas (national parks, wildlife sanctuary, game reserves) in different parts of the country. But due to inadequate management and illegal exploitation, the biodiversity of the protected areas has been declining.

In order to check further loss of biodiversity and to restore and conserve biodiversity in the protected areas, the FD (with support from USAID) undertook a protected area co-management program, called Nishorgo, in 2004, which now runs in its second phase in the name Integrated Protected Area Co-management (IPAC) project. The IPAC project is engaged in establishing co-management system and capacity building of stakeholders in such management system including skill development of forest dependent communities in alternative livelihood practices with the view to conserve the bio-diversity resources in the protected forest areas (PFA). It, however, monitors the bio-diversity status of the PFAs only in a qualitative manner based on certain indicative or keystone species. There has been no systematic survey and documentation of the bio-diversity status of the PFAs.

In collaboration with IPAC and FD, Arannayk Foundation plans to establish a database of the bio-diversity resources (flora, fauna) of the PFAs, which will be periodically updated through follow-up surveys. Considering the limitation of human resource availability for this specialized activity, the bio-diversity survey of the PFAs will be done in a phased manner, starting with only 3 PFAs during 2010-11.

Objectives:

• To establish a biodiversity database (flora, fauna) of the protected forest areas of Bangladesh
• To identify development needs for the conservation of the biodiversity of the PFAs
• To recommend ways to make use of the survey results in monitoring biodiversity and implementation of biodiversity conservation practices by FD field staff

Outputs:

• A list of the existing flora (trees, shrubs, herbs & vines) with absolute and relative density of each species and that of the species that are now extinct
• A list of the existing wildlife species (birds, mammals, reptiles, amphibians), with population size of each species and that of the species that are now extinct
• A computerized database of the biodiversity resources (flora, fauna) of the PFAs with search and retrieval facilities
• A list of relevant recommendations including that for replicating similar surveys in cost-effective way in other PFAs.
  

Activities:

• Develop a technically sound methodology (sampling, data collection, data analysis) for the floristic biodiversity survey and that for the faunal biodiversity survey that should approved by the Arannayk Foundation Secretariat in consultation with FD
• Conduct the floristic and faunal biodiversity surveys following the approved methodology
• Develop a user friendly and web-enabled database program for storage and retrieval of the biodiversity information of the PFAs
• Input data collected from the three project sites in the database program which should have the provision for storing similar datasets on a reasonably large number of sites (forest areas)
  

Institutional arrangements:

The task shall be contracted out to a competent organization or a consultant through a competitive biding process. The wining bidder (implementing entity) may hire expert services of other individuals (experts) or organizations for implementing parts of the assignment in case it does not have expertise in all aspects that are demanded by the assignment provided that it ensures timely delivery of the outputs of the assignment.

Qualification requirements for the grant applicant / implementing entity:

• The grant offer is open for: (a) research and academic institutions (public, private), (b) environmental NGOs and (c) consulting firms
• The implementing entity should have: (a) at least three years experience in performing similar tasks, (b) good reputation among project beneficiaries, relevant government officials and other stakeholders of their project areas, and (c) track record of sound financial management system (in case of an organization), supported by the external audit reports of the organization.
  

Project duration: 1 year

Project sites:

(1) Teknaf Game Reserve, Cox's Bazar
(2) Fashiakhali Wildlife Sanctuary, Chittagong
(3) Rema-Kalenga Wildlife Sanctuary, Moulovibazar

Budget limit: Not exceeding BDT 60,00,000 (Sixty lac)

Guidelines for submission of project proposals:

To apply for this project, the applicant should submit the following documents:

1. Organizational profile
2. Technical proposal
3. Financial proposal

The organizational profile should include legal status, relevant manpower (supported by brief CV of key staffs/experts), relevant experience and relevant physical facilities (office space, vehicle, computer, audio-visual equipment, GPS, camera, etc.).

The technical proposal should include detailed methodology of the study (sampling design, data to be collected, data collection methodology, analytical framework, basic srtucture of the database to be developed, management system (personnel, program and accounts), project monitoring and evaluation system, and implementation schedule.

The financial proposal should include detailed budget for the following line-items (sub-heads):

• Personnel/time-cost
• Program administration (equipment, supplies, utilities, communication, etc.)
• Operational costs (travel and per-diem, labour, inputs, staff training, software development, meeting, seminar, workshop, etc.)
• Overhead

Evaluation process/criteria:

The project proposals received by Arannayk Foundation are evaluated by an independent team of evaluators based on the following criteria:

1. Organizational strength (40 points)
2. Quality of technical proposal (40 points)
3. Quality and competency of financial proposal (20 points)