Call for Kbal Chhay Biodiversity survey

The Department of Biodiversity (DBD) of the General Secretariat of the National Council for Sustainable Development (GSSD), Ministry of Environment with financially supported by the Embassy of Sweden and UNDP Cambodia is implementing a project entitled “Building an Enabling Environment for Sustainable Development (BESD)” and Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) is our focus.

In order to advance PES work, the RGC selected Phnom Kulen National Park (PKNP) and Kbal Chhay Multiple Use Area (KCMUA) as pilot sites for the implementation of PES (see Sor Chor Nor No. 1119 by the Council Ministers). The PKNP was established in 1993 by the Royal Decree of King Norodom Sihanouk and the total area of this park is 37, 500 ha in Siem Reap province. The KCMUA was established in 2016 by the last Sub-decree of the Prime Minister with the total area of 5,520 ha in Sihanouk province. These two areas have several services provided by the forest ecosystems: natural freshwater supply network, view landscape scenery, forest cover and vegetation, wildlife and its habitats, historic-cultural values and park and tourism facilities. Despite these important services, an array of threats (e.g. increased forestland encroachment and substantial groundwater exploitation) have been reported. Thus, there is an urgent need to design the PES operation scheme and mechanism for the two areas.

However, we are facing the lack of biodiversity information from KCMUA, which is very important to design and further PES monitoring.

With this regard, on behalf of BESD-DBD, we would like to call for your interest in conducting biodiversity rapid assessment of Kbal Chhay Multiple Use Area. If you are interested in this job, please prepare a proposal with detail workplan and budget and do a short presentation to the Department of Biodiversity not later than July for their consideration.

For further detail or question, please email to sopheachhin@gmail.com or Tel: 017877377