Ecobank Mekong Recruitment

Introduction

The Mekong Delta’s ecosystems are vital to global biodiversity and local communities’ livelihoods. However, these ecosystems face critical threats and are being lost and degraded at an alarming rate – faster than any other biome. Wetland areas, in particular, face intense pressure from resource exploitation and overuse, driving biodiversity loss and putting many species at high risk. Species richness and population abundance have declined significantly due to hunting and poaching by local communities. Despite these trends, little is known about the scale and nature of the changes or the current status of biodiversity. Project “Building a Portal of Ecosystems and Biodiversity Information for Biodiversity Conservation and Sustainable Development in the Mekong Delta” (Ecobank Mekong), funded by the Mekong–Korea Cooperation Fund (MKCF), will develop an internationally standardized WebGIS-based database of biodiversity information, providing up-to-date information on ecosystems and biodiversity in the Mekong Delta to all relevant stakeholders at the national and regional levels, as well as users worldwide. The project is being implemented to achieve the following specific objectives:

Assessment of current status of biodiversity (ecosystem and species levels) to support sustainable socio-economic development and biodiversity conservation planning in the Mekong region;
Providing an updated standardized database of natural ecosystems and associated biodiversity to support assessing ecosystems and biodiversity and monitoring changes in the Mekong Delta;
Building a modern database for biodiversity information
Building a modern WebGIS-based portal and apps to promote awareness and wide usage of the built database.

As part of the project activities, the Ecobank Mekong Project Management Unit is seeking independent consultants to undertake the following assignments (one consultant per assignment):

Activity 1.2: Collecting, verifiying available information and extracted reported data of phytoplankton and zooplankton
Activity 1.3: Collecting, verifiying available information and extracted reported data of higher plants
Activity 2.10: Conduct field surveys to collect data of phytoplankton and zooplankton in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.11: Conduct field surveys to collect data of flora in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.12: Conduct field survey to collect data of fungi in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.13: Conduct field survey to collect data of mammals in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.14: Conduct field survey to collect data of birds in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.15: Conduct field survey to collect data of reptiles and amphibians in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.16: Conduct field survey to collect data of insects in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.17: Conduct field survey to collect data of benthos in Vietnam sites
Activity 2.18: Conduct field survey to collect data of fishes in Vietnam sites