| Overview : The CHTWCA project’s three expected results are as follows: Result 1: Improved governance of community managed forests, more commonly known as Village Common Forests (VCFs) or Mouza forests, small streams and associated watersheds; Result 2: Improved reserve forest management in place; and Result 3: Improved livelihoods that are environmentally sustainable and resilient to climate change. Under the target result 1, the CHTWCA project along with CHT communities and traditional leaders have so far identified 314 Village Common Forests (VCFs) existing in the CHT with coverage of about 30,951 acres. The VCFs (or mouza forests) are natural forests that the indigenous people traditionally conserved, managed and treat as forest commons of the community. Each VCF is approximately 50 – 700 acres, few are in the scale of as little as 20 acres. The VCFs have traditionally played a major role in life and livelihoods of neighbouring communities. More importantly, VCFs play the critical role for ensuring water flows in the small streams that are main source of fresh water used for drinking, household uses and agriculture in most parts of CHT. Conservation of VCF is critical to not just managing the biodiversity of the forests but also the livelihoods of the people who are dependent on them for supplying house construction materials, medicinal plants, supplying food and water and in some cases earning income. Indigenous practices of forest conservation through the centuries have kept these forests alive. The traditional leaders namely the Circle Chiefs (Rajas), Headmen and Karbaris or village heads, with the participation of communities, are responsible for managing the natural resources of their areas. Of the total 314 VCFs, 55 VCFs have been selected for support under the project based on its biodiversity significance. Following the VCF selection, the project now intends to undertake three major assessments to establish a baseline for key change indicators to be monitored under the project. These assessments include: 1) socio-economic baseline study aiming to collect data from surrounding communities /households related to their livelihoods and dependency on VCFs; 2) study on vegetation status and carbon stocks in the VCFs using remote sensing technology, and 3) this assessment on floral and faunal diversity as described in the rest of the terms of reference (TOR) below. Accordingly, for this assignment, CHTDF-UNDP looks forward engaging national or international research institution/organisation specialized in forest biological diversity for duration of 11.5 months. As the other two baseline assessments mentioned above are very much interlinked with this assignment, the contracted organisation for this assessment is expected to coordinate their work with organizations working on the other two baseline studies for ensuring synergies. | 
