Procurement Notices

UNDP seeks a company to provide Communications Services for the launch of the Interfaith Rainforest Alliance in Oslo, Norway on 19 June 2017. 

The quote should be submitted to: bpps.procurement@undp.org

Background:

The Bureau for Policy and Programme Support (BPPS) has corporate responsibility for developing all relevant policy and guidance to support the results of UNDP’s Strategic Plan. BPPS’s staff provides technical advice to Country Offices; advocates UNDP corporate messages, represents UNDP at multi-stakeholder fora including public-private dialogues, government and civil society dialogue initiatives, South-South and Triangular cooperation initiatives and engages in UN inter-agency coordination in specific thematic areas.

The Cluster on Sustainable Development focuses on integrating UNDP’s economic, social and environment work into a coherent sustainable development policy and programming framework. It seeks to provide an integrated package of services covering all strands of sustainable development, including on integrated development planning and inclusive and sustainable growth, sustainable livelihoods and economic recovery in post crisis situations and natural capital and the environment.

It is largely because of the stewardship of indigenous peoples that many tropical rainforests are still standing around the world.  Indigenous peoples and local communities have official legal rights to at least 513 million hectares of forests, which is about one-eighth of the world’s total forest area. Most of these forests – 478 million hectares – are in low- or middle-income countries where pressures to exploit forests are high. Studies show that when indigenous forests rights are legally recognized and protected by governments, deforestation rates and carbon dioxide emissions are significantly lower. Yet research also suggests that indigenous people and local communities lack legal rights to almost three quarters of their traditional lands.

The world's faith communities, indigenous peoples and spiritual leaders may, by joining forces, have the potential to turn the tide on tropical deforestation. Together, they can leverage moral and spiritual authority, convey messages about the value of the rainforest as a unique part of creation, reach out to local people, civil society actors and authorities at all levels, and mobilize broad support for rainforest protection. Spiritual leaders and faith communities of the world have a great deal to offer in coming together to inspire action in defense of rainforests. This project seeks to bring the spiritual resources, moral authority and unparalleled influence of faith communities to bear in a unified way on rainforest protection.

Since its launch in 2007, the Government of Norway’s International Climate and Forest Initiative (NICFI) has cooperated with international partners, governments in forest and donor countries and a broad range of non-governmental organizations to reduce tropical deforestation and forest degradation. Seeing the need to bring the religious, spiritual and ethical dimension more strongly into this work, NICFI and Rainforest Foundation Norway are working with a coalition of partners on an interfaith alliance to protect the world’s tropical rainforests. In cooperation with the Parliament of the World’s Religions, Religions for Peace, the REIL Network, and the World Council of Churches, and with implementation support by the United Nations Development Programme, the initiative is being designed to mobilize leaders from all religions, faiths and spiritual traditions – including indigenous peoples and forest communities – to forge a united action plan to protect, restore and sustainably manage tropical rainforests across the planet.

The Interfaith Rainforest Initiative will be launched in Oslo on 19 June 2017, followed by a two-day roundtable to develop the initiative's concrete goals, action plans and milestones. This process is expected to lead to a global interfaith rainforest summit to be convened in Brazil in the second half of 2018.