Biodiversity Ecosystems and Protected Areas Expert SVG

St Vincent and the Grenadines has a diverse biodiversity with multiple endemics, and consists of approximately 1,150 species of flowering plants, 163 species of ferns, 7 species of amphibians, over 18 species of reptiles, including 4 endangered sea turtles, over 150 species of birds, and 22 species of mammals including 12 species of bats, 25 species of freshwater fish, crayfish and crabs, 25 species of diplopods, 220 species of arachnids, over 2000 species of insects, 35 terrestrial crustaceans, 800 marine and 75 terrestrial species of mollusks.

Like many of its Caribbean neighbors, St. Vincent and the Grenadines faces significant threats to these biodiversity and ecosystem services. These are primarily related to habitat destruction and fragmentation from unsustainable agricultural capital development practices that have contributed to a 3-5% rate of annual forest destruction; invasive alien species (IAS) and disease, which have been adversely affecting both marine and terrestrial ecosystems; and climate change, which has led to an increase in the frequency and severity of extreme weather events, leading to adverse impacts on ecosystems, livelihoods and economic growth.

In attempting to address these threats, several major barriers have been identified related to the lack of sufficient regulatory and institutional framework for PA management and landscape level planning (INRM), insufficient personnel, technical capacities and resources for expansion of the PA estate and conservation of its biodiversity and insufficient awareness, planning and technical capacities for landscape level resource management. To address these challenges, the  Conserving Biodiversity and Reducing Land Degradation Using a Ridge-to-Reef Approach project will implement the following components:

• Strengthening the institutional framework for Protected Areas, Ecosystem Conservation and Sustainable Land Use, including improved policy, legal, regulatory, planning and financial systems.
• Establishment and effective management of new and existing PAs with legally recognized and demarcated boundaries
• Integrated watershed management measures in R2R setting to reduce threats to upstream PA and downstream MPA/MMA and develop alterative livelihoods and businesses
• Knowledge management for SLM, CSA and biodiversity conservation that improves technical capacities, raises public awareness and changes behaviors

A Project Preparation Grant (PPG) has been approved by the GEF Secretariat to support development of a full-sized project (FSP) that must be submitted no later than September 1, 2018.

This PPG preparatory phase aims to finalize the formulation of project arrangements, enabling stakeholder consultation and supporting the collection of data for the formulation of baseline and complementary activities. Careful analysis is necessary to determine how the project will contribute most effectively to environmental impacts across two focal areas, Biodiversity and Land Degradation. The final output of the initiation plan will be a UNDP project document and GEF CEO endorsement template, both will be submitted to the GEF Sec within the agreed upon timeframe and with all the supporting documentation required; including co-financing letters.

The Biodiversity, Ecosystems and Protected Areas Expert will have specific roles and inputs to the following outputs as defined in the PIF:

Establishment and Effective Management of New and Existing PAs

• Report on Ecological Conditions at Targeted Terrestrial PA Units(of the Central Mountain Forest Reserve) and adjacent areas, Chatham Bay PA, and marine PA (Lee Coast MMA), including maps, assessment of biodiversity and ecosystem services, land / resource uses, potential global environmental benefits, and threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services. This will include:
  • Based on existing data, compile detailed report on biodiversity (species, numbers and conservation status of flora and fauna), ecosystem services (functions; status), land use practices, and current issues with land and natural resource management (e.g. erosion, land degradation, etc.), in project PAs and in adjacent areas. Identify key species of national, regional or global significance.  
  • Based on existing data, compile detailed report with analysis of threats to biodiversity and ecosystem services (e.g. indicator species population assessments, land conversion and erosion rates, rates of harvesting of non-timber forest products).
  •  Identification of baseline information regarding Invasive Alien Species and defining strategies and actions, further assessment and expertise need to tackle them during implementation phase, GEF BD Tracking Tool, including the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT), completed for all PAs included in the project (together with PA and Landscape Management Systems Experts)
• Define, in coordination with national authorities, other relevant stakeholders and in consultation with, the areas and preliminary boundaries for the MTPNP, Chatham Bay, and Lee coast MMA, or if it is not feasible during PPG stage define a course of actions, expertise and technical/technological inputs needed to establish boundaries

• PA Management Effectiveness Report
  • Baseline report on management effectiveness at the PA Unit level, including capacities, resources, procedures, financing, etc.; a capacity development strategy; and a summary description of barriers to PA management.
  • Summary description of proposed project activities at the PA sites, including identification of potential partners; a list of specific activities and their estimated costs; and potential co-financing resources.
  • Recommendations for long-term PA financing

• PA Project Scoping
  • Quantification and presentation of the global environmental benefits of the project (conservation of globally significant biodiversity; protection of range and ecosystem functions in critical ecosystems);
  • Description of all BD and PA-related project stakeholders and of stakeholder roles and responsibilities in the full project (together with Landscape Management Systems Expert)
  • Define further technical assessments, assistance and expertise needed to support project implementation on particular deliverables (with preliminary ToR or task lists for support experts)
  • Input to the Social and Environmental Standards Procedure (SESP), and Environmental and Social Management Plan (if needed) on relevant standards, as per UNDP guidance, feeding to the Project Development Expert
  • Support obtaining a set of relevant co-financing letters for the PA-related activities of the project (together with PA and SLM Expert)

Component 1:  Strengthened institutional framework for Protected Areas, Ecosystem Conservation and Sustainable Land Use

The tasks will be carried out in close collaboration with the Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Transformation, Forestry, Fisheries and Industry, which has the primary responsibility for the management of biodiversity, agriculture and natural resource landscape level planning; with a number of other stakeholders mentioned in

the PIF, such as the Ministry of Justice and Legal Affairs (MJLA), which is responsible for all environment related legislation and regulation.  

Under the supervision of the PPG Team Leader, the BD/PA expert will collaborate with the Watershed/landscape Management expert in the following tasks:

• Institutional Assessment Report
  • Baseline assessment of policy, legal/regulatory, institutional, and financial frameworks for BD and PA management, SLM and CSA approaches, integrated landscape level natural resource management (including watershed-level management), and recommendations for related project activities. Determining gaps in the policy, legal/regulatory and institutional, coordination and financial frameworks, and identifying barriers and weaknesses and providing recommendations for project activities to address these.
  • Baseline analysis of natural resources information management system for BD/PA aspects: current capacities, procedures and inter-institutional coordination, access and use of information, technical and technological capacity gaps and needs, current use of information for monitoring activities
  • Capacity assessment and capacity development strategy for PA system management and for integrated landscape level natural resource management (SLM/CSA, BD conservation) approaches at the systemic level, and completed UNDP Capacity Development Scorecard. and carrying out consultations with institutional stakeholders to support the institutional capacity assessments and identification of institutional strengthening needs;
  • Identify most appropriate project interventions to strengthen institutional capacities and the institutional framework in output areas of Component 1, including further assessment or technical expertise needs,
  • Identify further assessment and technical expertise needs to carry out results under component 1

The Ecosystems and PA expert will also undertake:

• Analysis of current and projected PA financing, completed PA Financial Sustainability Scorecard, description of barriers to improved PA financing, and recommendations for project activities to remove barriers, modalities and mechanisms for enhanced and sustainable financial frameworks for PA management.

Other Responsibilities

Advise on Knowledge management and communication strategies and products on BD/PA conservation and management aspects, and participate to the editing of the GEF CEO endorsement and the project document.

Institutional Arrangements

The Ecosystems and Protected Areas Expert will report directly to the UNDP Programme Manager for Energy and the Environment in the Sub-Regional Office for Barbados and the OECS and the Regional Technical Advisor in Panama and will work in close coordination with the PPG team. The Expert will communicate on the progress of the work, any challenges being encountered or risks foreseen, mitigation measures proposed or taken, and where UNDP/national support may be required. Outputs produced will undergo review for certification of acceptance.

The Expert is expected to have the appropriate software, equipment, facilities or access to such as relevant to complete the required services. The Expert will operate from their usual base and undertake missions to St Vincent and the Grenadines as needed.

Deliverables

The contract price is a fixed output-based price regardless of extension of the duration specified herein. The Financial Proposal will include all fees and costs associated with the execution of the

contract, including professional fees, travel, equipment and all other expenses that will be incurred during the execution of the work.

Payment will be remitted subject to the approval of final deliverables by UNDP, and based on the contractor’s price proposal. Expected deadlines and proposed payment allocations are as follows:

• Understanding of results-based management
• Good analytical and organizational skills of baseline documentation gathering, organization and communication to support experts
• Good understating of national policy and institutional structures, and ability to advise on institutional capacities and relations
• Fully proficient in the following software applications: Word, Excel, PowerPoint.
• Excellent verbal and writing communication skills in English.

Education

• A graduate degree in in sciences related to biodiversity conservation, ecosystems and protected area management.

Experience

• 4 years’ relevant job experience in the areas of environmental monitoring and reporting, with specific focus to biodiversity, wildlife, forests, and other natural habitats, PA implementation and managementGood analytical skills of sustainable ecosystems problems and threats, and experience in management solutions, including multi-stakeholder processes and integrated protected Area management solutions
• Experience in management solutions, including multi-stakeholder processes and Protected Areas
• Experience in biodiversity and ecosystem related regulatory, policy and planning frames, coordination and information management systems
• Experience in dealing with invasive species
• Experience in designing and facilitating stakeholder consultations and ability of defining project strategies and interventions at different levels in the subject area
• Experience in the Caribbean and SVG would be an asset
• Ability to work in multi-disciplinary teams and coordinate and feed inputs to others
• Experience working with UNDP or other development agency would be an asset

DOCUMENTS TO BE INCLUDED WHEN SUBMITTING THE PROPOSALS

Interested individual consultants must submit the following documents/information to demonstrate their qualifications:

1. Proposal:

        (i) Explaining why they are the most suitable for the work

2. Personal CV including past experience in similar projects and at least 3 references

3. Financial proposal (prepared, but not submitted unless requested to do so)

FINANCIAL PROPOSAL

• Lump sum contracts

The financial proposal shall specify a total lump sum amount, and payment terms around specific and measurable (qualitative and quantitative) deliverables (i.e. whether payments fall in installments or upon completion of the entire contract). Payments are based upon output, i.e. upon delivery of the services specified in the TOR.  In order to assist the requesting unit in the comparison of financial proposals, the financial proposal will include a breakdown of this lump sum amount (including travel, per diems, and number of anticipated working days).

Travel;

All envisaged travel costs must be included in the financial proposal. This includes all travel to join duty station/repatriation travel.  In general, UNDP should not accept travel costs exceeding those of an economy class ticket. Should the IC wish to travel on a higher class he/she should do so using their own resources.

In the case of unforeseeable travel, payment of travel costs including tickets, lodging and terminal expenses should be agreed upon, between the respective business unit and Individual Consultant, prior to travel and will be reimbursed

EVALUATION

Individual consultants will be evaluated based on the following methodology:

2. Cumulative analysis

When using this weighted scoring method, the award of the contract should be made to the individual consultant whose offer has been evaluated and determined as:

a) responsive/compliant/acceptable, and

) Having received the highest score out of a pre-determined set of weighted technical and financial criteria specific to the solicitation.

* Technical Criteria weight [70%]

* Financial Criteria weight [30%]

Only candidates obtaining a minimum of 49 points would be considered for the Financial Evaluation