Consultant - Capacity Building to Develop and Review Climate Reslient Policies

Mauritius is a small tropical island in the Indian Ocean. It is situated at latitude 20o South and longitude 57o East. It has a total land area of 2,040 km2 with a coastal zone mostly surrounded by fringing reef that encloses a lagoon area of 243 Km2. The topography of the coast consists mostly of low lying areas, flat plains in the north and minor cliffs in the western and southern part of the island where coral reef is absent. Its population is estimated at around 1.3 million inhabitants.

Mauritius is swept by South East Trade Winds throughout the year, except for some short periods in the summer months when tropical depressions approaches it. The country has been affected by more than 10 severe cyclones in the period between 1962 and 2003.

The key environmental challenges facing the Republic of Mauritius (ROM) are climate change, coastal erosion and water management. Climatic change is likely to manifest in a number of ways with severe consequences. Change in the rainfall patterns and intensity, coupled with changing temperature regimes, increase in sea surface temperatures, accelerated sea level rise, incidence of cyclone of greater frequency and intensity are some of the manifestations observed.

RATIONALE

It is now evident that climate change is having wide-ranging impacts and is calling for urgent mitigation and adaptation actions. To mainstream climate considerations into national developmental policies and strategies, it is essential that a pool of local experts be established. So far however, no capacity building exercises have been carried out to upgrade skills and knowledge for the development of policies and strategies. It is therefore essential that technical capacity required for the design, implementation and monitoring of long-term and cost-effective climate policies be developed and continuously upgraded to better incorporate climate change risks and opportunities in future works.

In this regard, the Africa Adaptation Programme has underscored that technical capacity building is essential for successful adaptation to climate change. These have been highlighted in Output 1 – Activity Result 1 (action 6) and Activity Result 2 (actions 1 & 2). Capacity building in the policy formulation and planning is therefore a requisite in achieving Output 3 [Activity Result 1 (actions 1 - 4)] on: “implementation of climate-resilient policies and measures”.

GOAL

To develop capacity building in designing and formulating appropriate policies to address climate change impacts for sustainable development.

OBJECTIVES

• To strengthen and develop national capacities in the review, formulation and approving of climate-resilient policies for better decision-making
• To enhance knowledge and techniques required to effectively plan appropriate policy measures to address climate change.
• To promote information dissemination among all target groups: decision-makers, academics, researchers, communities and other institutions.

• Develop and/or compile training materials used in the formulation of new and review of existing policies and planning processes (such as tools, policy development guidelines, methodological frameworks) with specific relevance to:-

1. Reviewing climate change-related policy
2. Development for long term planning
3. Strategising climate-related policy implementation
4. Setting of indicators to monitor and evaluate policies implementation

• Develop case studies for the review of existing policies such as National Environment Policy, Integrated Coastal Zone management, Environmentally Sensitive Areas among others (on basis of submission by the Ministry of Environment
• Conduct training in Mauritius
• The training to be carried out in 2 batches targeting

1. middle management cadres from Ministries , Government Departments, private sector, NGOs, academia and others (2 batches of 1 week)
2. training of Senior Chief Executive, Director, Head of Department,... involved in policy/decision-making and implementation process (1 day between the two batches)

• Conduct training sessions in a phased manner in two sessions, with session 2 representing an upscaling of session 1.
• Identify, in consultation with trainees, and guide the development of pilot policy measures in key environmental sectors by trainees, which would be undertaken between sessions 1 and 2.
• During session 2, review, assess and evaluate policy measures developed by trainees further to Session 1

• Excellent communications skills
• Conversant with IT and appropriate software, including modelling tools
• Proven track record as a high-profile trainer
• Work experience on climate change issues in SIDS

• A Master degree with focus on Environment Management tools, including climate-related policy formulation and development
• A ten year experience in climate-related policy analysis, review and formulation
• Fluent in English; and working knowledge in french would be an advantage