Consultant: Expert on Forest Fire Management

Armenia’s forest ecosystems have been identified as a global conservation priority inasmuch as they fall under the Caucasus-Anatolian-Hyrcanian Temperate Forests Ecoregion that has been listed by WWF as a Global 200 Ecoregion, and by International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) as a biodiversity hotspot. The high level of biodiversity is one of the most important features of the Syunik region in south-eastern Armenia.

Comprehensive multi-criteria analyses of climate change and its impacts have resulted in identification of the Syunik region of Armenia as a critically vulnerable region of the country, especially in terms of the risk posed by climate change to its unique mountain forest ecosystems. Another result of the analyses is substantiation of urgent adaptation measures to be pursued in the mountain forests of the marz (region).

The main expected outcomes of the project are: (1) The enabling environment for integrating climate change risks into management of forest ecosystems is in place; (2) Forest and protected area management in the Syunik Marz integrates pilot adaptation measures to enhance adaptive capacity of mountain forest ecosystems; (3) Capacities for adaptive management, monitoring and evaluation, learning, and replication of project lessons are developed. Lessons from the project are expected to be replicated in other mountain forest ecosystems of central and northern Armenia. More details about the project are available at http://www.nature-ic.am/ccarmenia/en/?nid=1293.

The overall objective of the task is to provide expertise for and contribute to implementation of the Project Output 2.3: “Measures to mitigate elevated forest fire risk due to climate change, including variability” as well as Project Output 1.2: “An early warning and response system to climate change risks based on clearly defined institutional roles and responsibilities.

Under the overall guidance of the Climate Change Related Annual Work Plans (AWP) Coordinator and direct supervision of the Project Task Leader, the Expert will perform the following:

• Study and evaluate the current system and capacities of forest fire control and management practices in Armenia (monitoring, prevention, risk reduction. including early warning and response, fire-fighting, etc.).
• Handle and coordinate the development of a coordinated response plan on forest fire control and management among the national actors with consideration of long term climate change impacts in Syunik region, as well as improvement of coordination and setting clear-cut responsibilities of various agencies for pro-active fire prevention and fire management.
• Handle and coordinate the development of an action plan to introduce measures to minimize the fire risks and help local counterparts in Syunik region to consider climate scenarios in fire management planning.
• Assist in establishment of early warning system as part of forest fire administration, including development and implementation of trainings for representatives of different agencies: foresters, republican, regional and local administrations, emergency and fire departments, protected area management units and communities.
• Identify forest fire early response tools/techniques for the site specific use and assist in developing the technical specification documents for procurement. 

Expected deliverables for 2010

• Analysis of the current system and capacities of forest fire control and management in Armenia
• Developed coordinated response plan on forest fire incidence response with clear-cut responsibilities of various agencies.
• Action plan to minimize the fire risks and help responsible institutions to consider climate scenarios for fire management planning. Recommendations for establishing early warning system as part of forest fire administration,
• Technical specification of forest fire early response tools/techniques for Syunik region for organization of a competitive procurement.
• Trainings packages for representatives of different agencies on forest fire early warning as part of forest fire administration.
• Trainings conducted.

• Knowledge on the relevant international experiences and best practices
• Demonstrated ability for analytical work and good drafting skills
• Ability to work with a wide variety of people from government, international organizations, agencies, non-governmental organizations, and research institutions is essential
• Strong practical background, preferably in similar projects

• An advanced degree in forestry, environment, fire administration or other related fields, 
• At least 7 years experience in practical work in forest management or forest fire administration,
• Experience in the usage of computers and office software package (MS Word, Excel, etc), knowledge of spreadsheet and database packages, as well as profound understanding of climate modeling software
• Knowledge of English. Knowledge of Armenian and/or Russian is an asset;