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Cape Verde, a small insular and archipelagic country, exposed to economic and environmental vulnerabilities, requires appropriate strategies for the management of the nation’s natural resources. has ratified the Convention on Biological Diversity in 1995 and in 1999 drafted the national strategy and action plan on Biodiversity. On 24 February 2003 the Decree-Law No. 3/2003 on the legal regime of natural areas was published, which creates 47 protected areas, subdivided into 6 categories: national park, natural park, natural reserves, protected landscape, natural monument and sites of scientific interest. With the legal mandate to protect natural areas, guaranteed by that decree, there is a need to elaborate appropriate management tools, which are fundamental to sound management of natural and cultural resources in a sustainable manner.
In this context the Government of Cape Verde obtained funding from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) to implement a project entitled "Consolidation of Cape Verde’s Protected Area System". It is a national execution project and is implemented by the General Directorate for Environment (DGA) through its Project Management Unit in Praia as well as its two Project Site Units on Santo Antao and Fogo, as well as its two Island-Wide Offices (IWO) on Sal and Boavista, with the following objective:
“To consolidate and strengthen the Protected Areas (PA) System through the establishment of new terrestrial and marine PA units and the promotion of participatory approaches to conservation”
The project will:
- Strengthen the legal, policy, institutional and financial framework to support an expanded protected land and seascape estate.
- Support the establishment of a Protected Area Autonomous Authority (PAAA) with a technically and managerially capable staff complement.
- Forge strategic partnerships for enhancing the overall sustainability of the Protected Area (PA) system, including improvements in its financial sustainability. The governance framework to be supported by the project will result in improvements in the management effectiveness of the entire national PA system, through capacity strengthening of institutions and units, management and business planning, policies, laws, and regulations.
The project is divided into three components (based on outcomes) for implementation as follows:
Outcome 1: Strengthened governance framework for the expansion, consolidation and sustainability of the National PA system.
- Under Outcome 1, the PA governance supportive frameworks for ’s PA system will be strengthened in terms of policy, legal, institutional and financial aspects, and the total coverage of coastal marine areas will be increased. A Protected Areas Autonomous Authority (PAAA) will be created, which will be staffed and engaged in strategic partnerships, with a mandate to coordinate and enforce integrated PA planning and management.
Outcome 2: Enhanced management effectiveness at selected terrestrial and coastal/marines PA’s are enhanced
- Under Outcome 2, the project will make operational four terrestrial Natural Parks (on Fogo, São Vicente and Santo Antão) and three MPAs (on Sal and Boavista), extending PA management to five islands that have not previously benefited from a GEF intervention.
Outcome 3: Strengthened sustainability of PAs through community mobilization, sectoral engagement and local capacity building for sustainable resource management within PAs/MPAs and adjacent areas.
- Under Outcome 3, the project will ensure the sustainability of all efforts towards a consolidated, expanded and more effective PA system in . Both terrestrial and marine protected areas are impacted by activities of communities living within and around their boundaries, as well as by other economic actors and decision-makers.
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Duties and Responsibilities
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In this context the project plans a consultancy for a Protected Area Planning and Ecotourism Specialist with the following Terms of Reference. The consultant under supervision of the National Project Coordinator (NPC) and in close collaboration with the national project team will:
- Elaborate participatory Management and Ecotourism Plans for the intervention sites of the project in cooperation with local communities, private land owners, tourism operators and real estate developers (Sal: Costa Fragata and Serra Negra, Ponta do Sinó; Boavista: Parque Marinho do Leste; Sao Vicente: Monte Verde; Santo Antao: Cova/Ribeira de Paul/Ribeir da Torre, Morroços).
- Propose a methodological approach for the integration of a PA zoning plan into the above framework in order to extend and consolidate future developments of protected areas at national level.
- Formulate a monitoring process that includes climate change data and carbon sequestration potentials for inclusion in the National PA strategy.
- Develop management plans with specific ecotourism guidelines for 4 terrestrial protected areas.
- Be responsible for a practicable methodology and a functional approach to integrate ecotourism into protected area management that will be presented to the Protected Areas Autonomous Authority (PAAA), including conflict resolution options.
- Verify that the management plans are coherent with national land development procedures, particularly for the development of zones for tourism and infrastructure development (ZDTI).
- Formulate and submit a consultancy report in Praia for approval by the National Project Coordinator (NPC).
- Formulate recommendations for the national project team to improve their knowledge and links with research and development institutions in their respective intervention domains.
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Competencies
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- Communication skills for complex information and techniques targeted towards subject matter specialists as well as wider general audiences.
- Good competency in pedagogical approaches in order to transmit skills at various levels.
- Ability to communicate effectively orally as well as an excellent level of written skills in order to be able to present, negotiate and summarize work sessions.
- Good skills for efficient facilitation during meetings between various stakeholders (government, NGOs, CBOs, international community and communal levels).
- Ability to work both independently as well as in coordination with the local project team in an interdisciplinary manner.
- A good knowledge of Geographic Information Systems (GIS) software (ArcGIS 9.2 or 9.3) as well as its applications.
- Strong skills in monitoring and evaluation, and experience in implementing environmental projects at various administrative levels.
- Ability to produce high quality reports, publications and project proposals.
- Previous experience with GEF projects is an added plus.
- Excellent writing skills in French and Portuguese, and a good working knowledge of English is an added plus.
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Required Skills and Experience
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Education:
- Advanced university education at PhD or MSc level with expertise in the area of biodiversity management and ecotourism and with a specialization profile in environmental impact assessment.
Experience:
- Minimum 10 years of professional experience, of which at least five are at international level.
- Good understanding of challenges linked to biodiversity conservation versus natural resource use, and particularly when integrating ecotourism into conservation management; if possible in or at least in the sub-region.
Language:
- Fluency in written and spoken English.
Application Procedure:
Proposal should be submitted to the following address: Joint Office of UNDP, UNFPA and UNICEF, Av. OUA, PO Box 62 - Praia Cape Verde or by email to procurement.cv@cv.jo.un.org no later than July 29 2011, 16:00Hrs Cape Verde Time. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the address indicated above, or email to antonio.querido@cv.jo.un.org. UN Cape Verde will respond in writing or by standard electronic mail and will send written copies of the response, including an explanation of the query without identifying the source of inquiry, to all consultants. |
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