Background

Seychelles has a system of 21 formal protected areas (PAs) covering a total area of 54,813 ha, of which 24,978 ha is terrestrial and 29,836 ha marine. In addition to Seychelles’ officially recognized PAs and international conservation areas, a number of other sites are managed as de facto wildlife sanctuaries and/or nature-based tourism destinations, including several privately owned/managed islands in the (e.g. Denis Island and North Island) and government-owned islets in the Outer islands (e.g. islets of the Farquhar atoll). At present, the great majority of formal protected areas in Seychelles are still owned and exclusively managed by the government with little or no participation from other stakeholders in their planning and management.

The UNDP-GEF Project Strengthening Seychelles’ protected area system through NGO management modalities is implemented by the Government of Seychelles (GOS) through the Environment Department (ED) and UNDP, and is part of the UNDP-GEF project portfolio being implemented under the Programme Coordinating Unit (PCU). The project has a duration of four years. The project’s development goal is to facilitate working partnerships between diverse government and non-government partners in the planning and management of the protected area system in Seychelles.

Objective of the assignment

Work under this output will support the ED in setting national targets for the expansion of the marine and terrestrial PA system. These will be action targets to indicate how much of each ecosystem, habitat and/or species populations needs to be included in protected areas, and will help to focus protected area expansion in Seychelles on the least protected ecosystems, habitats and species. Wherever possible, biodiversity thresholds will be used as the basis for setting protected area targets, so that protected area targets have an underlying science-based ecological logic.

Having set protected area targets, the next step under this assignment will be to help determine which geographic areas in Seychelles are the highest priorities for protected area expansion to meet those targets. Two key factors - importance and urgency – will be used to identify the priority areas for protected area expansion. An area will be considered important for the expansion of the protected area network if it contributes to meeting biodiversity thresholds for maintaining ecological processes, species richness or climate change resilience. Urgency, the second factor used to identify priority areas for protected area expansion, will be determined by the extent to which spatial options for meeting protected area targets still exist, which is often linked to the degree of competing land or resource uses in an area. The most important areas for protected area expansion will then be mapped, and the most cost-effective mechanisms for their designation identified.

Duties and Responsibilities

The main aim of the assignment will be to determine marine and terrestrial protected area targets and to map priority areas. A systematic biodiversity conservation planning approach will be applied in the spatial analysis using several underlying key data layers, including the marine extensions of IBAs which is being prepared by Nature Seychelles.

The following set of activities will be carried out:

• Collating information on, and mapping, the current extent of the terrestrial Pas and the marine Pas within the Seychelles EEZ;
• Collating information on, and mapping, key marine and terrestrial climate (e.g. rainfall, temperature) and landscape (e.g. topography, bathymetry) features;
• Collating information on, and mapping, the different coastal, marine, terrestrial and freshwater habitats (including existing information from mapping exercises such as the Golden Shadow Expedition, mapping of the Aldabra lagoon, etc.);
• Consolidating and mapping the species distributions for globally threatened species, restricted range species with small global ranges, congregating species and habitat-restricted species (wherever practicable);
  Collating information on, and mapping, species movement corridors and spatial surrogates of ecological and evolutionary processes;
• Collating spatial information on biodiversity priority areas defined in other reports/plans such as Key Biodiversity Areas originally identified by Gerlach (2008) and recently updated by the GOS-UNDP-GEF Biodiversity Mainstreaming Project, Important Bird Areas (IBAs), turtle nesting sites, whale shark aggregation sites, Important Plant Areas (IPAs), and others;
• Defining and mapping the current, and projected, degree of landscape and seascape transformation (including agriculture, invasive alien species distributions, public infrastructure, urban areas, other physical developments and coral degradation.
  Developing and mapping climate change scenarios (e.g. sea temperature, sea level, rainfall).
• Defining targets and mapping priority areas for protected area expansion on the basis of an analysis of species, habitats and ecological processes. Biodiversity conservation planning methodologies and technologies such as MARXAN or the summed irreplaceability approach will be used to develop the optimal configuration design for the protected area system.

Deliverables are as follows:

• Desktop studies to collate and map existing data (layers, maps and information) as per the activities listed above. (Note that no original data collection is allowed for or expected.);
• Maps of priority areas for expansion (incorporating all available information, including data from other project consultancies and NGOs) as per the activities listed above;
• Proceedings of a stakeholder workshop at which the consultant presents preliminary findings for input and validation (the workshop will be organized on the consultant’s behalf by the Project Manager/PCU);
• A final report on national priority areas for PA expansion.

Competencies

• Demonstrable ability to maintain effective communications with different stakeholders;
• Strong written and presentation skills;
• Fully Computer literate;
• Familiarity with local protected areas system and legal framework for marine reserves;
• Demonstrates integrity by modeling the UN’s values and ethical standards;
• Promotes the vision, mission, and strategic goals of UNDP;
• Displays cultural, gender, religion, race, nationality and age sensitivity and adaptability;
• Treats all people fairly without favoritism;
• Fulfills all obligations to gender sensitivity and zero tolerance for sexual harassment.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Education: Minimum MA or MSc degree; in Environment Science or a related field.

Experience:

• Minimum 10 years experience in protected areas systems and biodiversity conservation with a specialization in GIS surveys and mapping;
• Specific experience in MARXAN or similar software applicable to the tasks of this consultancy;
• Specific experience in protected area systems design and mapping in terrestrial and marine environments;
• Working experience in Seychelles and familiarity with the stakeholder institutions and agencies, and with the local protected areas system and legal framework for marine reserves, is an advantage;
• Prior UNDP/GEF project experience, and knowledge of UNDP and GEF procedures and guidelines, is an advantage;

Language:

• Fluency in English is required.