Background

• Over the past two decades, Sumatra has been losing just over 2% of its entire forest estate each year. Thus, forest cover on the island has shrunk from 25.3m hectares (in 1985) to 12.8m hectares (in 2009);
• This loss, largely driven by increased land demands for oil palm and pulp for paper, is disproportionate and has primarily occurred in the more accessible lower elevation forests, which are the most biodiversity-rich and best quality tiger habitats. In addition, forest fires, largely recorded from Riau, Jambi and South Sumatra, are used to clear land for agricultural plantations, typically on peat swamp that can burn for days and release huge amounts of carbon into the atmosphere posing risks to both wildlife and human health.

• Tigers are directly poached for their body parts to supply illegal domestic and international markets;
  
• Given the illicit natural of tiger trafficking, all estimates are conservative, but at least 50 tigers have been poached on average each year from 1998-2002 (approximately 80% for trade and 14% in retaliation for a human-tiger conflict incident. For an island-wide population that is estimated at 500-700 adult individuals this is significant.

Duties and Responsibilities

Under the guidance of the UNDP Regional Technical Adviser and working closely with the Biodiversity and Strategic Planning Specialist, the Specialist will develop the Project Document for the full size project entitled “Transforming Effectiveness of Biodiversity Conservation in Priority Sumatran Landscapes” in collaboration with Ministry of Forestry and the project partners. The consultant will also assist with supporting the review process for the Project Document and responding to comments (e.g. from the GEF STAP).

•  Liaise closely with the Ministry of Forestry and subsidiary provincial and national park agencies as well as relevant agencies working outside of PAs, the project partners (HarimauKita, FFI, WCS and ZSL), civil society organisations, private sector and communities working in the target areas, ensuring their participation and inputs into the PPG process;
• Coordinate generation of necessary data and information for project development, providing technical expertise for information analysis, planning and development of the Project Document and CEO Endorsement Document;
• Organise meetings and consultation sessions, and provide necessary data, information and analyses for all PPG activities;
• Compile the GEF BD-1 Tracking Tool consisting of the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT) and the Financial Sustainability Scorecard
• Ensure the soundness and appropriateness of the project plan based on the reality and issues on the ground; Ensure appropriate stakeholder consultation, including private sector and communities, in the target landscapes to ensure meaningful participation in subsequent project implementation.

• (i) threats to biodiversity in the priority landscapes, their root causes, and law enforcement strategies to mitigate them;
  
• (ii) policy, regulatory, socio-economic, institutional, technical and knowledge barriers to the establishment of the ecological linkages and effective management of the landscapes;
  
• (iii) the developmental context (key business sectors, socio-economic development, political environment) and its current and future impacts on biodiversity conservation in the landscapes;
  
• (iv) the government and partners’ baseline activities projected budgets, existing inter-sectoral coordination mechanisms including agreements between relevant agencies, as well as complementary activities by various partner organisations;
  
• (v) the spatial distribution and different land use status of forests and other natural habitats;
  
• (vi) the spatial extent and development of satellite images and maps of the proposed priority landscapes;
  
• (vii) conservation and economic development plans, projects, programmes and initiatives affecting or impacting on the proposed project activities; and
• (viii) conduct a review and ensure establishment of baseline information including budgetary information for each of the priority landscapes, including community carbon pool/village forest schemes, REDD + pilots, conservation of wildlife habitats in production areas, management of wildlife conflicts, logging concessions/spatial planning evaluations.

• (i) review of each of the five focal national parks’ management structure including reporting, decision making functions and financial flows, as well as an analysis of existing institutional frameworks against conservation and sustainable development objectives;
• (ii) identification of gaps and recommendation of measures for strengthening and rationalising institutional arrangements and elaborate on new institutional models for demonstration at the target PAs;
  
• (iii) review of the Resort Based Management (RBM) initiative and implementation status, and make recommendations for the project support for accelerating the speed and effectiveness of RBM site level implementation;
  
• (iv) review the existing staff profile, identifying gaps and making recommendations for priority capacity building needs using the UNDP capacity development scorecard;
  
• (v) assess the status of existing park management plans and recommend concrete steps for development of park management plans for all the parks in an integrated manner; and, (vi) apply the Management Effectiveness Tracking Tools (METT) to each of the target PAs in close consultation with the executing agencies and stakeholders, determining scores for the current situation and five years before.

• (i) identify government, private sector, civil society and community stakeholders and their responsibilities pertaining to land, forest and natural resource management in target PAs and surrounding landscapes;
  
• (ii) assess socioeconomic situations surrounding the target PAs to be fed into the PA landscape profile;
  
• (iii) identify opportunities for livelihood interventions in target landscapes;
  
• (iv) ensure that select community representatives understand and agree to the project and their participation in its implementation;
• (v) conduct an environmental and social screening process; and;
• (vi) and gender assessment reviewing the role of both females and males in the project development and implementation and the potential impacts of the project on each gender group.

•  Including local threat reduction indicators, biodiversity condition indicators, spatial indicators and indicators to show increase in capacity to respond to threats to biodiversity. Baseline situation and targets for each indicator will be established and measurement methodologies will be documented to ensure standard measurement of the indicators throughout the duration of the project.  

• Review of applicable policy and regulatory frameworks for the demonstration landscapes, and institutional capacity for each of the focal national parks (including biodiversity status, threat status, conservation targets, legislation and human resources for the focal Sumatra PAs including capacity development scorecards for relevant agencies;
• Conservation needs assessment and PA Profiling (including Management Effectiveness Tracking Tool (METT assessments and financial sustainability scorecard) for the focal PAs, and socio-economic and natural resource profiles for the wider demonstration landscapes (including GIS maps showing the landscapes and all related PAs); 
• Environmental and social screening conducted using the UNDP environmental and social screening procedure (ESSP), from which a monitoring and mitigation framework will be developed;
• Stakeholder involvement plan (focusing on their engagement, goals and objective for involvement and principles of their participation) including documentary evidence of stakeholder consultation.                                                    

Competencies

• Demonstrated strategic technical and intellectual skills in the substantive area;
• Demonstrated leadership, facilitation and coordination skills, ability to develop and effectively manage long term strategic partnerships;
• Demonstrated entrepreneurial abilities and ability to work in an independent manner;
• Demonstrated ability to work in a team, ability for managing timely and effective delivery of both quantity and quality before the deadlines;
• Demonstrated ability to produce concise and clearly written technical reports to a high standard;
• Computer proficiency, especially related to professional office software packages (Microsoft Office).

Required Skills and Experience

• Master’s degree in zoology, ecological sciences, biodiversity conservation or closely related field. PhD degree an advantage.

Experience:

• A minimum of 12 years of demonstrable experience in biodiversity conservation and ecosystem planning and management, and protected area management;
• Working experience with international organizations is an advantage as is knowledge of GEF, UNDP policies, procedures and practices;
• Experience in working in the relevant field in Indonesia (preferably Sumatra) and with its government, experiences working in international organizations in Indonesia or elsewhere in SE Asia is another strong assets.         

• Excellent communication (both oral and written) and partnership building skills with multi-dimension partners, people skills for conflict resolution and negotiation;
• Proficient in English language and Indonesian language, both spoken and written. Excellent ability to write project reports particularly for international funded projects and ability to make high-quality project presentations.

• 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.

• Experience related to services - 30 points
• Written proposal/test AND/OR interview result -30 points         
• Expertise & Availability 40 - points