1. Background

Papua New Guinea (PNG) has one of the most significant areas of largely-intact tropical forest in the world, although these forests appear to be facing acute and imminent threats. Forests are also a vital resource for the local population particularly in the remote rural areas of PNG, providing food, fibre, building materials, and support a variety of wildlife and ecosystem services. The Papua New Guinea Forest Authority (PNGFA) estimates that approximately 60% of the total area of the country is covered by natural forests, of which 52% are considered production forests (for timber and other products), and 48% are for conservation (not for timber extraction due to inaccessibility or ecological constraints).

A mechanism for Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+) being developed through the UNFCCC provides an opportunity to support Papua New Guinea’s efforts to reduce levels of deforestation and help to maintain and protect this natural forest. Recognizing the critical role of indigenous peoples and forest dependent communities to the long-term sustainability and effectiveness of REDD+, the UN-REDD Programme has prioritized stakeholder engagement from its inception, with the goal of supporting the implementation of the UNFCCC Cancun safeguards for REDD+. These safeguards generally aim to ensure that REDD+ actions do not cause negative social or environmental impacts and more particularly require: “Respect for the knowledge and rights of indigenous peoples and members of local communities, by taking into account relevant international obligations, national circumstances and laws, as well as noting that the United Nations General Assembly has adopted the United Nations Declaration on the Rights of Indigenous Peoples [UNDRIP]” and “The full and effective participation of relevant stakeholders, in particular indigenous peoples and local communities.”

Safeguards can be broadly understood as policies and measures that aim to address both direct and indirect impacts on communities and ecosystems, by identifying, analyzing, and ultimately working to manage risks and opportunities. If designed and implemented appropriately, safeguards can help REDD+ provide a suite of multiple benefits. Depending on the location and type of REDD+ activity, these benefits potentially include poverty alleviation, indigenous rights, improved community livelihoods, technology transfer, sustainable use of forest resources and biodiversity conservation. While safeguards can be viewed as the “do no harm” principle, the idea of multiple benefits provides opportunities for benefits to be gained beyond what would have been the status quo when undertaking REDD+ activities. For example REDD+ related activities not only protect a forest area they also help to improve the quality of water flowing into nearby rivers and reduce the risk of flash flooding from rapid run off.

Each country must develop nationally appropriate systems of social and environmental safeguards and approaches to ensuring capture of multiple benefits that are consistent with international agreements.  Such a process will involve extensive consultative processes so as to achieve public acceptance in minimizing social, environmental and governance risks while avoiding too high a cost of implementation.

In anticipation of, and in response to the suite of safeguards agreed during the UNFCC negations in Cancun (hereafter referred to as the Cancun Safeguards), immediate efforts as part of bi- and multilateral REDD+ readiness assistance have focused on the promotion of international safeguard frameworks that could be adapted and applied at the national (or sub national state) level. Three leading multilateral safeguard initiatives have emerged: the Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) Strategic Environmental and Social Assessment (SESA); the UN-REDD Social and Environmental Principles and Criteria (SEPC); and the voluntary REDD+ Social and Environmental Standards (REDD+ SES).
However, with investors in REDD+ readiness assistance increasingly more demanding in terms of environmental and social performance expected from national REDD+ programmes, developing countries might need to explore levels of environmental and social performance beyond those committed to in the Cancun safeguards.

PNG has been a leading proponent of REDD+ at the international level, and was one of the original UN-REDD "pilot" countries. UN-REDD activities to date have focused on supporting effective stakeholder engagement and now turn to properly address safeguards and fully incorporate and integrate them in their policies. Some preliminary steps have been taken to initiate this process, e.g. by establishing a Technical Working Group on Social and Environmental Safeguards (SES-TWG); however, much still needs to be done.

2. Terms of Reference

 

The Terms of Reference (ToR) are for a systematic gap analysis of existing relevant policies, plans, programmes, processes and practices against the Cancun Safeguards and other safeguard framework conditionalities attached to demonstrable REDD+ results. The scope of work particularly focuses on assessing existing environmental safeguards against their responsiveness to address REDD+ in PNG.

The environmental safeguards are part of an overall set of safeguards to be developed for PNG, which will be developed through a participatory process, led by a team of experts, consisting of the International Expert on Social & Environmental Safeguards, a National Expert on Social Safeguards and the National Expert on Environmental Safeguards. This team is responsible for developing the National Guidelines on Social and Environmental Safeguards ultimately guiding a national safeguard response process and informed by the gap analysis. The work will be guided by the newly created SES-TWG led by the Office of Climate Change and Development (OCCD).

 

The ToR covers the responsibilities to be carried out by the National Expert who will assist the International Expert (consultant) to contribute to the preparation of the National Guidelines.

 

Therefore, the UN-REDD Programme in Papua New Guinea is issuing a Request for Proposal for a National Expert on Environmental Safeguards.

The national expert will be under the overall direction of the UN-REDD National Programme Director, and guided on a daily basis by the UN-REDD Programme Management Unit (PMU) and the International Expert on Social and Environmental Safeguards.

 

The duration of the assignment will be fifteen (15) weeks.

Refer attached TOR for details.

 

When submitting your proposal, please be guided by the attached Request for Proposal (RFP) and the Terms of Reference (TOR). Proposals may be submitted on or before 24 July 2013 and via email.