| Overview : Country: Papua New Guinea Description of the assignment: National Consultant-REDD+ Safeguards Legal Expert Project name: REDD+ Readiness Project - FCPF Period of assignment/services (if applicable): 80 days over 6 months from March 2016 – August 2016 Proposal should be submitted at the following address UN House, Level 14 Deloitte Tower or by email to registry.pg@undp.org no later than 17th February 2016. Applications not meeting the above requirements will not be considered. Any request for clarification must be sent in writing, or by standard electronic communication to the address or e-mail indicated above. UNDP Country Office 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. ______________________________________________________________________________________________________________________ Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD+), being developed through the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), provides an opportunity to support Papua New Guinea’s (PNG) efforts to reduce levels of deforestation and help to maintain and protect its natural forest. At the 16th Conference of the Parties (COP16) to the UNFCCC in Cancun, 2010, a set of seven safeguards were adopted, which are to be promoted and supported when undertaking REDD+ actions. These safeguards aim to ensure that REDD+ actions do not cause negative social or environmental impacts. Safeguards can be broadly understood as actions 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 such as biodiversity conservation. Countries aiming to implement REDD+ activities under the UNFCCC must 1) ensure their REDD+ actions, regardless of the source and type of funding, are implemented in a manner consistent with the Cancun safeguards; 2) must develop a system for providing information on how the Cancun safeguards are being addressed and respected, known as a safeguard information system (SIS); and 3) provide a summary of information on how all the Cancun safeguards are being addressed and respected throughout the implementation of REDD+ activities. PNG is following the ‘Country Approach to Safeguards’ advocated by the UN-REDD Programme. In addition to responding to UNFCCC requirements, a country approach to safeguards will allow PNG to consider further objectives, including, for example, other national policy objectives and requirements of organizations (e.g. donors) providing interim results-based payments. The country approach recognizes that, while the means to address and respect REDD+ safeguards will vary among countries, based on national circumstances, there are generic steps that may be useful for countries to consider for the development of their safeguard approaches. The Climate Change and Development Authority (CCDA) which co-ordinates REDD+ activities at the national level, commissioned a study to assess the degree to which Papua New Guinea’s legal and policy framework conformed with the seven Cancun safeguards. This gap analysis, reviewed 19 existing polices, 29 laws and 11 regulations and identified a number of key gaps both in the content of existing legislation, but also in the way in which laws were practically implemented on the ground. These “implementation gaps” were further discussed, elaborated and clarified at four regional workshops conducted with provincial government staff, civil society and private sector stakeholders across the country in May and June 2014.[1] However, some issues have been identified in version 1.0. of the legal gap analysis. In particular, the methodology employed for the analysis of the PLRs is not robust in terms of highlighting the requirements of international safeguards,(i.e. the Cancun Safeguards), which are anchored to the PNG’s+ legal framework. The report does however, identifies some key policy and implementation gaps within existing PLRs which can be reviewed and addressed in the CAS [1] UN REDD and OCCD (2014) Policy-to-Practice Roadmap for the Development and Implementation of National REDD+ Social and Environmental Safeguards in Papua New Guinea. | 
