Background and Introduction
The Global Environment Facility (GEF) Council approved the 6-year Congo Basin SustainableLandscapes Impact Program (CBSL IP) which encompasses a regional component, managed by UNEP, and several national child projects in the countries of the Congo Basin.The Cameroon national child project, managed by WWF as the GEF Agency, will address the drivers of forest loss and degradation through strategies aimed at strengthening the integrated management of Cameroon’s globally important forest landscapes in the Congo Basin to secure its biological integrity and increase economic opportunities and livelihoods for forest dependent people. Experience indicates that achieving this objective relies on the concurrent execution of multiple complementary strategies:
(i)integrated land use planning that recognizes the value of natural capital and the rights of local and indigenous peoples;
(ii) the development of sustainable value chains and enterprises (NTFPs, tourism) that contribute to the livelihoods of local and indigenous peoples;
(iii) the conservation of wildlife and high value forests; and
(iv) monitoring and knowledge management that inform adaptive management and the replication of best practices.
Over the six-year project period these strategies will be advanced through the implementation of five project components: 1) mainstreaming integrated landscape planning and management; 2) advancing sustainable forest management; 3) promoting sustainable wildlife management; 4) improving benefit generation from biodiversity through sustainable tourism development; and 5) knowledge management and project monitoring and evaluation.
The project targets a key Cameroon trans-frontier forest landscape, which stretches from the Rio Campo seascape on the coast, across the Cameroon segments of the Tri-National Dja- Odzala-Minkebe (TRIDOM) and Sangha Tri-National (TNS) landscapes towards the east. The project will progress these project components in the Cameroon segments of the three forest landscapes within the project’s geographic scope; the target areas for project interventions under each strategy are dependent on site- specific considerations, including the potential to achieve meaningful results in the six-year project period, baselines and available co-financing, and the ability to manage all safeguard considerations. In order to drive for impact and assure cost-effectiveness, target areas that have the potential to achieve results under multiple strategies have been prioritized.
Component 1: Mainstreaming integrated landscape planning and management. This component will be implemented in the Ngoyla-Mintom councils in the TRIDOM LS.
Component 2: Advancing SFM. The objective of this component is to reduce net forest lost in forest landscapes in the TRIDOM, TNS, and Campo landscapes while conserving biodiversity and local livelihoods,
Component 3: Promoting sustainable wildlife management.
Component 4: Improving benefit generation from biodiversity through sustainable tourism development. This component is based on the premises that the biodiversity of the targeted landscape may be better conserved through sustainable tourism development.
The proposed GEF project will be executed by the Cameroonian Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED). MINEPDED will be responsible for developing the safeguards related documents as per the WWF Environment and Social Safeguards Integrated Policies and Procedures (SIPP)
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Objective and Rationale for the Assignment
The objective of the consultancy is to prepare, on behalf of MINEPDED, the necessary safeguards documents to comply with WWF’s Environment and Social Safeguards Integrated Policies and Procedures.
More specifically, the project aims under Component 1 to finance integrated land use plans developed and endorsed for the Ngoyla and Mintom council areas. This will be based on a multi-stakeholder process which builds the capacity of Indigenous People and Local Communities (IPLCs), CSOs, private sector and governance entities to incorporate ecosystem natural capital accounting and recognize the tenure and access rights of IPLCs. The WWF policy on Involuntary Resettlement does not apply in situations where restrictions to access of resources are taking place under community-based projects such as community based NRM models however it is reasonable to assume that some decisions taken by the Government could restrict access to natural resources , and will not fall solely within the authority of the IPLCs and other local communities. Therefore, WWF’s Policy on Involuntary Resettlement has been triggered as a precautionary basis and the consultant would need to prepare a Process Framework (PF) as per the SIPP. The purpose of this PF is to ensure participation of Project Affected People (PAP) while recognizing and protecting their interests and ensuring that they do not become worse off because of the project.
Specifically, the PF will:
- Describe activities that may involve new or more stringent restrictions on use of natural resources in the project area.
- Establish the mechanism through which the local communities can contribute to the project design, implementation and monitoring.
- Identify the potential negative impacts of the restriction on the surrounding communities.
- Describe the mitigation measures required.
- Describe the grievance procedure or process for resolving disputes to natural resource use restrictions.
- Describe the participatory monitoring arrangements with neighboring community members
The intent of the framework is to ensure transparency and equity, in the planning and implementation of activities by the project. This framework would detail the principles and processes for assisting communities to identify and manage any potential negative impacts of the project activities. Since the exact social impacts will only be identified during project implementation, the Process Framework will ensure that mitigation of any negative impacts from project through a participatory process involving the affected stakeholders. It would also ensure that any desired changes by the communities in the ways in which local populations exercise customary tenure rights in the project sites would not be imposed but should emerge from a consultative process.
The WWF’s Indigenous Peoples policy is triggered for this project because the main community beneficiaries will be Baka and hunter-gatherers known as Bagyeli or Bakola that are IPs. If it is determined during the Categorization mission (planned for April 2020) that the IPs are the project’s direct and main beneficiaries and that other local communities such as the Bantu are considered IPs based on WWF’s IP policy then this project will be deemed an IP project. As such, the project needs to incorporate safeguard measures related WWF’s Indigenous Peoples policy and there should be process of free and informed consent (FPIC) to foster community support. If IPs constitute the primary and direct beneficiaries of the project then a standalone Indigenous Peoples Plan (IPP) may not be necessary however if this if this is not the case and there are local communities who are not recognized as IPs under WWF’s IP policy then an Indigenous Peoples Planning Framework (IPPF) will be prepared. In the latter case, the consultant should prepare measures/recommendations to strengthen the project’s IPLC engagement into the final project design and may also need to prepare and IPPF. In order to strengthen the project’s IPLC engagement if an IPPF is not prepared then it should include among others protocols and procedures to protect IPs living in conditions of voluntary isolation or with sporadic contact with surrounding society in to the project design if any of projects investments are in remote areas. Determination of whether an IPPF is needed will be made in April 2020.
Process
Deliverables of the Consultancy
As outlined above, the consultant shall establish the following documents
- Draft Process Framework and IP Recommendations (including FPIC steps and Process).
- A Final Framework Process Framework and IP Recommendations and
- Other necessary tools defined during the safeguard’s categorization mission.
Duty Station
Home based with travel to Cameroon.
Start Date
April 1, 2020
Duration:
The duration of the consultancy work shall be 50 days inclusive of 30 days for field visits (1st field visit includes travelling during the GEF Agency Categorization mission in April to Campo) and to Lobéké NP and TRIDOM landscape. The Consultancy work will start on April 1 and terminate on August 30, 2020.
Management and reporting arrangements
The consultancy work will report to the Ministry of Environment, Nature Protection and Sustainable Development (MINEPDED) and the WWF GEF Agency project manager (Heike Lingertat and Anushika Karunaratne, Lead Specialist, Safeguards. The final document approval is with MINEPDED and the lead consultant/s for the final project document.
How to apply:
Profile and qualifications of the consultancy
The consultant should have a minimum of Master’s degree preferably in Sociology and/or
Anthropology coupled with natural resource management with an experience of more than 8
years in the field of social science working on Indigenous Peoples issues and Resettlement issues
with multilateral banks such as WB, AfDB and other international organizations. S/he should
have experience in preparing RAPs, RPFs IPPFs and PF. He/She should experience in the Congo
Basin region, preferably in Cameroon and excellent verbal communication and writing skills in
English and French.
Applications:
Please submit your Resume to Heike Lingertat, heike.lingertat@wwfus.org and CC Zacharie Nzooh ZNzooh@wwf.panda.org by March 6th, 2020.