Evaluation of the contribution of the extended MPA network to the economy

CALL FOR EXPRESSION OF INTEREST FOR INDIVIDUAL CONSULTANT

Evaluation of Ecosystem Goods and Services for Seychelles’ Existing and Proposed Protected Area System

1.INTRODUCTION

Seychelles’ comparative advantage lies with its natural capital. The country is endowed with an extremely rich biodiversity, both marine and terrestrial, and is one of Conservation International’s designated biodiversity hotspots. Endemism is exceptionally high at over 60% for animals in general and 50% for plants. Seychelles is one of the world's most environmentally conscious nations, having officially protected more than half of its total land area from development and with strong marine environmental protection measures in place. The two most important sectors of the Seychellois economy are tourism and fisheries, strongly tied to the country marine endowment and its biodiversity. Fisheries account for a significant portion of gross domestic product but are also of considerable social, cultural and nutritional importance to the country. However, the management of Seychelles marine ecosystems and fisheries is hampered by insufficient human capacity, legal and institutional frameworks, while issues such as climate change, overfishing and coastal development are adding increasing pressure on marine ecosystem goods and services. A major initiative now aims to address these challenges and safeguard the natural capital for future generations.

The Seychelles Marine Spatial Planning (MSP) Initiative was initiated in 2014 and is a process that is focused on building resilience and sustainable use of marine ecosystems at the scale of the entire Exclusive Economic Zone (EEZ). The overall goal for the MSP Initiative is to develop an integrated marine plan to optimise the sustainable use and effective management of Seychelles’ marine environment while improving the social, cultural and economic wellbeing of its people. The MSP Initiative is a Government-led process, with planning and facilitation by The Nature Conservancy (TNC). In order to develop a comprehensive marine plan, the process enables input from a diverse array of stakeholders, encompassing commercial fishing, tourism and marine charters, biodiversity conservation, renewable and non-renewable energy, and maritime transport, safety and security authorities. The plan is identifying and proposing zones for marine protection that meet high and medium biodiversity objectives (15% of the EEZ each in each zone). In February 2018, the first phase of the process was completed with the creation of two new protected areas covering a total area of more than 200,000 km2. The MSP Initiative has now started implementation of the second phase, with the ultimate goal of 30% of Seychelles’ marine environment zoned for conservation or sustainable-use by 2020.

Proposals for protected zones as part of the first phase of the MSP Initiative are currently under review by stakeholders. Informed decision making regarding the proposed zones requires an understanding of the trade-offs between the potential benefits to Seychelles economy and society, relative to the socio-economic impacts on fisheries and tourism resulting from restricted access to resources in those areas. An expanded protected area system is expected to provide significant long-term benefits to Seychelles through the maintenance or enhancement of a wide range of goods and services associated with the ecosystems targeted for protection. Consequently, information to examine these trade-offs is ideally derived from applicable methods for evaluating goods and services, applied to the specific ecosystems and zones identified by the MSP Initiative.

The Ministry of Environment, Energy and Climate Change (MEECC) is now recruiting a consultancy firm or institution[1] to assess the benefits of Seychelles’ existing and proposed protected area system.

• OBJECTIVES

The main objective of this consultancy is to evaluate ecosystem goods and services generated by Seychelles’ protected area system (PAS), encompassing existing areas and zones proposed as part of phase 1 of the MSP Initiative. It is envisaged that the output will take a holistic approach to categorising and estimating goods and services (e.g. 2003 Millennium Ecosystem Assessment), encompassing production, regulation, cultural, supporting and option-use services.

• SCOPE OF WORK

The consultancy will consist of two main work streams. Firstly, a gap analysis will be undertaken to document and compile relevant data and research on the proposed zones, identifying clear gaps or constraints for the application of methods commonly applied in evaluating marine ecosystem goods and services. The output from the gap analysis will then be used to select applicable methods for evaluating ecosystems goods and services, which in the second stream will be applied to an analysis of the benefits to Seychelles from the existing and expanded PAS[2]. Specifically, it is expected that the consultancy will undertake the following tasks:

• Hold an inception meeting with the MEECC to refine the work plan, format of outputs and share information. Produce an inception report that includes the agreed work plan, a scoping of stakeholders and data custodians to inform the gap analysis, and agreed approach for communicating outputs to different stakeholder groups;
• Review relevant studies on ecosystem goods and services, detailing the data and methods that have been applied to similar scales and ecosystems covered by Seychelles’ PAS. Communicate on objectives and methods with other experts in the field as required;
• Conduct stakeholder interviews and a workshop (workshop 1) to review the key questions to be addressed by the analysis, the ecosystem goods and services to be assessed, and data availability and sharing;
• Compile information on relevant data available for evaluation of ecosystem goods and services using applicable methods, clearly identifying data attributes (quality, resolution, extent, format, availability and source) and the main gaps and constraints. Use this information to construct a metadata file summarising information by type (e.g. biophysical, socioeconomic);
• Draft a gap analysis report and present to a workshop (workshop 2) to select the best methods and process to be applied in evaluating ecosystem goods and services within the assignment time frame, considering factors such as the need to collect additional data[3]. The workshop outputs will include a work plan for conducting the analysis;
• Using the methods and process agreed at the workshop, conduct an analysis of ecosystem goods and services generated by Seychelles’ protected area system (PAS), including additional data collection where required;
• Draft a technical report detailing methods, analysis, results and key findings, including a non-technical appendix to communicate the findings to stakeholders and the public;
• Present the draft report at a stakeholder workshop (workshop 3) and to other experts for review, modify based on feedback and submit final version
• DELIVERABLES

The main deliverables of this assignment are:

• An inception report (maximum 5 pages), including a work plan, stakeholder scoping and agreed formats for reporting outputs;
• A gap analysis report (maximum 30 pages) and metadata file;
• Workshop reports (x3) summarising agendas, feedback receive and attendees, and including PowerPoint presentations as appendices;
• A final technical report detailing all aspects of the study (maximum 50 pages), including the non-technical appendices (maximum 10 pages). 5.ASSIGNMENT DURATION AND TIMING OF ACTIVITIES/DELIVERABLES

The assignment will be undertaken between October 2018 and February 2019, according to proposed schedule below. If international, the firm or institution will be expected to be present in Seychelles for the duration of steps 1-4 and 6.

5 days (late Jan 2019)

8

Submit final technical report

|

(15th Feb 2019)

Total days

40

6.SUPERVISION RESPONSIBILITY

The firm/institution will report to the MEECC. Close collaboration with the MSP bodies (Executive Committee, Steering Committee) will also be required. The firm/institution should seek to collaborate with other ongoing protected area projects in Seychelles. The firm/institution will provide regular progress reports and will respond in a timely manner to queries and draft documents.

7.QUALIFICATIONS, SKILLS AND EXPERIENCE REQUIRED

• Team with advanced university degrees in natural resource economics, social science, marine science, conservation or related fields
• Team with proven experience in conducting studies of marine ecosystem goods and services, demonstrated by published technical reports and/or publications in peer-reviewed scientific journals
• Experience of working in small island, tropical country contexts would be advantageous
• Proven ability to interact and engage constructively with diverse groups of stakeholders
• Excellent written and oral communication skills including the ability to communicate technical information with stakeholders
• Strong analy