FIJI: ADAPTATION INVESTMENT - FIVE YEAR SEAWALL INVESTMENT STRATEGY

INTRODUCTION TO GGGI

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• Project: Fiji Adaptation Investment – Five Year Seawall Investment Strategy
• Duty Station: Suva
• Contract Duration: 15 Feb 2024- 15 April 2024
• Consultant Level: 5
• Total Fees: 25,000 USD

Fiji became a member of GGGI in 2014, and the GGGI office in Fiji was established in 2015 in Suva and is based within the Ministry of Finance, Strategic Planning, National Development & Statistics (MoFSPNDS). GGGI is currently supporting the Climate Change Division (CCD) under the Office of the Prime Minister and the Strategic Planning Office of the MoFSPNDS, among other key government stakeholders.

Fiji, as a Small Island Developing State, faces extreme climate vulnerability. The country is already experiencing the negative impacts of climate change, through changing weather patterns, including droughts and flooding events, and increasingly damaging natural disasters. The current average asset losses due to tropical cyclones and floods are estimated at more than FJD 500 million per year, representing more than 5% of Fiji’s GDP. Climate change will affect all areas of life for the people of Fiji, and the expected impacts include reduced agricultural and fisheries productivity, declining health outcomes, eroding shorelines and riverbanks, shortage of water and higher infrastructure costs.

The Fijian government therefore recognizes the importance of adapting to climate change and coordinating climate change related adaptation policies, strategies, plans and activities to reduce the vulnerability and enhance the resilience of Fiji’s communities to the impacts of climate change and disasters. Fiji has put in place its Climate Change Policy and National Adaptation Plan and has prepared a Climate Vulnerability Assessment. Furthermore, while Fiji’s national CO2 equivalent emissions make up a mere 0.006% of global emissions, the Fijian Government and other non-government stakeholders have already taken steps to achieve decarbonization in the Fijian economy. Fiji has developed its NDC Roadmap, setting a clear pathway to achieve its NDC targets and launched the Fiji Low Emission Development Strategy (LEDS) 2018-2050 at COP24, through which Fiji aims to reach net zero carbon emissions by 2050 across all sectors of its economy. However, external financial and technical support is needed to achieve its adaptation and mitigation targets.

Fiji has received support from the NDC Partnership to develop ADAPTATION INVESTMENT plans and investment concepts for the Adaptation Fund.  In view of the significant needs for coastal protection and the value of nature-based seawalls, Fiji has already made a head start in establishing technical and financial needs for a large-scale investment in nature-based seawalls. A national five-year strategy would enable a coherent efficient way forward to best leverage available climate funds including but not limited to the GCF, AF and upcoming loss and damage funds.

The incumbent for the assignment will work closely with the Strategic Planning Office (SPO) in the MoFSPNDS. The consultant will report to the GGGI Pacific Regional Adaptation Lead and will liaise with and work closely with the NDA Secretariat leadership and staff and other GGGI staff and consultants involved in different parts of this Readiness project and on other related projects.

The main objective of this assignment is to develop a 5-year INVESTMENT STRATEGY, using the technical options for seawalls designed by the Department of Waterways, within the Ministry of Agriculture and Waterways and standard practices for nature-based seawalls in SIDs. The strategy will include a) the prioritization of locations and types of seawall approaches for sites identified by the MoFSPNDS as requiring coastal protection in Fiji, b) the estimated costing of the approaches, c) grant, concessional and loan funding mechanisms available to finance a national scale approach, and d) the recommended phasing of investments. The strategy or seawall plan will also consider identifying technical options / design for seawalls in addition to those developed by the Department of Waterways.

The consultant will carry out the following activities and outputs:

Activity 1: Kick-off meeting with Strategic Planning Office of MoFSPNDS, CCD, Ministry of Agriculture & Waterways (MoAW) and GGGI to establish a common understanding of the activities, approach and timeline.

Deliverable 1: Develop a brief inception report, including a workplan, for the assignment with approach and timeline.

Activity 2: Conduct a data collection workshop and utilize documents provided by MoFSPNDS, MoAW, and CCD to carry out a desktop assessment and develop a five-year INVESTMENT STRATEGY for seawalls.

The strategy will include

i)                     Undertake technical assessment / and design options for the seawalls;

ii)                   The prioritisation of locations and types of sea-wall approaches (based on three or four type of interventions) for the 30-40 established sites requiring coastal protection in Fiji;

iii)                  The estimated costing of the interventions based on the best viable approach for each site including a desktop assessment of main materials needed including aggregates, materials to be quarried and seedlings/vegetation to be grown before planting on-site;

iv)                  Grant and concessional loan funding mechanisms available to finance a national scale approach and the recommended phasing of investments; and

v)                   Key data needed for proposals the different mechanisms.

Deliverable 2.1: Data collection workshop report

Deliverable 2.2:  Draft 5-YEAR SEAWALL INVESTMENT STRATEGY.

Activity 3:  Carry out at least five bilateral meetings/consultations and one validation meeting with key sectors with Suva-based Ministries (Ministry of Agriculture & Waterways, CCD, SPO and Itaukei affairs) and Culture, Heritage and Arts as well as NGOS and experts working in this field to guide and inform the strategy. MoFSPNDS will facilitate contacts and GGGI can facilitate meeting rooms, support with agenda setting and the validation meeting facilitation.

Deliverable 3.1: Brief meeting reports of five consultations laying out recommendations.

Deliverable 3.2: Brief meeting report of validation meeting with any final recommendations to be included.

The incumbent requires working in Suva over the duration of the contract with a desk space offered at SPO of MoFSPNDS. Travel and accommodation, if needed, is considered as included in the consultant rate.

The consultant will report to the GGGI Pacific Regional Adaptation Lead and will work with Climate Finance advisors both in GGGI and with CCD. The consultant will organize weekly meetings with GGGI and the SPO at MoFSPNDS focal to review progress against activities.

The Strategic Planning Office within MoFSPNDS is the main lead Ministry for this assignment.

The description of required expert may be split into following parts:

• Master’s degree in Civil/Hydraulic/Coastal Engineering, Environmental or Geologic Sciences, Economics or other relevant technical studies;
• Minimum 10 years relevant professional experience in public and private investment development;
• Working knowledge of climate change adaptation and disaster risk management and or mitigation actions;
• Working knowledge of Nature-based solutions including seawalls;
• Understanding of Fiji Government institutional structure, processes and systems, particularly related to project design and development, finance, budget and monitoring and planning and the climate change space (desirable);
• Demonstrated understanding of the project cycle and monitoring of project progress;
• Experience in developing strategies;
• Experience in oversight and coordinating working groups and following-up on actions;
• Knowledge of Climate Finance policies, modalities and procedures, including investment criteria, reporting requirements and guidelines would be an advantage;
• Analytical, problem-solving, and strategic skills;
• Fluent in English with excellent written English;
• Knowledge of environmental and social safeguards would be an advantage; and
• Commitment to gender equality and awareness of gender aspects of sustainable development.

Date to close is 9^th February 2024, 11:59PM Korean Standard Time (KST). Applications submitted after the deadline will not be considered. Application, Cover Letter, and CV must be sent in English. A consortium, or a firm may not be engaged for the individual consultant assignment.