The project “Addressing
urgent coastal adaptation needs and capacity gaps ...
The project “Addressing
urgent coastal adaptation needs and capacity gaps in Angola” is
funded by the Global Environment Facility (GEF) / Least Developed Countries
Fund (LDCF), with a total duration of 4 years. The Executing Agency for the
project is The Ministry of Environment of Angola (MINAMB). United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) and United
Nations Development Program are the Implementing Agencies for the project, and
as such accountable to the GEF for the effective and efficient use of funds.
Angola’s coastline is home to over 50% of
the country’s population, where the combination of rapid population growth and
inadequate urban planning has resulted in diverse socio-economic and
environmental challenges. Such challenges include inadequate access to water
and electricity, poor sanitation, and exposure to natural disasters such as
flooding. Approximately two thirds of coastal Angolan communities are reliant
on livelihoods such as agriculture and fishing for subsistence and employment.
The livelihoods of these communities are therefore underpinned by the goods and
services generated by functional, intact ecosystems. Despite this important
contribution of Angola’s ecosystems to household income and national GDP,
inappropriate management practices and sustained overexploitation has resulted
in the widespread degradation of Angola’s coastal ecosystems. Impoverished
households that are reliant on natural resource-based livelihoods are
consequently becoming increasingly vulnerable to the negative effects of
ecosystem degradation.
i) increased
variability in rainfall and temperature; ii) increased frequency and severity
of droughts and floods; and iii) rising sea-level and increased frequency of
storm surges, which results in increased beach erosion. Consequently, climate
change will result in multiple negative effects on the livelihoods and health
of coastal households in Angola. For example, coastal infrastructure and
households will be damaged by increased frequency and severity of floods, storm
surges and beach erosion. Additionally, increases in temperature and flooding
events will increase the incidence of water-and vector-borne diseases of both
humans and livestock. Agricultural production will decrease as a result of
drought, thereby exacerbating food insecurity amongst local communities in
these coastal regions. Several economically important sectors – including
fisheries, agriculture, water, energy and tourism – are also vulnerable to the
negative effects of climate change.
The problem that the project seeks to
address is that national and local government and coastal communities have
limited technical and institutional capacity to adapt to these negative effects
of climate change. This is because of: i) insufficient scientific and technical
capacity for planning adaptation in coastal zone areas; ii) limited
demonstration of, and availability of technical capacity to implement,
sustainable coastal adaptation interventions; and iii) poor institutional
coordination and capacity for adaptation to climate change.
The preferred solution to the problem is
to enhance national and community-level capacity to adapt to climate change
along the coast of Angola by: i) building institutional, scientific and
technical capacity to analyse climate change risks and to plan coastal
adaptation interventions; and ii) demonstrating innovative approaches to
climate change adaptation in coastal areas. This will include measures such as
Ecosystem based Adaptation (EbA), climate-resilient land management and EWS,
economic analysis of adaptation options and mainstreaming of adaptation into
national policies and plans.
The
objective of the project is to reduce vulnerability to climate change of
national government and coastal communities along the coast of Angola. To
accomplish this objective, the project will be integrated by the following
components:
- UNEP
Component 1: Enhanced scientific and technical capacity (sectoral Vulnerability
Assessments (VA), Early Warning Systems (EWS)
- UNEP
Component 2: EBA demonstrations (wetland, mangrove restoration)
- UNDP
Component 3: Enhanced institutional coordination (inter-ministerial)
- UNDP
Component 4: Improved awareness (to non-gov stakeholders)
Scope of Work
The Chief
Technical Adviser (CTA) will provide technical guidance and support to the
implementation of the project, working in close collaboration with the Director
of Climate Change at the Ministry of Environment, the Project Manager (PM) and
the UNEP Task Manager (TM) while ensuring coordination of the project
components under UNDP implementation (3 & 4). He/She will be responsible of
integrating all components when assisting the project in planning the
implementation of project activities, reporting and developing documents
related to all components of the project.