Biodiversity Assessment for the Mundo Maya Sustainable Tourism Program Sites

closed

This TC will provide a clear understanding of existing environmental assessments and biodiversity analyses that cover the network of parks and protected areas (biological corridors) in the area of influence of the Mundo Maya Sustainable Tourism Program (MMSTP) in El Salvador, Honduras and Mexico. Regional and site-specific biodiversity studies and initiatives will be instrumental in determining the status and of local socioeconomic threats and opportunities for conservation and gaps of knowledge in areas of critical biodiversity importance. Developing a biodiversity baseline for the critical Mundo Maya Program sites will provide local and regional biological and socioeconomic information including: biodiversity inventories, natural and man-made landscape features, existing community-based projects, stakeholders and other key factors. This information will provide better understanding of the current status of biodiversity and of local socioeconomic threats and opportunities for conservation at key Program sites and will be the basis for monitoring the impact of the Program's projects. The assessment will help define desired conservation outcomes regarding: (i) endangered species; (ii) protected areas; (iii) biological corridors. This process will contribute detailed data per country to an existing biodiversity analysis. Site-specific biodiversity Action Plans and Monitoring and Evaluation Systems will contribute to the protection and promotion of biodiversity in the MMSTP critical sites and should reinforce the management and monitoring of the area's biological resources, balancing the potential for tourism with sound environmental management. The TC foresees the analysis of institutional capacities of each of the beneficiary country's environmental authorities for executing the strategy and monitoring systems that results from this TC. The consultancy should propose institutional strengthening requirements related to the appropriate execution of the strategy and monitoring systems. This analysis should also determine the environmental authority's relationship to the Central American Commission for Environment and Development (CCAD – Comisión Centroamericana de Desarrollo), the regional entity responsible for the Mesoamerican Biological Corridor initiative (MBC), and propose measures to increase the level of involvement of critical Mundo Maya Program sites to the MBC as a means to act regionally for biodiversity conservation.