Belizeโs National Protected Areas System (NPASP) is essential for preserving the countryโs natural heritage, biodiversity and ecosystems services. The areas located along Belizeโs southern and western borders are home to ecologically vital areas, including protected forests, watersheds and maritime spaces. However, these areas face mounting threats and pressures such as illegal logging, deforestation, wildlife poaching, encroachment and illegal fishing. Many of these pressures presenting a cross-border origin. These challenges are compounded by limited enforcement capacity and the broader implications of the Belize-Guatemala territorial dispute.
The first National Protected Areas Policy and System Plan (NPASP), endorsed in 2005, comprised of the National Protected Areas Policy, on one hand setting the long-term vision for protected areas management through the broad policy statements seeking to protect ecosystems, reduce threats, build an inclusive governance system and ensure access and benefits. Complementary to the Policy was the System Plan, which outlined the strategic objectives and actions to achieve the vision of the Policy. In 2015 an update to the Policy was done to bridge gaps and address new realities, including adaptation and mitigation measures for climate change, as well as supporting national development through tourism and the sustainable use of forest products and other ecosystem services.
After two decades of its design, the NPAPSP is now subject to a comprehensive revision and alignment with Belizeโs new National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP), the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework under the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and evolving climate change
frameworks, such as the Nationally Determined Contribution 3.0.
To this end, the Multi-Annual Indicative Program (MIP) Priority 2 supports the Government of Belize in strengthening conservation enforcement and governance in these regions. Through an Integrated Border Management (IBM) approachโwhich aligns national security, migration management, and environmental protectionโthe project aims to revise and operationalize Belizeโs National Protected Areas System Plan (NPAPSP), being the primary framework for the conservation and management of protected areas. The revision seeks to reinforce resilience and environmental sustainability through particular considerations on border areas, system level capacity building to combat and reduce threats and pressures and improving site-level management effectiveness.
The updated NPAPSP will ensure protected areas are effectively managed, well-resourced and integrated into broader national security conservation and community development frameworks. This Terms of Reference outlines the scope, objectives, deliverables and responsibilities for the update of the National Protected Areas System Plan with a specific focus on border zone non-extractive protected areas
Objectives
The objective of the consultancy is to provide the technical expertise and guidance to the Government of Belize to undertake the updating of the National Protected Areas Policy and System Plan (NPAPSP) for a ten-year period, ensuring it reflects current biodiversity priorities established in the NBSAP (2025-2035), NDC 3.0 biodiversity and climate linkages, community needs, and international obligations such as the CBD and SDGs, by carrying out the following activities:
i. Review the current Belize National Protected Areas Policy and System Plan (NPAPSP) and supplemental documents, to highlight implementation successes, gaps, opportunities, and lessons learnt, with a focus, but not limited to, the western and southern regions.
ii. Conduct a legal and institutional analysis to identify overlaps, gaps, and conflicts in policies, and consider institutional opportunities to strengthen governance, enforcement and monitoring, and other programmatic areas that are core to resource protection.
iii. Assess the status of protected areas in border regions, including management effectiveness, governance structures and threat assessment (including illegal logging, wildlife poaching, illicit drug transit, human trafficking, illegal fishing, pollution and cross border encroachment), with a view to establish baseline information for the development of strategies and actions in the System Plan.
iv. Develop an updated NPAPSP, with aligned Policy statements reflecting findings and recommendations from the policy analysis, and a comprehensive System Plan, indicating a core set of prioritized strategies and actions, that will ensure meeting the long-term vision of the Policy and System Plan.
v. Develop a costed Implementation Plan, particularly for the prioritized strategies and action areas. The Costing will indicate implementation needs for core action areas of enforcement and monitoring, education and awareness, social and stakeholder inclusion, and others.
vi. Develop a Monitoring and Evaluation Plan to support tracking implementation of System Plan.
Organizational Department / Unit to which the Consultant is contributing: EU-Belize Multi-Indicative Programme (MIP 2021-2027) โ Priority Area 2: Regional Integration and Border Management
Reporting: The consultant will report to IOM Belize and will coordinate with an established Technical Committee comprised of relevant government and conservation agencies.
i. Advanced degree in Environmental Management, Natural Resource Management, Conservation Policy, or related field.
ii. Minimum 10 years of experience in conservation policy development, protected area management, conservation planning, or related sectors.
iii. Experience working with inter-agency coordination, biodiversity conservation environmental security and land use policy.
iv. Working knowledge of Belizeโs environmental and protected areas context, particularly with the threats and pressures affecting the protected areas system
v. Proven stakeholder engagement and training facilitation skills, including solid Mediating and Consensus-building skills
vi. Strong skills in project costing, strategic planning and M&E design
vii. Familiarity with national and regional conservation, climate, and development frameworks.
viii. Strong report writing and communication skills.
ix. IBM experience would be an asset.
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