Project overview
The “Capacity Building and
Institutional Support to the Nature Conservation Sector of the
MSEA/EEAA”
Project
(referred to as NCSCB / Nature Conservation Sector Capacity Building
Project) is one of the components of the Egyptian-Italian
Environmental Cooperation Program (EIECP) - Phase II. This project
has been designed as part of a fully integrated Protected Area
component of the EIECP, which includes also three other projects to
support the management of the Wadi el Rayan,
Siwa and Elba
Protected Areas respectively.
The Nature
Conservation Sector is part of the Egyptian Environmental
Affairs Agency, and is the government
body responsible for nature conservation in Egypt. The NCS is
entrusted with overseeing compliance of habitat and species
protection legislation and commitments to international conventions
for the conservation of nature. Its mandate is “to protect, manage
and develop Egypt’s wild resources on behalf of its people, by
conserving the nation’s biological diversity, preserving
representative samples of the country’s natural landscape, and
ensuring that the management and use of all wild resources are
sustainable and economically productive”. One of the principal tasks
of the NCS is the management of the National Protected Area Network
which, as of January 2007, is composed of 27 Protected Areas.
The NCSCB project aims
at building the capacity of this institution at the central level,
while providing overall technical backstopping to the three other
projects operating at the field level. The project focuses on the
core business of the NCS by ensuring that the institutional capacity
of the department is progressively enhanced and that the performance
of its staff is continuously upgraded. Besides contributing to the
strengthening of Nature Conservation Sector in terms of human,
financial and physical resources, the project is helping develop NCS
as the main actor promoting the wise use of natural resources in the
country.
The
project is directly implemented by EEAA/NCS, with Technical
Assistance from IUCN- The World Conservation Union. This
organization, through its
Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation
(based in Malaga, Spain), is providing technical and managerial
support with a team of long and short-term international experts.
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Project objectives
In line with the general objectives and strategic
approach of the EIECP, the project is pursuing the
following objectives:
As overall objective:
To enhance EEAA capacity to plan and implement nature
conservation a sustainable basis, thus contributing to
the preservation and protection of the biotic
communities of plants and animals, as well as other
natural features constituting Egypt’s natural and
biodiversity assets.
As
specific
objectives:
1.
Support the NCS in implementing its mandate to establish and manage
a representative national system of PAs, by enhancing its technical
capacity in the following key areas: (i) PA planning, (ii) EIA and
licensing of economic activities, (iii) monitoring, evaluation and
reporting, (iv) public relations and marketing.
2.
Provide comprehensive backstopping to the three protected areas
supported by the EIECP (Wadi El Rayan, Gabal Elba and Siwa), as demonstration
sites for testing and implementing innovative procedures aiming at
the effective decentralisation of NCS management functions.
3.
Capitalize on site-specific field activities and lessons learnt in
the three protected areas (Wadi El
Rayan, Gabal Elba and
Siwa) as well as
other pertinent lessons both nationally and internationally, so as
to enhance NCS capacity to replicate positive outcomes throughout
the national network of protected areas, formulate general policy
and report to the key international conventions to which Egypt is a
party.
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Outputs
Based
on the project’s objectives, five key outputs have been
identified, each arising from a series of targeted activities.
1. The institutional and technical capacities of the NCS are
strengthened
3.
Pilot management plans are developed and standardized and a national
system plan for protected areas is formulated
4.
A central system of monitoring, evaluation and reporting is
established
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