Strengthening Regional Capacity to Tackle Biodiversity Challenges

Biodiversity loss and climate change is the greatest threat to humanity. Invasive species management, ecosystem restoration, and threatened species conservation can be tackled more effectively by sharing knowledge and tried and tested approaches.

For civil society organizations within the Madagascar and Indian Ocean biodiversity hotspot, we invite you to apply for a one-month staff placement at Ebony Forest, Mauritius, funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund. Our team, with over 50 years of combined expertise, will provide hands-on training in the planning, implementation and monitoring of

• Mammalian invasive species management (predator control)
• Forest restoration
• Bird translocations such as parrots, pigeons and passerines

What is the CEPF?

The Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund (CEPF) is a joint initiative of l’Agence Française de Développement (AFD), Conservation International, the European Union, the Fondation Hans Wilsdorf, the Global Environment Facility, the Government of Japan and the World Bank. A fundamental goal is to ensure civil society is engaged in biodiversity conservation.

With funding from the Green Climate Fund (GCF) through AFD as the GCF accredited entity, and from the European Union through AFD acting as the fiduciary agent, CEPF established and is managing a 10- year programme of support to civil society organisations to promote ecosystem-based adaptation in the Madagascar and the Indian Ocean Islands Biodiversity Hotspot. Programme activities are taking place in Madagascar, Comoros, Mauritius and the Seychelles.

The CEPF has enlisted a consortium of nongovernmental organisations to be its regional implementation team, coordinated by International Union for Conservation of Nature National Committee of the Netherlands (IUCN NL), is working closely with local partners including and SAF/FJKM in Madagascar, Initiative Développement – ONG (ID-ONG) in Comoros, Fondation Ressources et Nature (FORENA) in Mauritius, and Seychelles Conservation and Climate Adaptation Trust (SeyCCAT) in Seychelles to implement a five-year conservation strategy for the hotspot and strengthen local civil society capacity.

Placement topics

What will you learn?

Forest restoration

• Understand what is ecological restoration and the sustainable management of watershed ecosystems
• Conduct site assessments and establish thresholds for native forest recovery.
• Determine baseline conditions and identify desired restoration outcomes.
• Apply watershed forest ecosystem restoration techniques to manage invasive alien plant species.
• Select appropriate species for planting, propagate and care for plants, and manage aftercare and monitoring.
• Plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate your CSO’s forest restoration.
• Understand the importance of environmental and social safeguards, regarding the use of chemicals.

Mammalian Invasive Species Management (Predator Control)

• Identify mammalian predators that are pests on your site.
• Select and effectively use suitable traps for each predator.
• Understand the use of poisons for predator eradication and control.
• Set up and maintain predator control grids.
• Collect, analyze, and interpret essential data to monitor control efficiency.
• Design and present an invasive species management project, including objectives, activities, risks, budget, and other considerations for your CSO.
• Understand animal welfare and the importance of environmental and social safeguards, regarding the use of chemicals.

Bird Translocations

• Establish criteria for selecting species, sites, and individuals for translocation.
• Explore different translocation approaches and their ethical implications.
• Learn captive breeding and hand-rearing techniques for endangered bird species.
• Manage pre-release conditioning and acclimatization.
• Understand soft vs. hard release strategies.
• Utilize monitoring and tracking methods (e.g., GPS, radio telemetry, banding) to measure translocation success.
• Apply adaptive management strategies to improve translocation outcomes.
• Design and present an invasive species management project, outlining objectives, activities, risks, budget, and considerations for your CSO.

What is the CEPF Grievance mechanism??

Ebony Forest Ltd has a grievance policy in place.

Should you wish to raise an issue, concern, problem, or claim (perceived or actual) to Ebony Forest Ltd in a formal manner, we invite you contact us via email ([email protected]), telephone (460 3030 / 460 3031), or speak to a member of staff. For all grievances related to our projects funded by the Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, we will share all grievances – and a proposed response – with the Regional Implementation Team (RIT) and the CEPF Grant Director within 15 days.

If the claimant is not satisfied following the RIT’s response, the claimant will have the option of submitting their grievance directly to:

– The RIT and IUCN NL’s Complaints Procedure is publicly available on IUCN NLs website. All complaints may be submitted formally in writing to the IUCN NL Complaints Committee at [email protected] or use the telephone number:  +31 (0)20 626 1732.

– CEPF can be reached via the CI Ethics Hotline at www.ci.ethicspoint.com or via phone to a toll-free telephone line: +1-866-294-8674.

Any complaints submitted to the CI Ethics Hotline will be investigated promptly and treated as confidential to the extent possible. CEPF and the RIT will not retaliate against any person or organisation that submit such complaints in good faith.

Any person or group of people affected by the environmental or social aspects of a project funded by the CEPF as part of its program entitled “Ecosystem-based adaptation in the Indian Ocean”, funded by the Green Climate Fund (GCF), through the French Development Agency (AFD) as an accredited entity, who would have exhausted all possibilities of dialogue with the RIT and via the “CI Ethics Hotline” » can use the environmental and social grievance mechanisms of the AFD and the GCF.