Consultant - Analysis of perverse Fiscal Incentives to Peatlands

Result of Service

To identify perverse fiscal incentives and develop actionable, costed recommendations, including climate-smart fiscal instruments and ecological fiscal transfers, to align fiscal policy with peatland conservation objectives in RoC and DRC.

Work Location

Home Based

Expected duration

6 Months Part-time.

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system, and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. The Congo Basin peatlands, spanning the Republic of Congo (RoC) and the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), constitute the world's largest tropical peatland complex. The recently mapped peatlands of the Cuvette Centrale are estimated to be the largest continuous tropical peat complex in the world at 145,000 km², storing approximately 30 gigatons of carbon, equivalent to two years of global greenhouse gas emissions. The Lac Télé/Lac Tumba (LTLT) landscape covers 126,440 km² of the larger Cuvette Centrale peatland and is the focus of this project. The area is largely pristine and highly biodiverse, containing the highest densities of western lowland gorillas in the world, in addition to bonobos, chimpanzees, and forest elephants. The area contains several protected areas, including Ramsar wetland. Nearly two million people depend on the landscape's water, forests, and swamps for their livelihoods. The DRC and RoC made a strong political commitment towards the sustainable management of natural resources in 2017 by creating the world's largest transboundary Ramsar site in the Cuvette Centrale. In 2018, both countries signed the Brazzaville Declaration on Peatlands, committing to work together to protect the benefits provided by peatland ecosystems. Furthermore, in 2019, UNEA4 adopted a resolution on the Conservation and sustainable management of peatlands. Despite these commitments, the region faces ongoing pressures from extractive industries. Recent actions, such as the DRC's approval of oil blocks in the Cuvette Centrale, highlight the tension between conservation objectives and economic development priorities. Logging concessions overlapping peatland areas have been revoked by the new government, but discussions on oil concessions continue. The road from Ouesso to Impfondo connects the Lac Télé landscape to the national road network, offering opportunities for development but also bringing risks of unsustainable and uncontrolled developments. Experience from other tropical peatland regions, particularly Southeast Asia, demonstrates that perverse economic and fiscal incentives can drive land-use decisions that lead to peatland drainage, deforestation, and catastrophic carbon emissions. In the Congo Basin, historical and ongoing fiscal policies, including tax breaks for extractive industries, low royalty rates, subsidies to agricultural expansion, and inadequate valuation of ecosystem services, have created economic conditions that systematically disadvantage conservation and sustainable land use. UNEP, in partnership with FAO, WWF, WCS, and other consortium members, is implementing a project to secure the Congo Basin peatlands through evidence-based decision making and good governance. A critical component of this project, specifically under Output I, Work Package 1.2, is understanding how fiscal incentive frameworks currently shape land-use decisions in the region and identifying concrete measures to reform perverse incentives. This analysis will provide the evidence base for policy interventions to align fiscal policies with peatland conservation objectives. II. Duties and Responsibilities Under the overall guidance of the Head of Biodiversity, Peoples and Landscapes Unit, and direct supervision of the Workstream Lead, the consultant’s primary objective is to conduct a comprehensive analysis of fiscal incentive frameworks driving land-use decisions in the Congo Basin peatlands region and to develop actionable recommendations for measures to address perverse incentives and policies, as specified under Activity 1.2.1 of the project document. The consultant will produce a report that identifies and analyses the fiscal policies, tax regimes, subsidies, and other economic instruments that influence land-use decisions, either positively or negatively, with respect to peatland conservation and sustainable management in the RoC and DRC. 2.1. Scope of Work and Key Responsibilities: The consultant will perform the following tasks: A. Inception Phase: 1. Inception report: prepare a detailed inception report outlining the proposed methodology, analytical framework, work plan, data sources, stakeholder engagement approach, and a preliminary outline of the final report. This report must be submitted to UNEP for review and approval prior to commencement of the analysis. 2. Stakeholder mapping: identify and map key government institutions in both RoC and DRC (Ministries of Finance, Planning, Environment, Hydrocarbons, Mining, Agriculture, Forestry, and Water), private sector actors (logging, oil and gas, mining, agribusiness), financial institutions, civil society organisations, and international partners to be consulted during the analysis. 3. Literature review: conduct a comprehensive review of existing studies, reports, and policy documents relating to fiscal incentives, subsidies, and economic instruments affecting land use in the Congo Basin, including relevant documentation from the CAFI programme, the Global Peatlands Initiative, and other ongoing initiatives. B. Analysis of fiscal incentive frameworks: 1. Fiscal inventory and mapping: • Identify and catalogue all relevant fiscal policies, tax regimes, subsidies, and economic incentives that influence land-use decisions in the Congo Basin peatlands region, including policies at both national and sub-national levels. • Map the fiscal instruments applicable to key land-use sectors, including: Forestry/Logging: Royalty rates, export taxes, concession fees, tax holidays, and other fiscal instruments affecting timber extraction. Oil and Gas: Production sharing agreements, fiscal terms, tax breaks, and investment inducements for hydrocarbon extraction, including those affecting the Lac Télé Community Reserve. Mining: Fiscal regimes, royalties, tax exemptions, and investment incentives affecting mining operations. Agriculture: Subsidies (fertiliser, inputs), low-cost credit, land allocation incentives, and other fiscal measures promoting agricultural expansion, including cacao, palm oil, and other commodities. Infrastructure: Fiscal incentives for infrastructure development that may open access to peatland areas. • Analyse how these fiscal instruments create relative economic advantages for certain land uses, and assess their impact on peatland conservation and sustainable management. • Examine the treatment of ecosystem services, carbon values, and biodiversity in current fiscal frameworks. 2. Analysis of perverse incentives: • Identify and analyse fiscal policies and economic incentives that create perverse outcomes for peatland conservation, including those that: o Promote unsustainable land-use conversion o Undervalue ecosystem services and carbon storage o Create windfall profits for extractive industries at the expense of conservation o Encourage rapid resource extraction over sustainable management o Fail to account for environmental costs in fiscal decision-making • Assess the extent to which current fiscal policies create direct or indirect subsidies for activities that could degrade peatlands. • Analyse how international market dynamics, trade policies, and global demand for commodities influence fiscal incentives at the national level. • Pay particular attention to the economic pressures from development and the severe poverty of local communities that drives ecosystem degradation. 3. Assessment of fiscal leakages and revenue losses: • Quantify, where possible, the fiscal revenue losses resulting from existing incentives and subsidies that could instead be directed to conservation and sustainable development. • Assess the economic costs of environmental degradation that result from perverse fiscal incentives. C. Identification of measures to address perverse incentives: 1. Option development: • Develop a range of options and recommendations to reform perverse fiscal incentives and align fiscal policies with peatland conservation objectives. • Assess the feasibility, potential impacts, and implementation pathways for each option. • Propose "climate-smart fiscal revenue instruments" that align tax rates with sustainability objectives, such as "bonus-malus" systems used in other countries in the region. • Consider innovative fiscal mechanisms including: o Ecological fiscal transfers to reward conservation at sub-national levels o Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES) schemes that provide economic incentives for conservation o Debt-for-nature swaps o Performance-based payment schemes • Recommend measures to improve transparency, monitoring, and enforcement of fiscal policies. • Align recommendations with ongoing policy processes in both countries, including National Investment Plans (NIPs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs). 2. Stakeholder Consultation and Validation: • Conduct targeted consultations with relevant government ministries, private sector representatives, financial institutions, civil society organisations, and local communities to validate findings and test proposed measures. • Ensure the consultation process incorporates the perspectives of Indigenous Peoples and local communities who depend on peatland resources. • Coordinate with ongoing stakeholder platforms established under the project's output I to ensure alignment and avoid duplication. D. Reporting and dissemination: 1. Final report: prepare a report in English and French, in accordance with UNEP reporting standards that includes: • Executive Summary • Introduction and Context • Methodology • Analysis of fiscal incentive frameworks (RoC and DRC) • Identification and analysis of perverse incentives • Options and recommendations for reform • Implementation roadmap and next steps • Conclusions and recommendations 2. Presentation: present the findings and recommendations to key stakeholders, including project partners, government representatives, and technical experts in a dedicated validation workshop. 3. Policy brief: prepare a concise policy brief (maximum 4 pages) summarising key findings and recommendations for use by UNEP and government partners in policy advocacy.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree (Master's degree or equivalent) in environmental economics, agricultural economics, public finance, natural resource management, or a related field is required. A bachelors degree in combination with 2 additional years of experience will be accepted in lieu of the Masters degree. A minimum of 10 years of progressively responsible professional experience in fiscal policy analysis, public finance, and/or environmental economics is required. Proven experience in analysing fiscal incentives, tax regimes, and economic instruments related to natural resource management, forestry, and/or land use is required. Demonstrated experience working on policy issues in the Congo Basin or Central Africa region, with a strong understanding of the political economy context and the specific challenges facing the RoC and DRC is required. Experience working with or for government institutions, particularly ministries of finance, environment, and natural resources in the region is desired. Prior experience with UNEP or other UN agencies is an asset. Knowledge of and experience with payment for ecosystem services schemes, environmental fiscal reform, and/or incentive-based conservation mechanisms is a distinct advantage. Established networks with relevant stakeholders in the Congo Basin region is a strong asset. Experience with CAFI-related processes and the Global Peatlands Initiative is an advantage.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the consultancy post advertised, fluency in oral and written English and French is required.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.