BACKGROUND
The Lake Ohrid region is home to one of the world’s oldest lakes and a remarkable biodiversity hotspot in Europe. Two-thirds of Lake Ohrid, and a significant part of its watershed located in the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia have been inscribed on the World Heritage List as the property “Natural and Cultural Heritage of the Ohrid Region.”
The Upstream pilot project “Towards strengthened governance of the shared transboundary natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid r egion” is designed to address the main threats affecting the natural and cultural heritage of the Lake Ohrid region shared between
Albania and the former Yugoslav Republic of Macedonia. It aims to strengthen transboundary cooperation over the region’s cultural and natural heritage, help recognize and profile the transboundary area by assessing its values and sustainable development opportunities, and improve capacities for the effective management of natural and cultural heritage. The project will also support integrated management planning based on active cross-sectorial cooperation and public participation and the preparation of an extension file for the World Heritage property to cover the Albanian part of the Lake Ohrid region
( hereinafter: “the Study Area”). The project is managed by UNESCO and financed by the
European Union under its assistance to pre-accession countries in the field of Environment and Climate Change.
SCOPE OF WORK
Understanding the natural attributes (values, features) in and around the Lake Ohrid region is a crucial prerequisite for its effective management and protection. While it is essential to be clear about region’s specific attributes that are the basis for its recognition as a World
Heritage property, other natural attributes of the property that are important at local, regional, national or European levels should also be considered. The emphasis on the importance of local values, alongside Outstanding Universal Value is in line with the fifth Strategic
Objective of World Heritage Convention ( ‘Community’) and reflects the need to strengthen the bridging between the World Heritage property and local communities.
It is generally acknowledged that socio-economic considerations (factors) usually determine the success or failure of protected areas. Thus, in addition to biophysical factors, socioeconomic conditions, existing institutional capacity, including community level institutions and cultural questions should be explored and understood. Socio-economic factors contributing to the threats to biodiversity and the causal relationships among these factors, as well as the livelihood sources for local communities are particularly relevant to the assessment of the natural attributes in the Albanian part of the Lake Ohrid region.
The consultant will be responsible to provide an initial overview of socio-economic, institutional and cultural characteristics in Study Area, working closely with key stakeholders and local institutions ( hereinafter: “the baseline assessment”).

A biodiversity expert will also be contributing to the baseline assessment of Study Area through a separate contract, documenting the current knowledge on biodiversity, and its conservation status and trends. The socio-economic expert and the biodiversity expert will exchange their preliminary findings (i.e., the short inception reports and preliminary baseline assessments reports) and seek to exchange information and opinion on complementary issues, such as socio-economic factors contributing to the threats to biodiversity and the causal relationships among these factors, as well as the livelihood sources for local communities, including sustainable development opportunities.
The consultant shall also collaborate with agriculture and tourism experts to be assigned by
ICOMOS by exchanging information, opinions and the preliminary findings.
A Local Facilitator of the project, based in the study area, will assist the consultant in the preparation and execution of the field work, including identifying and meeting relevant stakeholders in Tirana and locally, as well as visiting specific sites in the Lake Ohrid region.
The work will be completed in four consecutive phases:
• Gather and analyse available information published in scientific and technical literature (such as studies and policy and planning documents), and identify the major information gaps (desk-top analysis);
• Conduct field inquiry to verify the information, and close the identified information gaps as much as possible through consultation with key stakeholders, such as local, regional and local governments, local communities and user groups. With the support from the Local Facilitator of the project, and in cooperation with the socioeconomic expert organize a one-day workshop to conduct a SWOT analysis of the socio-economic, institutional and cultural characteristics in Study
Area with key local stakeholders;
• Prepare and submit a draft Report on the Baseline Assessment of Socioeconomic, Institutional and Cultural characteristics of the Lake Ohrid region –
Albania);
•
Prepare and submit the final Report on the Baseline Assessment of Socioeconomic, Institutional and Cultural characteristics of the Lake Ohrid region –
Albania).
SPECIFIC TASKS
The consultant will be required to conduct the following specific tasks:
• Describe human population within the Study Area (such as population size, age and gender structure, and spatial distribution);
• Provide description of human uses of natural resources within the Study Area using available data on following sectors: (1) forestry; (2) hunting; (3) fishing; (4) aquaculture; (5) extraction of minerals; (6) water use; and (7) other uses;
• Give an overview of human uses outside the Study Area that help maintain or affect key natural values (attributes) within the watershed;
• Identify and value (in monetary or non-monetary units or qualitatively) the range of benefits that the ecosystems in the Study Area deliver to people at different scales, in particular at local level, using available data and the following typology:
Subsistence : non-economic benefits that contribute to human well-being, such as health, nutrition, clean water and shelter;

•
•
Economic : benefits that provide the ability to earn an income, to consume and to have assets (e.g., tons/monetary value of fish, cubic meters/monetary value of fuelwood, tons/monetary value of specific medicinal plants, fungi, and other non-timber products);
Cultural and spiritual : pride in community and the region, confidence, living culture, spiritual freedom, education (e.g., number of visitors/overnights or income in monetary terms related to natural/recreational areas); and
Environmental services : role in environmental stability and provision of natural resources of multiple benefits (e.g., clean air, waste water purification, erosion control, etc.).
Identify and describe the actors and institutions directly concerned with natural resource use and management in the study area (government agencies, private landowners, companies, multi-actor partnerships, community-based organizations or traditional institutions), and distinguish them on the basis of their legal and customary rights, interests, concerns and capacities;
Provide an overview of the following governance instruments with respect to natural resource use in the Study Area:
international law, conventions, standards and best practices for management of natural resources and protected areas in particular;
sector-specific legislation, policies, strategies, agreements and plans;
formal management plans and regulations;
customary and local rules.
EXPECTED DELIVERABLES
The consultant will be required to deliver the following results and products:
• A short Inception Report – including a preliminary annotated bibliography of relevant secondary sources of information (research papers and studies, technical reports, planning documents and other sources), identification of major information gaps, and a detailed work plan for the field activities (delivery date: June 20, 2015);
• A report on the workshop with key local stakeholders and the results of the SWOT analysis of the natural and cultural values in the Study Area (delivery date: June 28,
2015);
• A draft Report on the Baseline Assessment of Socio-economic, Institutional and
Cultural Characteristics of the Lake Ohrid Region – Albania (delivery date: July 15,
2015); and
• The Final Report on the Baseline Assessment of Socio-economic, Institutional and
Cultural Characteristics of the Lake Ohrid Region – Albania. This report shall describe socio-economic, institutional and cultural characteristics of the Study Area, following the indicative contents presented in Annex I (delivery date: July 31, 2015).
DURATION OF THE ASSIGNMENT
The duration of the assignment is estimated to be 34 working days, including 4 days for visiting the Lake Ohrid region and organizing a one-day workshop with key local stakeholders.

TRAVEL TO TIRANA AND THE STUDY AREA
The consultant will be required to conduct a field inquiry to verify the information, and close the identified information gaps as much as possible through consultation with key stakeholders, including local communities and user groups. The Local Facilitator of the project, based in the Study Area, will assist the consultant in the preparation and execution of the field work, including identifying and meeting relevant stakeholders in Tirana and locally, as well as visiting specific sites in the Lake Ohrid region.
In the frame of the field work the consultant will also be required to organize a one-day workshop to conduct a SWOT analysis of natural and cultural values in the Study Area with key local stakeholders. The workshop will be organised with the support from the Local
Facilitator and in cooperation with the biodiversity expert. Suggestions from UNESCO,
ICOMOS, and ICCROM, concerning the workshop format and stakeholders to be invited shall also be taken into consideration. All expenses related to the workshop will be covered by the project.
All related travel costs to Tirana and the Study Area will be covered by the project.
REPORTING REQUIREMENTS
The consultant will coordinate all of his work with the Project Officer, Protected Areas at
IUCN’s Regional Office for Eastern Europe and Central Asia (ECARO) and with the Local
Facilitator with respect to planning and implementing the field work. The consultant will report to the Project Officer. All reports and deliverables shall be in English. The final Report on the Baseline Assessment of Socio-economic, Institutional and Cultural characteristics of the Lake Ohrid region – Albania shall also contain an Executive Summary in Albanian.

Report on the Baseline Assessment of Socio-economic, Institutional and Cultural
Characteristics of the Lake Ohrid Region – Albania
1. Executive summary in English (app. 1.000 words)
2. Executive summary in Albanian (app. 1.000 words)
3. Introduction (app. 1.000 words)
4. Methodology (app. 1.000 words)
5. Administrative structure (app. 1.000 words)
6. Social-cultural characteristics (app. 3.000 words)
7. Land-use, ownership and tenure rights (app. 1.000 words)
8. Legal and institutional framework for natural resource management (app. 3.000 words)
9. Utilization of natural resources in the study area and its vicinity (app. 5.000 words) a. forestry b. hunting c. fisheries d. aquaculture e. extraction of minerals f. water use g. other uses
10. Valuation of ecosystem services (app. 5.000 words)
11. Constraints to effective and equitable governance of natural resources (app. 1.500 words)
12. Conclusions and recommendations (app. 1.500 words)
13. References
Attachment I: Descriptive Statistics