R-CDTA 7735: Building Capacity for Environmental Prosecution, Adjudication, Compliance, and Enforcement in Asia
Environmental Law Specialist
(8 Person-Months, Continuous Contract)
Terms of Reference
Objective and Purpose of the Assignment
The regional capacity development technical assistance (R-CDTA) aims to increase access to environmental justice by strengthening the environmental compliance, adjudication, dispute resolution, and enforcement chain; and is expected to complement and contribute to the development of environmental justice in Bhutan, Malaysia, Nepal, Philippines, Thailand, and Viet Nam. To accomplish this, TA activities are planned at three levels: (i) regional: establishment of a judicial network on the environment; (ii) sub-regional: conduct of roundtables in countries of the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN) and the South Asian Association for Regional Cooperation (SAARC); and (iii) national: activities in participating DMCs. The national pilot activities are expected to complement the regional and sub-regional activities of the project and contribute to strengthening of environmental justice in the region.
Scope of Work
The consultant is needed to organize and coordinate project activities, and ensure that they feed into the program and help widen access to environmental justice.
Detailed Tasks
The consultant is expected to undertake, but not limited, to the following detailed tasks:
1. Prepare needs assessment of the current status of environmental courts and court divisions in Asia;
2. Assess the prospects for expanding environmental courts;
3. Assess strengths and weaknesses of the current approaches to adjudicating upon environmental disputes in each of the studied countries;
4. Document the approach to environmental judges in each of the countries, including mandatory training and attitudes towards environmental judges;
5. Assess how the regulatory arms of governments, such as environmental agencies, link with and cooperate with the environmental courts, and identify strengths and weaknesses in these varying approaches;
6. Prepare an assessment of the following issues of environmental litigation as they arise: (a) the interrelationship between environmental courts and civil/criminal courts; (b) class actions and how a court can provide appropriate remedies to address a class plaintiffs; (c) calculating the appropriate amounts of pollution damage where damage is not direct (or where it is direct, but hard to quantify); and (d) how ecosystems are valued, and how ecosystems damage is quantified, including both direct loss and consequential losses, and how this fits into the existing legal frameworks
7. Document how expert witnesses are used in the different environment courts and how qualifications are judged;
8. Assess the role of citizen complains, class actions, and other civil society involvement in the environmental courts, plus any barriers to their more effective engagement;
9. Identify any specific indicators of success used in each country to measure effective performance of the environmental courts and/or individual judges, and the extent to which there are commonalities across the region;
10. On the basis of the above assessment, plus the in-depth case studies conducted, assess the need for capacity strengthening in the environmental courts and judiciary in Asia, and prepare a detailed proposal, including a road map for consideration on replicating environmental courts.
Minimum Qualifications
1. At least 8 years experience in managing law, justice and development projects, preferably in the Asian region or at least in a developing country;
2. Must have a degree in law or its equivalent work experience;
3. Experience in environmental law is highly desirable.
4. Strong background in research and writing;
5. Willing to be assigned at the ADB headquarters, Manila, Philippines.
Instructions on how to apply
Please register to ADB's Consultant Management System as individual consultant, using this link: https://uxdmz06.adb.org/OA_HTML/adb/adbpos/jsp/ADBCMSLogin.jsp
After registration, proceed to this link https://uxdmz06.adb.org/OA_HTML/OA.jsp?OAFunc=XXCRS_CSRN_HOME_PAGE and click on the "International" under the "By Consultant Source" category and look for the position under the TA below.
TA-7735 REG: Building Capacity for Environmental Prosecution, Adjudication, Dispute Resolution, Compliance, and Enforcement in Asia
