The Rimba Raya Biodiversity Reserve REDD Project

G4.2. Key Technical Skills for Project ImplementationDocument key technical skills that will be required to implement the projectsuccessfully, including community engagement, biodiversity assessment andcarbon measurement and monitoring skills. Document the managementteam’s expertise and prior experience implementing land managementprojects at the scale of this project. If relevant experience is lacking, theproponents must either demonstrate how other organizations will bepartnered with to support the project or have a recruitment strategy to fillthe gaps.General Project ManagementKey technical skills. Key skills for general project management aredivided into three categories. The first comprises skills needed tomanage the physical assets of the Rimba Raya Reserve, includingforest security and fire protection. The second includes generaladministrative skills to manage logistics, budgets, and humanresources. The final category addresses skills related to REDD policyand the certification of carbon credits.Expertise and prior experience. The InfiniteEARTH team has a wealthof experience managing forestry assets. Todd Lemons, the CEO, wasmanaging director of Industrias del Oriente, Bolivia’s largest forestryoperation, with 747,000 ha of tropical forest land, ten manufacturingplants, and over 3000 employees. OFI, a principal partner organization,has 37 years of experience co-­‐managing Tanjung Puting National Park,including the construction and permanent staffing of 19 guard poststhroughout the park and inside the Project Area.For general logistics and administrative experience, the InfiniteEARTHteam has nearly 50 years of combined experience: Todd Lemons has25 years of experience managing offshore natural resources projectswith field operations experience in Chile, Bolivia, Brazil, Malaysia, andChina.Gaps. The principal gap in management of the reserve’s physicalassets is in fire prevention and response. To remedy this gap, projectproponents have engaged Marc Nicolas, and incident commander andfires and rescue senior officer on long detachment from the FrenchMinistry of the Interior. Mr. Nicolas has 31 years of experience indisaster management, risk and preparedness assessment, incidentcommand system and mitigation techniques, and capabilities fromfield-­‐level expertise to national strategy. He has worked previously ona number of forestry projects in Indonesia.Community EngagementKey technical skills. Technical skills required for communityengagement and monitoring will vary at different stages of the project.Six areas that will require technical skills when working withcommunities include (i) communications, (ii) community organizing,(iii) conflict resolution, (iv) community mapping, (v) communitydevelopment, and (vi) monitoring.Communications. Communication will be key to successful projectimplementation. Effective communication will need to beimplemented at each stage – making clear to communities thepurpose of the project, how the project aims to involve thecommunity, and time frames for each step in the process. Withoutclear communication communities often become disillusioned withprojects. Failure to communicate with the community at large,opting instead to go through representatives also creates risk (i.e.that information will not get through or that information is187