NATIONAL CAPACITY NEEDS SELF-ASSESSMENT (NCSA)
Sponsored by : UNDP - GEF and implemented by the Ministry of Environment
and Forests (MoEF), Government of India
Project Period: December 2005 - November 2006
Project Team: Dr. Gladwin Joseph, Dr. Ankila Hiremath, Dr. Kartik Shanker, Dr. Seema Purushothaman,
Ms. Meera A. Oommen and Ms. Neha Ambastha
What is the NCSA?
The National Capacity Self-Assessment (NCSA) is funded by the Global Environmental
Facility (GEF) and is aimed at assisting countries to assess their priority national
capacity needs for meeting their obligations under the various Multilateral Environmental
Agreements (MEAs). These MEAs include the United Nations Framework Convention for
Climate Change (UNFCCC), United Nations Convention for Biodiversity (UNCBD), and United
Nations Convention to Combat Land Degradation (UNCCD). The NCSA is unique in that it
promotes synergy among the three MEAs. Through the self-assessment process, countries
will identify capacity gaps and then come up with their own solutions to rectify these
gaps.
What is the NCSA Support Programme?
In July 2004, the GEF approved a three-year, joint UNDP/UNEP Support Programme for the
NCSAs to respond to country needs and to ensure the timely completion of the NCSAs.
The Programme is structured as a learning and knowledge management mechanism. The
initial emphasis will be on analyzing information and knowledge generated by the
NCSA process, which will then be used for substantive inputs into the development
of future capacity development activities.
The Ministry of Environment and Forests (MoEF) is currently implementing the NCSA
project in India with funding support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF)
through the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). The primary objective of
the NCSA is to identify country level priorities and needs for capacity building
to address global environmental issues, in particular the conventions for biological
diversity, climate change and land degradation, with the aim of catalyzing domestic
and / or externally assisted action to meet those needs in a coordinated and planned
manner. While these three thematic areas are central to the exercise, it is fully
recognized that the NCSA will need to explore the synergies among them, as well as
cross-cutting linkages at the national level with wider concerns of environmental
management and sustainable development.
ATREE has been chosen to be one of three organizations to concentrate on one of the
three thematic areas - biological diversity.
Objectives of the thematic assessment:
- To assess the capacity strength and shortages related to biodiversity management in India with special reference to the NBSAP
- To prepare a thematic profile that will facilitate the prioritisation of areas for GEF support to capacity building
Work done so far
Based on desk reviews, interviews and consultations, ATREE will prepare a thematic report describing
the capacity situation. The four major activities leading to it are:
- Linkages Study
- Assess baseline and complete stocktaking
- Priority setting and thematic assessment
- Formulation of thematic report.
The first of these tasks has been completed and an Inception Report (Linkages Study) has been prepared.
This report can be accessed at http://www.atree.org/ls_ncsa.pdf
The preliminary stock taking report for the thematic assessment of biodiversity in India has also been prepared. This report can be accessed at http://www.atree.org/ncsa_str_atree.pdf
For more information on the NCSA process or to post your feedback on the work done so far,
you can email us at ncsa@atree.org
For online submission of Questionnaire click here
Useful links
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