Forestry Officer (Forestry Inventory)

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• FAO is committed to achieving workforce diversity in terms of gender, nationality, background and culture
• Qualified female applicants, qualified nationals of non-and under-represented Members and persons with disabilities are encouraged to apply
• Everyone who works for FAO is required to adhere to the highest standards of integrity and professional conduct, and to uphold FAO's values
• FAO, as a Specialized Agency of the United Nations, has a zero-tolerance policy for conduct that is incompatible with its status, objectives and mandate, including sexual exploitation and abuse, sexual harassment, abuse of authority and discrimination　　
• All selected candidates will undergo rigorous reference and background checks
• All applications will be treated with the strictest confidentiality
• FAO staff are subject to the authority of the Director-General, who may assign them to any of the activities or offices of the Organization.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) contributes to the achievement of the 2030 Agenda through the FAO Strategic Framework by supporting the transformation to MORE efficient, inclusive, resilient and sustainable agrifood systems, for better production, better nutrition, a better environment, and a better life, leaving no one behind.

Organizational Setting
The Forestry Division (NFO) leads FAO's work in promoting sustainable forest management and providing leadership on the environmental, social and economic dimensions of forestry, including its contributions to poverty reduction, food security and nutrition. It liaises with Members, civil society and the private sector in aspects ranging from development of effective forest policies to forest conservation and management issues and strengthens the role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Division also collects, analyses and disseminates information on the world's forest resources and on the production, trade and consumption of wood and non-wood forest products. The Monitoring and Data Platforms Team of the Forestry Division supports FAO Members on all aspects of forest monitoring to provide reliable information for forest and land use related policy development, planning, sustainable management and for satisfying international reporting requirements under the The United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), the Paris Agreement and the Convention on Biological Diversity's (CBD) Global Biodiversity Framework. The Team also supports countries on technical issues related to National Forest Monitoring Systems (NFMS), the Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) of the UNFCCC, Restoration Monitoring in support of the United Nations Decade on Ecosystem Restoration and the development of Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) with environmental integrity. The Team also develops and maintains Open Foris and the System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL) data platforms (digital public goods for forest and land use monitoring). It works closely with the Global Forest Resources Assessment (FRA) Team. The work of the Team supports implementation of Programme Priority Areas for a better environment under the FAO Strategic Framework.
The post is located in the Monitoring and Data Platforms Team of the Forestry Division (NFO) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines
The Forestry Officer (Forest Inventory) reports to the Senior Forestry Officer/Team Leader, Monitoring and Data Platforms Team. The incumbent will work closely with Decentralized Offices, NFO forestry experts and with other relevant FAO units.

Technical Focus
The technical focus of this position will be on providing country support to National Forest Inventory (NFI) planning and implementation with a particular focus on guiding NFI statistical design and estimation, including developing statistical guidance and providing tailored support to country counterparts, while ensuring technical linkage with other FAO teams and partner organizations within the context of the FAO Strategic Framework and in alignment with the Organization's Policy on Gender Equality.

Key Results
Research, technical analysis and project related services to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services.

Key Functions
• Researches and analyses technical, social, economic, environmental, institutional, and technology related information, data and statistics and/or related policy issues to support the delivery of programme projects, products and services.
• Produces a variety of technical information, data, statistics and reports as well as input for technical documents and web pages.
• Provides technical support/analysis to various assessments, studies and initiatives and provides technical backstopping to field projects.
• Collaborates in the development of improved/updated tools, systems, processes and databases.
• Participates in multidisciplinary teams and/or leads working groups/teams collaborates with other Divisions/Offices/Centres on work groups and committees and promotes best practices.
• Collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development activities within Members such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events including preparation of related information, learning materials and on-line tools.
• Promotes knowledge sharing and best practices at international meetings and conferences and influences partners in stakeholder consultations.
• Supports resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.

Specific Functions
• Supports countries in planning, design and analysis of NFI and undertake missions, as necessary, to provide related training, technical support and knowledge sharing in partner countries.
• Supports the continued development of technical solutions, databases and platforms that simplify NFI data storage, management and analysis for country counterparts (e.g. Open Foris Arena, Ground, Monte Carlo support tool, etc.).
• Develops training material for forest monitoring, including on field and remote sensing data analysis, using free and open-source software such as Open Foris, that are appropriate for different country capacities, as well as on land cover classifications to ensure integration of forest inventory data with geospatial databases.
• Supports the drafting and publication of technical documents (including scientific articles, technical reports, conference papers) concerning sampling, biomass and biodiversity data analysis and estimation procedures, among them the NFI modules.
• Supports countries in the development of Monte Carlo uncertainty estimation for forest data under different standards.
• Provides support to data transparency/open forest data efforts such as the Food and Agriculture Microdata Platform (FAM).
• Liaises regularly with global networks of forestry NFI experts and the geospatial community in order to keep colleagues abreast of latest developments, including integration of NFI data with satellite and airborne laser scanning.
• Leads priority actions in forest monitoring related to the estimation of uncertainties, liaising with international experts.
• Responds to country needs for project development and support as requested.

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CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements
• Advanced university degree in forestry, natural resource management or a related field.
• Five years of relevant work experience, including international experience, in field-based forest inventories with a focus on statistics and biometry and related capacity development.
• Working knowledge (proficient - level C) of English and limited knowledge (intermediate - level B) of another FAO official language (Arabic, Chinese, French, Russian or Spanish).

Competencies
• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills
• Work experience in more than one location or area of work, particularly in field positions, is desirable.
• Technical expertise in forest monitoring for detecting and monitoring deforestation, forest degradation and forest restoration.
• Extent and relevance of experience with in-country capacity development for NFI, and forest and land monitoring.
• Ability to thrive in a diverse and international work environment.
• Functional programming experience in R and mathematical modelling.
• Ability to write technical documentation, capable of guiding users through basic/sophisticated NFI data analyses.
• Knowledge of machine learning and biodiversity estimation procedures is an asset.
• Ability to present procedures, results and supporting reasoning to a general audience is an asset.