Research Associate

As the United Nations lead agency on international development, UNDP works in 170 countries and territories to eradicate poverty and reduce inequality. We help countries to develop policies, leadership skills, partnering abilities, institutional capabilities, and to build resilience to achieve the Sustainable Development Goals. Our work is concentrated in three focus areas; sustainable development, democratic governance and peace building, and climate and disaster resilience. UNDP’s mandate is to end poverty, build democratic governance, rule of law, and inclusive institutions. We advocate for change, and connect countries to knowledge, experience and resources to help people build a better life.

Biodiversity Finance Initiative (BIOFIN), a global programme of UNDP, was launched in 2012, in response to the identified need by the CBD, to have better and adequate information to assess current expenditures and financing needs for countries to implement their National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plans (NBSAPs) and need to have a comprehensive methodology to develop resource mobilization strategies and Biodiversity Finance Plans to implement NBSAPs. BIOFIN provides an innovative methodology for countries to measure their current biodiversity expenditures, assess their financial needs for biodiversity conservation in the medium term and identify most suitable finance solutions to reduce their national biodiversity finance gaps.

BIOFIN was launched in India in May 2015. It is being led by the Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEF&CC), hosted by the National Biodiversity Authority (NBA) and managed by UNDP. The BIOFIN process presents a coherent and comprehensive national approach to biodiversity finance that encompasses a full suite of finance solutions, well beyond the mobilization of new and additional resources, engaging the public sector, private sector, and civil society. The aim is to produce a nationally validated Biodiversity Finance Plan that proposes steps to implement a mix of finance solutions in order to expand and improve the country’s biodiversity finance and achieve the NBTs.

Under BIOFIN, 4 finance solutions out of 12 potential finance solutions enlisted in the Biodiversity Finance Plan (BFP) -working document, have been selected for demonstration and implementation. These include Corporate Social Responsibility, Mainstreaming Biodiversity in Public sector (Agriculture Sector), Access and Benefit Sharing (ABS) and Fintech for Biodiversity. As part of the BIOFIN Extended Phase II (2021-25), the project aims to leverage the potential of these finance solutions to ‘green’ the key economic sectors and enhance resource mobilization for biodiversity conservation activities.

Other Effective Area Based Conservation Measures (OECMs) are a new conservation approach, separate from protected areas, where effective conservation of biodiversity is achieved mainly as a byproduct of other area management. Together, PAs and OECMs can create an ecologically representative and well-connected network of area-based conservation, integrated into the wider landscapes and seascapes. Recognizing this conservation potential, OECMs were included in Aichi Biodiversity Target 11 and subsequently in India’s National Biodiversity Target 6. OECMs also find mention in the upcoming Target 3 under the Post-2020 GBF. Together with the PAs, OECMs can also help to achieve the 30 × 30 movement — a goal to conserve 30% of the planet by 2030. The Ministry of Environment, Forest and Climate Change (MoEFCC), National Biodiversity Authority of India (NBA) and United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) along with other partners are engaged in the process of identifying, mapping and documenting OECMs in India. A wide range of sites in India have the potential to be recognised as OECMs, which can be government managed, community managed, privately managed, and co-managed. Based on a number of ecological and social characteristics, the Government of India with support from UNDP has developed a 14-category classification organised into 3 major sub-groups- terrestrial, waterbodies, and marine.

The UN Volunteer will work under the direct supervision and guidance of Head, Climate Adaptation and Biodiversity/ Programme Manager, Climate Change, Resilience, Biodiversity and, Chemicals Management, UNDP and will perform the under mentioned tasks:
• Support the submission, analysis and consideration of 4 biodiversity conservation proposals to corporates to ensure funding
• Contribute to preparation and finalization of training modules on biodiversity conservation for corporate professionals with the Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs
• Support planning and finalization of a training calendar and training curriculum at Indian Institute of Corporate Affairs
• Support organization of a sensitization meeting with corporates in Telangana with a focus on Access and Benefit Sharing
• Facilitate scale up of the FinTech for biodiversity solutions identified and awarded under Youth Co:Lab 2023 through strategy planning, connecting to startup accelerators and investment opportunities
• Contribute to the research and compilation of a compendium of good practices on the use of FinTech for nature conservation
• Contribute to preparation and finalization of sector-specific nature-related reporting templates in conjunction with SEBI and MoEF&CC
• Support designing and conducting a training and certification programme for environmental auditors on standards of sustainability reporting
• Organize, manage and coordinate consultations, stakeholder engagements and training programmes with government, civil society and corporate sector stakeholders for technical partnerships and future collaborations.
• Review the work assigned to the consultants and monitor the timelines and deliverables
• Perform background research (qualitative and quantitative) on project activities.
• Support in identification and documentation of best practices and outcomes across thematic areas relevant to the project and prepare concept notes and proposals for the same
• Attend webinars conducted by the global team
• Perform any other tasks assigned from time to time by the Head, Climate Adaptation and Biodiversity/ Programme Manager