Technical Specialist - Environmental [Biodiversity Spatial Planning Expert]

The Global Programme on Nature for Development brings together three different initiatives – the Equator Initiative, the New York Declaration on Forests Global Platform, and the National Biodiversity Initiative under one program in order to identify, foster, showcase and celebrate nature-based solutions that help achieve the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development at local, national, and international levels. The work of the Global Programme on Nature for Development contributes to UNDP's Strategic Plan 2018-2021 by charting sustainable development pathways through the conservation, restoration and sustainable management of biodiversity and ecosystems; and by promoting inclusive and effective democratic governance in the area of natural resources. 

The Equator Initiative brings together the United Nations, governments, civil society, businesses and grassroots organizations to recognize and advance indigenous and local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities. The Equator Initiative seeks to recognize the success of local and indigenous initiatives; create opportunities and platforms to share knowledge and good practice; inform policy to foster an enabling environment for local and indigenous community action; and develop the capacity of indigenous peoples and local communities to scale-up their impact.

The Equator Initiative is built upon three equally important pillars:

-     The Equator Prize is awarded biennially to recognize and advance local sustainable development solutions for people, nature, and resilient communities. As local and indigenous groups across the world chart a path towards sustainable development, the Equator Prize shines a spotlight on their efforts by honoring them on an international stage.

-     Equator Dialogues are an ongoing series of community-driven meetings and exchanges, held in conjunction with related international forums. Equator Dialogues provide opportunities for people to share experiences, develop capacities, and influence policy.

-     Equator Knowledge is a research, documentation, and learning program focused on local best practice in sustainable development. The Equator Initiative works with partners to identify, document, and analyze the success factors of local best practice, and to catalyze ongoing peer-to-peer learning, knowledge exchange and replication of best practice.

The Global Platform for the New York Declaration on Forests (NYDF), is a partnership of governments, multinational companies, civil society and indigenous peoples who strive to halve deforestation by 2020 and to end it by 2030. The NYDF outlines ten ambitious global targets related to protecting and restoring forests. The Global Platform for the New York Declaration on Forests seeks to fill an important gap in multi-stakeholder engagement and collaboration necessary to achieve the goals of the NYDF. The NYDF Global Platform works to increase ambition, forge new partnerships, and accelerate progress on the NYDF goals by responding to NYDF endorsers’ requests for a dedicated, multi-stakeholder platform to re-invigorate political endorsement of the NYDF, to facilitate coordination and communication, to share best practices, resources and lessons, and to support ongoing monitoring of progress. 

The National Biodiversity Initiative supports countries to manage their ecosystems and biodiversity in order to improve national planning and governance of biodiversity, ecosystems, and development, and to promote resilience for sustainable development. The National Biodiversity Initiative works in three project areas: National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs) Support, National Reporting, and Capacity Building. The use of spatial data for spatial planning is a cross-cutting theme across these project areas, including work through our flagship platform UN Biodiversity Lab, created in partnership with UN Environment and the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity.

Knowledge Sharing is a main goal of the Equator Initiative, NYDF, and the National Biodiversity Initiative. The Equator Initiative has a large series of research papers, books, and other publications focusing on local approaches to poverty reduction and conservation, informed by community-based initiatives.180 case studies in over 30 languages have documented the Equator Prize winners’ innovative practices that deliver the win-win-win solutions that ensure social, economic, and environmental sustainability. The National Biodiversity Initiative share knowledge on the role of spatial data in biodiversity planning, policymaking, and reporting through blogs, case studies, and story maps. The NYDF Global Platform aims to use case studies about NYDF endorsers from a variety of stakeholder groups, including companies, governments, indigenous peoples and NGOs in order to share best practices and challenges in implementing the NYDF goals.

Learning for Nature is a capacity-building offer provided by the Global Programme on Nature for Development, cutting across the three areas of work. This program connects biodiversity policymakers, change-makers, and on-the-ground subject matter experts to facilitate the delivery of the Convention on Biological Diversity’s Aichi Biodiversity Targets and the achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals.

Access to the global multi-stakeholder networks mobilized by the Equator Initiative, NYDF, and the National Biodiversity Initiative allows Learning for Nature to circulate knowledge while promoting best practices. Building on our learnings on the ground, Learning for Nature seeks synergies, build linkages, and engage thousands of course participants through Massive Open Online Courses (MOOCs), webinars, self-paced e-learning modules, and private training courses.

For further information please go to: www.equatorinitiative.org, www.nbsapforum.net, www.learningfornature.org, www.unbiodiversitylab.org, or www.nydfglobalplatform.org.

This is a position to support a project which UNOPS is implementing for the United Nations Development Programme. The incumbent of this position will be personnel of UNOPS under its full responsibility.

UNOPS is seeking the support of a Biodiversity Spatial Planning Expert, to provide advice and guidance on engaging with governments and key international stakeholders on biodiversity, climate, and development-related policies.

The Biodiversity Spatial Planning Expert will support the Global Programme on Nature for Development’s work to enable governments to use spatial data in their conservation plans and monitoring. The overall goal of the project is to collaborate with the world’s best scientists and governments in select pilot countries to develop approaches to use spatial data to identify where nature-based actions to protect, manage, or restore ‘essential life support areas’ (ELSAs) can deliver efficiently across national priorities for biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development. The ELSA concept will be used to support governments in their commitments to the Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.

Duties and responsibilities include:

Data Management

• Coordinate and assist the project team in determining key global data available on biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development, such as: biodiversity (e.g., species, Key Biodiversity Areas, Protected Areas, ecoregions), ecosystem services (e.g., aboveground biomass and below ground carbon), agricultural potential (preferably for key crops in pilot), water (supply or demand), erosion control, desertification, and land zoning.
• Coordinate and assist pilot country colleagues to determine and curate relevant national level data, as available on: biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development, such as: biodiversity (e.g., species, Key Biodiversity Areas, Protected Areas, ecoregions), ecosystem services (e.g., aboveground biomass and below ground carbon), agricultural potential (preferably for key crops in pilot), water (supply or demand), erosion control, desertification, and land zoning.
• Run analyses needed to develop composite data layers, as specified by the project team (e.g., developing a data layer that identifies where forest restoration can maximize carbon sequestration based on input data and analyses identified by the project team).
• Collaborate with UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre and other key partners to develop a ‘UN data seal of approval’ to identify the best, need-specific, global spatial data.
• Maintain an inventory of current data that is available in the UN Biodiversity Lab platform.
• Determine how frequently each dataset needs to be updated and develop/implement a timeline for data updates.
• Facilitate and assist the project team in obtaining any necessary data sharing agreements with data providers.
• Gather, process and upload datasets, or correct data access parameters and settings (WMS: web map service), into the UN Biodiversity Lab platform, including correct available metadata.
• Perform any required GIS processing needed to render data into the formats needed by the UN Biodiversity Lab platform. These may include, but is not be limited to, data projection issues and web optimization of data.
• Carry out geoprocessing and analyses of data layers to create data stacks needed for analyses to identify ELSAs, combining global and national data as relevant.

Platform design and development

• Determine required functionalities and interface requirements of the second iteration UN Biodiversity Lab platform, in collaboration with National Geographic Society, UN Environment World Conservation Monitoring Centre, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and other key partners.

• Assist the developers with beta testing of the platform and functions.
• Set up beta testing of the platform with pilot country stakeholders and users and support the pilots to use the platform and data outputs during the beta testing period.

• Based on the beta testing, work with the project team and partner organizations to develop case studies and user training materials.
• Assist in continued feature and functionality development within the UN Biodiversity Lab platform.

Stakeholder engagement and uptake

• Identify and engage early adopters to use UN Biodiversity Lab, and the data within it, to revise their National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans in line with the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Design a training for all UN Biodiversity Lab users that is linked to the CBD post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework.
• Provide data and technical support, as well as administrative assistance, to countries and users of the UN Biodiversity Lab platform.
• Build community of users among GEF-eligible countries.

Capacity building & knowledge sharing

• Support training and capacity building events and/or help desks at international events associated with the Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Offer presentations during webinars on spatial data and spatial planning.
• Provide direct technical support to government representatives and UNDP country offices in pilot countries. 
• Advise national spatial data experts as needed in gathering, aggregating, and processing national data layers for the ELSA analysis.
• Contribute to a strategic understanding of, and engagement with, the substantive technical issues, institutions, and processes around the project team and UNDP’s work to advance ELSA work.
• Provide technical review for written capacity building materials to ensure scientific rigor and accuracy.
• Peer review, comment on, and seek to improve the technical quality of programmes/projects, policies, practices, guidelines, advisory notes, publications, and communications products;

Education 

• Master’s degree in international relations, sustainable development, environmental management/sciences, social/political science, business administration and management, and/or other relevant field is required.
• Bachelor’s degree in relevant fields with additional 2 years of experience may be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree.

• At least five years’ analytical and practical experience using spatial data/Geographic Information Systems (GIS)/remote sensing for biodiversity conservation is required.
• Three years of experience working with international institutions, civil society organization or national, regional or local governmental authorities to use spatial data to inform government planning and/or policy is required.
• Experience developing models and maps that indicate the conservation status of protected areas or threats to biodiversity is required.
• Experience with open-source GIS and spatial database software, including, PostgresSQL/PostGIS, R and R-shiny, GDAL/OGR, Google Earth Engine is an advantage.
• Familiarity with Linux operating systems and/or command line interfaces is an advantage.
• Experience working with global protected area databases is an advantage.
• Experience with Systematic Conservation Planning is an advantage.

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.
• Fluency in another UN language is an advantage.

Contract type: International Contract Agreement (IICA)

• Please note that the closing date is midnight Copenhagen time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• UNOPS seeks to reasonably accommodate candidates with special needs, upon request.
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns. Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.

UNOPS is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners’ peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world. Our mission is to help people build better lives and countries achieve sustainable development.

UNOPS areas of expertise cover infrastructure, procurement, project management, financial management and human resources.

Working with us

UNOPS offers short- and long-term work opportunities in diverse and challenging environments across the globe. We are looking for creative, results-focused professionals with skills in a range of disciplines.

Diversity

With over 4,000 UNOPS personnel and approximately 7,000 personnel recruited on behalf of UNOPS partners spread across 80 countries, our workforce represents a wide range of nationalities and cultures. We promote a balanced, diverse workforce — a strength that helps us better understand and address our partners’ needs, and continually strive to improve our gender balance through initiatives and policies that encourage recruitment of qualified female candidates.

Work life harmonization

UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands.