Technical Advisor – Environmental [Senior Policy Advisor on Biodiversity]

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.

Strategic Guidance and Support for Project Implementation

• Provide inputs on the Global Programme’s work to advance the effective and efficient implementation of national policies related to biodiversity, climate, and sustainable development;
• Provide inputs on the technical elements of the project to scientific advisors, governments, and other partners from a project management and delivery standpoint;
• Support the provision of technical assistance to national governments as requested;
• Strengthen partnerships with project partners, including UN Environment, the Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity, and the National Geographic Society, among others;
• Advise Manager of Nature for Development on key opportunities and synergies to integrate outcomes and learnings from this workstream into other initiatives of the Global Programme on Nature for Development and UNDP as a whole.
• Strengthen relationships with stakeholders at all levels by supporting development and execution of an outreach campaign that communicates to value of the project’s capacity building opportunities to participating government entities;

Technical Quality Assurance for Activities

• Manage key deliverables related to spatial planning and biodiversity reporting, including liaising with government authorities and other partners;
• Contribute to the monitoring, evaluation and adaptive management of approved programmes and projects in UNDP country offices;
• Review products to encourage technical excellence in the of implementation/outcomes and outputs/products by providing inputs to, and critically reviewing, products
• Oversee budget development and revision;
• Ensure the achievement of delivery targets and results;
• Maintain portfolio and corporate information systems;
• Prepare quarterly reports to donors;
• Develop proposals for donors.

Technical Tools

• Support the development and application of guidance, tools, approaches and procedures that help to achieve synergies among national and global actions to achieve national commitments to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity, the other Rio Conventions, and the nature-based elements of the UN 2030 Agenda on Sustainable Development;
• Support the Global Programme’s and UNDP’s contribution to the development of methods to monitor progress to achieve the Convention on Biological Diversity’s post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework;
• Lead the identification of methods, models, and decision support systems that support GEF-eligible Parties to improve decision making for biodiversity.
• Provide technical support, guidance and tools to stakeholders with the purpose of building their capacity to identify actions to achieve policy commitments;
• Provide strategic leadership on the use of existing online tools to support virtual capacity building, such as the NBSAP Forum and Learning for Nature Platform;
• Contribute strategic oversight to the partnerships needed to migrate the UN Biodiversity Lab from the beta version to a fully functioning API version of the platform, and support uptake of the new version among all stakeholders.

Strategic Communications and Knowledge Sharing

• Support the synthesis of lessons and best practices and knowledge, including the development of knowledge materials;
• Provide peer review, comment on, and seek to improve the technical quality of programmes/projects, policies, practices, guidelines, advisory notes, publications, and communications products;
• Respond to queries on programme/project progress, impacts and lessons;

International Events

• Support engagement strategy, in consultation with UNDP stakeholders, at international events associated with the Convention on Biological Diversity, UN Framework Convention on Climate Change, and 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.
• Present project results and lessons learned at major international fora.

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 can be accepted in lieu of a Master’s degree.

Work Experience

• A minimum of 7 years of working experience on at least one of the following topics at a project management level is required: international environmental policy, national government conservation, natural resource management, and/or sustainable development; biodiversity/climate change/environmental protection;
• Experience supporting use of spatial data for conservation implementation, monitoring, and reporting is required;
• Experience in strategic engagement with environmental processes and mechanisms, including but not limited to the CBD and/or Global Environment Facility is required;
• Experience developing major international events and workshops to support development of national conservation plans is required;  
• Experience supporting management of UN or UNDP GEF-funded projects is required;
• Experience in project development and/or proposal writing is required;
• Experience with conservation indicators and metrics would be an important asset.

Languages

• Excellent oral and written communication skills in English.

• 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 Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC)  The United Nations Office for Project Services (UNOPS) is an operational arm of the United Nations, supporting the successful implementation of its partners' peacebuilding, humanitarian and development projects around the world.  UNOPS supports partners to build a better future by providing services that increase the efficiency, effectiveness and sustainability of peace building, humanitarian and development projects.  Mandated as a central resource of the United Nations, UNOPS provides sustainable project management, procurement and infrastructure services to a wide range of governments, donors and United Nations organizations.

New York Service Cluster (NYSC) supports the United Nations Secretariat, as well as other New York-based United Nations organizations, bilateral and multilateral partners in the delivery of UNOPS mandate in project management, infrastructure management, and procurement management

Sustainable Development Cluster (SDC) supports diverse partners with their peacebuilding, humanitarian and development operations. It was formed by combining the following portfolios: Grants Management Services (GMS), UN Technology Support Services (UNTSS), Development and Special Initiatives Portfolio (DSIP) It provides Services to partners' programmes that are designed, structured, and managed with a global perspective and primarily serving partners that are headquartered in New York.  The SDC has a footprint of approximately 125 countries.