The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. This consultancy is in UNEP’s Africa Office, and will be home based. The scope of the consultancy will cover Southern Africa. At the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties (COP15) to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), held in Montreal, Canada in December 2022, the Parties to the Convention adopted the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) along with other important decisions. The KM-GBF provides a comprehensive framework to achieve the global vision of a world “living in harmony with nature” by 2050 and the mission to halt and reverse biodiversity loss by 2030. The core of the Framework consists of four overarching goals for 2050 and 23 action-oriented targets to be achieved by 2030, focused on accelerating our actions towards conservation, protection, and restoration of nature. Following the adoption of the KM-GBF, all Parties committed to setting national targets for its implementation, with national biodiversity strategies and action plans (NBSAPs) to be revised and updated. There is now an urgent need for Parties to the Convention to accelerate their efforts in the implementation of the KM-GBF, including through updating their NBSAPs. China Trust Fund Project - Accelerated implementation by countries of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KMGBF) through South-South cooperation in alignment with the Action Initiative for KMGBF (hereinafter “China Trust Fund Project”) aims to contribute to implementation of the KM-GBF through building the capacity of countries to implement it, whilst facilitating knowledge sharing, networking and south-south cooperation. The following will be the specific duties and responsibilities: 1. Conduct a rapid assessment of the status of NBSAP revision and implementation to identify countries’ needs and priorities in implementing the KM-GBF in collaboration with the UNEP Ecosystems Division by:

•  Undertaking desk reviews and key informant interviews with national and regional level experts/stakeholders and government officials to understand the global, regional, and national status of biodiversity and implementation of KMGBF and AU-BSAP and other sub-regional strategies and action plans Disseminating the draft assessment to countries to obtain feedback from national officials and stakeholders in collaboration with internal and external partners
•  Drafting analysis report on countries’ needs and priorities for capacity development and technical support for implementing the KM-GBF as aligned to the AU-BSAP and sub-regional strategies including action plans to implement them
•  Analysing the capacity of CBD accredited sub-regional Technical and Scientific Support Centres of the CBD to develop a menu of services that they can provide to member states, identifying areas where the TSC need additional capacity, and proposing a resource requirement for the TSC’s to effectively discharge their mandates 2. Design and develop project proposals for scaled-up implementation of the KM-GBF, which reflects the priority issues identified for the Africa region for submission to the funding mechanisms by:
•  Organizing the meetings with regional development banks to increase their support to biodiversity financing
•  Organizing the meeting with UN Country Team (UNCT) - with priority to countries developing new CFs - for effective collaboration alignment with local and regional stakeholders in developing the project proposals

Qualifications/special skills

An Advanced University Degree in biodiversity conservation, environmental science, international development, political science, social science or closely related field is required. A first-level university degree in combination with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.

•  A minimum of 10 years’ experience in developing project proposals in biodiversity and environment at the national, regional, and/or global levels is required.
•  Experience in project implementation in the context of developing countries is required.
•  Work experience related to the Convention on Biological Diversity and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) is an advantage.
•  Experience in the United Nations system and/or Intergovernmental Organizations is an advantage.
•  Experience in multicultural and/or multidisciplinary teams is an advantage.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position fluency in English required. Knowledge of French is desirable

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.