Duties and Responsibilities
Background note: Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The mandate of the Convention and its 197 Parties is to support “a future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses desertification/land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels – and to achieve a land degradation-neutral world consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development.” Land and environmental degradation have a two-fold interaction in relation to conflict and security. It is accelerated by and fuels conflict at the same time, creating a vicious cycle undermining the resilience of community and environment. Environmental degradation, particularly the loss of productive land, soil, forest, and biodiversity poses immense threats to human security, livelihoods, food and water security, and stability of community, including through displacement (forced migration). The Peace Forest Initiative (PFI), a UNCCD flagship launched during the 14th Session of the Conference of Parties of the UNCCD in 2019, envisions to address the interlinkages between land, peace and security in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS). Anchored in the principles of Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN, SDG15.3), the PFI has been engaged with more than 35 countries in Central Asia, the South Caucasus, the East Africa/Horn of Africa, Southeast Asia, Latin America and Caribbean, and Bosnia & Herzegovina, providing an inclusive participatory platform for the stakeholders to co-design and implement joint actions on land and ecosystem restoration (land, soil, water, forest) coherent with national/regional development priorities, mobilizing resources. Despite the growing recognition about climate security and land, peace, security nexus, fragile and conflict-affected countries continue to be in a “financing blind spot”. The latest figures on international climate finance from public, private, bilateral, and multilateral sources show that fragile and conflict-affected countries receive less than 10% (USD 10.9 billion) of the overall global total of USD 116 billion. Against this background, as part of the PFI work, the UNCCD seeks a qualified expert to prepare a comprehensive desk-study that will inform an upcoming policy brief on fragility financing and contribute to global discussions on the topic. Duties & Responsibilities: Under the overall supervision of the Managing Director of the Global Mechanism (GM) of the UNCCD and the direct supervision of the responsible Officer, and working collaboratively with all staff and relevant partners, the incumbent will perform the following main duties: - Prepare a fully referenced (APA reference preferred) scoping paper on fragility financing, with a focus on de-risking investment related to addressing climate security, environmental (land, soil, water and forest) restoration and peacebuilding in fragile and conflict-affected settings (FCAS). This includes: - Conducting a stocktaking of published information, reports, documents and academic literature, and synthesizing the findings into a coherent analytical paper. - Reviewing key issues related to fragility financing, including climate security, emergency and development aid; existing de-risking options for land management and governance, land use planning/change and restoration, and gender considerations. - Examining linkages between land degradation, climate impacts, conflict risks, violent dynamics, crisis and conflict prevention and resolution. - Analyzing existing financing mechanisms, policies, and tools related to natural resource management, land restoration and management, climate security, conflict prevention, and identifying gaps and opportunities. - Formulating clearly articulated narratives and actionable policy recommendations. - Assist with the substantive preparation of meetings, workshops and consultations related to the assignment. - Support the secretariat in technical cooperation and coordination with external experts, institutions, and partners. - Any other duties pertaining to this consultancy as may be determined by the supervising officer.
Qualifications/special skills
- An advanced university degree (Master’s or equivalent) in one or more relevant disciplines, such as natural resource management, environmental policy, development economics, development studies or other related interdisciplinary fields is required. - A combination of degrees from different disciplines relevant to the assignment (e.g., environment and political science; economics and natural resources; climate and security studies) will be considered an asset. - A minimum of 5 years of progressively responsible professional experience in the above-mentioned fields and preferably at the intersection of environmental sustainability, natural resource governance and policies, climate policy, peacebuilding, humanitarian-development-peace (HDP) nexus, or related fields is required. - Demonstrated experience conducting interdisciplinary or transdisciplinary research involving environmental, socio-political, and economic dimensions is desirable. - Solid knowledge of the UNCCD, related UN and intergovernmental processes is desirable. - Proven experience in research and publishing in the field of relevant disciplines, preferably related to natural resource management and governance, climate security, security and peacebuilding, including non-scientific communications is desirable. - Substantial record of experience in transdisciplinary and interdisciplinary work is desirable. - Experience analysing or working with climate security, fragility assessments, crisis prevention, or conflict-sensitive approaches is desirable.
Additional Information
Only individuals who can act as independent, individual economical operators are qualified to apply. Individuals who can provide their services only on account of an institution or enterprise are not eligible under this procedure. Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations Secretariat and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultant and individual contractor is responsible for determining tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. For remote consultancies, the selected candidate will be required to have a laptop or desktop PC (with Windows 11 or newer) or Mac (with the latest MacOS update), as well as a reliable, high-speed internet connection. An Office 365 license will be provided by the UNCCD to enable the candidate to access official emails, SharePoint, OneDrive and other office applications, such as Word and Excel. Further computer requirements: An antivirus application which receives regular updates; Browsers must be a newer version with regular updates enabled; Regular Windows 11 updates should be enabled with Windows laptop or PC. In addition, a mobile phone will be required to enable Multifactor Authentication (MFA) through SMS or the Authenticator App.
