Result of Service
Climate change vulnerabilities and adaptations options reviewed and prioritized including cost benefit analysis.
Work Location
Baghdad, Iraq
Expected duration
From: 7 May 2021
To: 7 October 2021
Duties and Responsibilities
Organizational Setting, Purpose and Objective:
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. The Regional Office for West Asia delivers advisory services and capacity building support to countries to achieve environment and sustainable development objectives.
The Republic of Iraq is considered one of the most vulnerable countries in the Arab region to the impacts of climate change. A higher frequency and intensity of extreme weather events, such as drought, sand and dust storms have been experienced in recent years. These events are leading to rising environmental degradation throughout the country, threatening Iraq’s progress towards sustainable development.
The Iraqi government considers adaptation to be a priority for the country, particularly in addressing the impacts of climate change on poor and vulnerable communities and has made some progress towards managing the impacts of climate change. However, despite short-term and ad hoc adaptation interventions, Iraq’s ability to initiate a plan for medium- and long-term adaptation to unfolding and emerging climate change impacts is facing significant challenges, such as limited institutional capacity to integrate adaptation into policies and plan and insufficient and irregular collection, analysis and dissemination of data and information. The Green Climate Fund (GCF) National Adaptation Plan (NAP) Readiness project seeks to address these barriers by strengthening institutional, technical and financial capacities to ensure that medium to long-term adaptation needs are integrated into national development planning in Iraq.
The objective of the consultancy is to support the development of climate change risk assessment for Iraq. The National Consultant will support a team of international consultants based in the United Kingdom who will conduct the risk assessment. Informed by the output of Activity 2.1.3 of the NAP project, namely a report assessing the vulnerability to climate change of vulnerable groups, the aim is to produce a risk assessment with a special focus on vulnerable groups (women, youth, disabled and displaced people). The ecosystem types will be selected in consultation with local stakeholders. Existing climate variables will be used for the national and sub-national assessments. The international consultants will advise on the climate risk thresholds that will be used to evaluate the risk and impact on individual ecosystems.
Duties and Responsibilities (Included in JO Posting):
Under the direct supervision of the Regional Coordinator for Climate Change at UNEP, the National Consultant will work under the guidance of a team of international consultants. The National Consultant will carry-out, inter alia, the following duties and responsibilities under activity 2.3.1 of the approved project document:
1. Support the development of an institutional engagement plan (5 days):
To ensure activities of the risk assessment adequately engage national stakeholders, an institutional engagement plan to conduct a set of government-endorsed climate risk assessments in first-order risk domains will be developed and followed throughout the life of the assessment. The institutional engagement plan should be aligned to the NAP institutional engagement plan for the country and should aim to develop ownership over the work and results. In close coordination with the international consultants and the Ministry of Environment, the National Consultant will:
• Assist in identifying relevant stakeholders and establish contacts with them and promote their engagement
• Attend and facilitate all meetings and/or workshops to develop and validate the plan
• Review draft timelines and activities in the plan and propose amendments as necessary
• Upon approval, coordinate the implementation of the plan
Deliverable:
– Reviewed institutional engagement plan
2. Support the development of a methodological approach paper (5 days):
The international consultants will lead on the development an appropriate methodology for first-order risk assessment in consultation with the National Consultant that identifies, through a participatory assessment process, the first-order domains and most cost-effective method of producing climate risk assessments in different ecosystem areas based on available data and the results of climate projections. The National Consultant will:
• Attend and facilitate all meetings and/or workshops relevant to the development of the methodological approach paper and document all feedback from stakeholders
• Liaise with stakeholders and encourage their participation and engagement
• Review and provide feedback and comments on the paper. Comments are to be inserted into the document
• Conduct consultations to validate the proposed methodology and paper, as necessary
Deliverable:
– Comments on the methodological approach paper, reflecting any feedback from stakeholders
3. Support the development of the climate risk assessments (30 days):
The international consultants will carry out the first- and second-order climate risk assessments working collaboratively with national stakeholders and extrapolate the validity of results to the rest of the country, with recommendations for future work. The task should incorporate the socio-economic scenarios to be developed under the wider NAP project. The National Consultant will:
• Provide local coordination and engagement support, as required
• Assist in securing any relevant data and information, as required
• Attend and facilitate all meetings and/or workshops relevant to the development of the risk assessments and document all feedback from stakeholders
• Provide feedback on the risk assessments
• Facilitate a national validation workshop for the risk assessments
Deliverable:
– Comments on the risk assessments, reflecting any feedback from stakeholders
– Validation workshop report
Qualifications/special skills
Academic Qualifications: Advance university degree in environmental sciences, agriculture, energy engineering or other relevant field. A first-level university degree in combination with two (2) additional years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced university degree.
Experience: – A minimum of 5 years relevant work experience in the assessment of climate risks, climate change adaptation studies, climate policy, natural resource management, public policy, development or related field
– Demonstrated knowledge and experience in the development, implementation and management of projects in a climate change or natural resource management context, especially in the public sector (e.g. water, health, agriculture, or similar)
– Familiarity with the environmental and climate contexts of Iraq
– Excellent ability in engaging with local stakeholders, collecting and evaluating data and presenting information to target audiences
– Experience in capacity building preferred
Excellent organisational skills and ability to work independently
Language: Proficiency in written and spoken Arabic and English is required, knowledge of other languages in Iraq is desirable.
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.
