Home Based International Consultant - Forests and Climate Change

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) seeks to recruit International Consultant for the preparation of guidelines to assist forest managers to respond to climate change challenges and opportunities at the forest management unit level. These guidelines will be relevant globally, and apply to all types of forests (boreal, temperate, tropical), for all management objectives (production, conservation, protection and multipurpose) and by all types of managers (public, private and community). The Consultant should have an advanced university degree in forestry or a related subject and expertise in forest management and climate change including field experience in developing countries. If interested, kindly send a copy of your curriculum vitae before 11 April 2001.

Contact Person: Jesper Tranberg, Forest Officer (APO), phone +39 06 570 551 37, e-mail: jesper.tranberg@fao.org

To date, discussions around when, where and how to  incorporate climate change considerations into forest management have been limited. In an effort to assist forest managers deal with the complex issue of managing forests in a changing climate, FAO is preparing guidelines  for addressing climate change adaptation and mitigation at the forest management unit level. The guide will cover all forest types and forest management objectives. It will consider adjustments that could be made in the planning, implementation and monitoring phases of forest management. The guide will also include key sources of information  related to climate change that are considered to be of use to forest managers. 

The preparation of the guide will be informed by a background paper and survey of forest managers that will be carried out in April and May 2011. The background paper will present the current understanding of climate change impacts on forests and forest management, current or possible experience to date and the challenges that forest managers face in addressing these challenges. A core group made up of technical experts and representatives of stakeholder groups will be formed to assist in the development and field testing of the guide.  Two consultations with the core group will be convened; the first to discuss the key issues, scope and process of preparation of the guide, and the second to review the first draft. The consultant will be expected to work closely with the core group.

Tasks
The consultant will work under the overall guidance and technical supervision of the Senior Officer, Forests and
Climate Change. The consultant will help lead the discussion of the core group at its first consultation scheduled for May/June 2011 in Nepal and take the lead in developing the first draft of the guidelines.  He/she will present the first draft of the guidelines at the second consultation to be held in Peru in October 2011. Following peer review of the draft, the consultant will finalize the second draft of the guide which will be taken to countries for field testing.

The specific tasks are as follows: 
→ Attend the first core group consultation and facilitate the discussions on the guidelines.
→ Building on the outcomes of the consultation as well as the background paper and survey, develop an initial
annotated outline for the guide. It would indicate  the contents as well as clarify the scope, potential users, and
objectives of the guide.
→ Following review by the core group, revise the outline and prepare the first draft of the guidelines for peer review.
→ Present draft guidelines at the second expert consultation
→ Revise the draft in line with the comments from the core group as well as those received from other interested
parties invited to comments, and present the second draft for review by expert core group
→ Present the final draft to the national consultants at the preparatory workshop for field testing
→ Provide input to the development of training material for field testing.   KEY PERFORMANCE INDICATORS

Expected Outputs
1) Annotated outline of the guidelines in MS Word format
2) First draft of the guidelines in MS Word format
3) Power point presentation of the guidelines
4) Second draft of the guidelines in MS Word format
5) Final  draft of guidelines in MS Word format
6) Presentation for field testing preparation workshop
Required Completion Date
June 15  2011
September 15 2011
October 17 2011
November 18 2011
December 15 2011
January 30 2012 

REQUIRED COMPETENCIES 
Academic Qualifications
Advanced University Degree in Forestry or a related subject
Technical Competencies and Experience Requirements
Expertise in forest management and climate change including field experience in developing countries.
Working knowledge of English, French or Spanish and limited knowledge of one of the other two.