Technical Specialist - Climate Change

Botswana has achieved considerable progress in the environment/natural resources management and development. Despite progress made in this area emerging issues such as climate change will cause a setback. The UN expert panel on climate change has concluded that high rates of CO2 emission into the atmosphere will induce global warming. The effects will be felt worldwide, but the regional and local implications are uncertain. Major effects are expected to be increases in temperature and extreme weather events such as big storms, and floods.

During the NDP 10, an Environment and Climate Change component has been designed as part of the United Nations Development Assistance Programme (UNDAF). The various activities that are to be undertaken during the programme range from environmental information systems, organizational structures, environmental legislation, multilateral environmental agreements, integrated water resources management, community based natural resources management and climate change. Linked to the issues of climate change  are the anticipated Reduced Emissions from Deforestation and Degradation (REDD) activities geared at advancing the adaptation and mitigation measures across all sectors’ of the economy.

Under the guidance and supervision of the Deputy Resident Representative, the Technical Advisor for Climate Change will be recruited internationally, in accordance with the UNDP recruiting procedures and appointed by UNDP to serve as the full-time Technical Advisor for Climate Change. The position will be located within the Ministry of Environment, Wildlife & Tourism with active liaison with sectors both within and outside the MEWT.

Technical Advisor for Climate Change will provide advisory services on climate change as a development issue and in particular take responsibility for the delivery of programme outputs within the GoB-UNPOP Results and Resources Matrix on Climate Change by supporting the relevant government, Civil Society Organisations and Private Sector agencies to deliver on their designated outputs.

The Technical Advisor for Climate Change assumes a facilitative and cartelistic role to Implementing Partners for the Climate Change Sub-component of the GoB-UNPOP and other components as appropriate.

Duties and Responsibilities:

• Provide advisory input into the preparation of a more detailed narrative on the institutional roles,
  responsibilities, coordinating actions and feedback mechanisms of program related partners;
• Advice on  training needs for national institutions and other stakeholders;
• Design and guide the process of generating specialist inputs to the UNPOP on climate change,
  (e.g reports) to be generated within the scope of the programme and improves such reports in accordance
  with the expectations of the Government of Botswana and major stakeholders;
• Advice on preparation of  national Greenhouse Gases (GHG) inventories according to the guidelines for
  the preparation of National Communications (17/CP.8);
• Advice on the preparation of vulnerability assessment and adaptation strategies;
• Provide advisory input into the preparation of a comprehensive National Action Plan (NAP) for adaptation;
• Facilitate the participatory development of negotiating positions and strategies for the Government of
  Botswana for meetings of the COP of the UNFCCC;
• Advice on preparation of GHG mitigation strategies;
• To prepare inputs into the management reports (progress, exception, etc) in accordance with timetables
  established by the programme manager;
• To design a resource mobilization strategy and conduct resource mobilization meetings;
• Support relevant national agencies to attain effective representation of the GoB-UNPOP at meetings and
  other appropriate regional and international fora;
• Serve as a link between the Programme and the international community in-terms of facilitating knowledge
  sharing and benchmarking;
• To identify deficiencies in the operational aspects of all climate change activities and make
  recommendations for improvement for the benefit of the nation;
• Provide coordination and help organize collaboration on climate change issues;
• Contribute to the development and implementation of a climate change policy for Botswana;\
• Analyze MEWT communication strategies and interaction of DMS with the media to ensure the
  public is kept appraised on climate change issues;
• To assess the systemic, institutional and individual capacity needs required to successfully implement
  the REDD programme;
• Support Department of Forestry & Range Resources (DFRR) to evaluate socio-economic data to assess
  drivers of deforestation and degradation;
• Identify appropriate areas for REDD based on the conservation priorities, and a consideration of
  projects that would also abate the impacts of climate change

Functional Competencies:

• Advocacy/Advancing A Policy-Oriented Agenda;
• Building Strategic Partnerships;
• Innovation and Marketing New Approaches;
• Promoting Organizational Learning and Knowledge Sharing;
• Job Knowledge/Technical Expertise;
• Global Leadership and Advocacy for UNDP’s Goals.

Core Competencies:

• Promoting ethics and integrity, creating organizational precedents;
• Building support and political acumen;
• Building staff competence,  creating an environment of creativity and innovation;
• Building and promoting effective teams;
• Creating and promoting enabling environment for open communication;
• Creating an emotionally intelligent organization;
• Leveraging conflict in the interests of UNDP & setting standards.
• Strong communications and interpersonal skills;

Education:

• Masters degree in environmental management/ earth sciences, forestry, environmental economics or a
  closely related field.

Experience:

• At least 10 years experience in environment and climate change advisory services;
• Sound and broadly-recognized scientific expertise on climate research and policy advisory
  services;
• Prior experience in inventory preparation work;
• Highly qualified person working in the fields of emission factor development or data collection
  methods;
• Familiarity with the United Nations Framework for Combating Climate Change (UNFCCC) and
  Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) methodology, United Nations Convention and Biological
  Diversity (UNCBD) and United Nations Convention on Combating Desertification (UNCCD);
• Prior experience in vulnerability assessment and adaptation processes;
• Highly qualified person working in the fields of climate observation and vulnerability analysis
  in the specific sectors;
• Experience in preparing scenarios for GHG abatement;
• Highly qualified person working in the related areas: Energy, Industry, Agriculture, Forestry,
  Ecology, Waste Management and Environment.
• Computer literacy in Microsoft Office (word, excel, outlook) and web-based applications.

Language:

• Proficiency in the English language, spoken and written;