Consultant on air pollution control and policy analysis in North-East Asia

Result of Service A policy analysis report on the progress and challenges in managing NEACAP priority air pollutants in North-East Asia.

Work Location Home based

Expected duration The initial contract duration is October-December 2021. The consultant is expected to work on the full assignment until March 2023 (three work months in total on a part time basis). The contract will be renewed on a yearly basis as follows: - (1) 1st contract: October 2021-31 December 2021 - (2) 2nd contract: 1 January 2022- 31 December 2022 - (3) 3rd contract: 1 January 2023- 31 March 2023

Duties and Responsibilities The United Nations ESCAP East and North-East Asia Office (ESCAP-ENEA) was established in 2010 through the adoption of the General Assembly Resolution 63/260, with the objective of providing a subregional platform for member States to collectively address emerging issues and challenges in East and North-East Asia. At the request of member States, the ESCAP-ENEA serves as the secretariat of the North-East Asian Subregional Programme for Environmental Cooperation (NEASPEC), an inter-governmental environmental cooperation mechanism in North-East Asia.

The NEASPEC’s 22nd Senior Officials Meeting held in October 2018 in Beijing launched the North-East Asia Clean Air Partnership (NEACAP) to act as the key voluntary framework in addressing air pollution issues in North-East Asia. Subsequently, NEACAP Science and Policy Committee (SPC) was established as the steering body upon member States’ nomination of experts.

The NEACAP Work Plan 2021-2025 identifies “policy and technology cooperation (PTC)” as the priority area to facilitate NEACAP member States to share information on policies, technologies and best practices and undertake technological cooperation. As a key activity of the PTC, the 3rd NEACAP SPC Meeting (SPC-3) in April 2021 agreed to develop a “policy analysis report” prepared by 2022 and published by 2023 that focuses on policy analysis on NEACAP priority air pollutants, such as PM10, PM2.5 and ozone, and their precursors, taking into account the different and common conditions among the countries. The policy analysis would serve as reference for strengthening policy exchange and collaboration, and review the policy progress and challenges in each country. The policy analysis would include the review of country situation and existing research with regard to volatile organic compounds (VOCs), ammonia (NH3), and others if available. The SPC-3 further agreed that an expert team could be established to conduct the policy analysis as appropriate through the nomination in accordance with national procedures.

Against this backdrop, ESCAP-ENEA Office is hiring an international consultant to lead the overall process for developing the policy analysis report, coordinate with the national experts to develop national inputs, build consensus among national experts on the analysis result, compile national inputs and formulate a draft report, facilitate review and finalize the policy analysis report.

Qualifications/special skills Competency: Published papers on air pollution control and policy analysis in internationally recognized journals are highly desirable Academic Qualifications: Proven expertise, such as PhD degree or more than ten years of experience, in air pollution management, environmental policy, environmental science, or related fields Experience: Experience in leading, coordinating and delivering international research projects on air pollution prevention and control policy and/or assessment with regard to NEACAP priority air pollutants Language: Fluent in English (both speaking and writing)

Additional Information Outputs/Work Assignment

In accordance with the conclusion of SPC-3 and under the overall guidance to be given by the SPC and member governments, the international expert is expected to deliver the following as part of the inter-governmental cooperation on clean air among North-East Asian countries under NEACAP with the goal of developing a policy analysis report on the progress and challenges in managing NEACAP priority air pollutants in North-East Asia from 2021-2023. The specific outputs on a yearly based include the following:

In 2021 (a) Propose a draft outline (including the scope, methodology, process etc.) of the policy analysis report to be discussed with the nominated national experts; (b) Draft detailed guidelines to support national experts to prepare their respective national inputs; (c) Facilitate discussions on the report outline and expert guidelines at an inception meeting;

in 2022 (d) Follow up with national experts to provide necessary support for country analyses and inputs; (e) Conduct a baseline study on policy progress and challenges in managing NEACAP priority air pollutants in North-East Asia; (f) Compile, review, and analyze national inputs and prepare draft policy analysis report for the review by experts and policy-makers;

in 2023 (g) Facilitate the expert and government review of the draft report; (h) Revise and finalize the policy analysis report

To support the development of the NEACAP policy analysis report, the international consultant is also expected to: (i) Participate at an inception meeting in 2021 (tentatively planned in early November) to plan the policy analysis report and expert workshop(s) organized by NEACAP if deemed necessary. (ii) Participate at policy dialogues to be held with policymakers in 2022 and 2023 to learn issues concerned with air pollution management and cooperation in governments, and refine and finalize the report with feedback from policymakers. (iii) The dates of the meetings will be confirmed in consultation with the international expert and other participants.

Payment of USD 15,000_according to the following schedule: USD 5,000: within two weeks of submission of output of (a) and (b): tentatively 15 November 2021 USD 5,000; within two weeks of submission of output (f): tentatively 15 August 2022 USD 5,000: within two weeks of submission of output (h): tentatively 31 March 2023

Note: The payment schedule is subject to change to comply with the ESCAP rules and regulations.

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.