National Remote Sensing (Specialist (NRSS)

Overview

Provide technical support for national forest monitoring.

You have:

• Candidate should be national of Ethiopia
• Advanced University degree in Geographical Information system (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS), Forest Resources Assessment and Monitoring, or related field of study
• At least 6 years of experiences in geospatial forest assessment and monitoring, capacity development in GIS and RS
• Working knowledge of English and knowledge of the local language Amharic will be desirable

Organizational Setting

The main aim of the FAO country offices, which are headed by an FAO Representative, is to assist governments to develop policies, programs and projects to achieve food security and to reduce hunger and malnutrition, to help develop the agricultural, fisheries and forestry sectors, and to use their environmental and natural resources in a sustainable manner.

The Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO) is requested by the Government of the Federal Democratic Republic of Ethiopia for technical support in strengthening MRV systems and national forest inventory. Accordingly, FAO is recruiting a National Remote Sensing Specialist (NRSS) to provide technical support to the Ethiopia Forest Development (EFD) particularly geospatial technical support in the development of state-of-the-art methodological and operational procedures to produce activity data for the monitoring period; technical guidance to national and sub-national Measurement, Reporting and Verification (MRV) staff responsible for generating REDD activity data for deforestation and forest degradation and train in FAO open source tools (Open Foris, FAO- System for Earth Observation Data Access, Processing and Analysis for Land Monitoring (SEPAL), etc.) with the aim of further developing geospatial capacity of officers within the national Reducing Emissions from Deforestation and Forest Degradation and Conservation and Enhancement of forest carbon stocks (REDD ) MRV unit, sub-national units and Wondo Genet College of Forestry and Natural Resources (WGCFNR).

Reporting Lines

The NRSS will work under the overall guidance of the FAO Representative (FAOR) in Ethiopia and direct supervision and technical guidance of the FAO Ethiopia Natural Resources Management (NRM) & Irrigation Team Leader. The NRSS will also work closely with other relevant consultants and the government MRV focal person.

Technical Focus

The NRSS will support the implementation of activities under UTF/ETH/118/ETH “National REDD MRV Capacity Consolidation and Strengthening” including the technical aspects of the geospatial assessment of deforestation and forest degradation using SEPAL and Open Foris tools and coordinating capacity development activities with the national REDD MRV unit, sub-national units and Wondo Genet.

Tasks and responsibilities

• Develop capacity development materials mapping, quantifying forests, and forest change using SEPAL and Collect Earth Online (CEO) for EFD national and regional staff and WGCFNR in close collaboration with NFM SEPAL team.
• In coordination with the NFM team at FAO HQ and in close collaboration with SilvaCarbon assess and agree on methodology for area estimation of activity data (AD).
• Develop a methodological report describing the approach for producing activity data in Ethiopia as agreed with country and partners (SilvaCarbon, World Bank)
• Support the work on producing standard operating procedures (SOPs) following an International Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) compliant image classification process
• Support the development of SOPs for sample-based area estimation that serves as documentation and allows for replication for activity data accounting
• Determine forest degradation methodology through testing time series algorithms or software (CCDC, CODED, LandTrendr, BFAST) in collaboration with SilvaCarbon counterparts
• Support the update of Land use/Land cover (LULC) maps (w/ IPCC classes) made with new classification protocol
• Provide support to country counterparts and national RS expert in running change detection analysis (for all IPCC classes) for both national and regional offices as well as Wondo Genet using optimal algorithm with accuracy assessment and change estimates derived on deforestation, forest degradation and afforestation/reforestation (A/R)
• Develop ,in coordination with the NFM team at FAO HQ and in close collaboration with SilvaCarbon national and sub-national trainings/workshops in AD creation for change detection of all activities (deforestation, forest degradation,, afforestation/reforestation)
• Develop communication materials on the methodological approach and key findings for a broad audience
• Develop and agree upon definitions and classes for forests remaining forests (i.e. forest degradation)
• Organize, in collaboration with the NFM SEPAL team, national and regional trainings/workshops on accessing freely available Norway's International Climate and Forests Initiative (NICFI) Planet data.
• Prepare a report on applications of NICFI Planet data in Ethiopia for a broad audience.
• Liaise with government on technical matters to collect data on areas where A/R activities have taken place and log activity metadata and locations in FERM registry.
• Organize a training on the FERM registry, to monitor locations of A/R activities and tools in SEPAL for monitoring forest restoration.
• Train national/ sub-national teams in time-series analysis to detect gain occurring from A/R and distinguish between plantations and natural regeneration and support development of training material related to this
• Liaise with partners on production of SOPs for activity data on A/R (related to ongoing efforts to produce standardized material)
• Perform any other related tasks as and when requested

CANDIDATES WILL BE ASSESSED AGAINST THE FOLLOWING

Minimum Requirements

• Candidate should be national of Ethiopia
• Advanced University degree in Geographical Information system (GIS) and Remote Sensing (RS), Forest Resources Assessment and Monitoring, or related field of study
• At least 6 years of experiences in geospatial forest assessment and monitoring, capacity development in GIS and RS;
• Working knowledge of English and knowledge of the local language Amharic will be desirable

FAO Core Competencies

• Results Focus
• Teamwork
• Communication
• Building Effective Relationships
• Knowledge Sharing and Continuous Improvement

Technical/Functional Skills

• Work experience in more than one location or area of work
• Extent and relevance of experience in forest sector
• Extent and relevance of experience with geospatial data
• Extent and relevance of experience in multidisciplinary teams
• Familiarity with forest sector institutions
• Familiarity with FAO geospatial tools: SEPAL, Collect Earth, Collect Earth Online
• Familiarity with GIS/RS tools: Google Earth Engine, QGIS

Selection Criteria

• Knowledge of Ethiopia’s forestry sector is mandatory
• Knowledge in Geographic Information System (GIS) and RS
• Experience in forest resources assessment and monitoring
• Experience in Forest monitoring system development

Apply now

Potential interview questions

Added 4 years ago - Updated 1 year ago - Source: fao.org