Science-Policy-Practice Interface Coordinator in the Caucasus and the Carpathians - Level B

Result of Service The ultimate results of service constitute the following:

• Implementation of the project “Carpathian ESD: Strengthening the ESD network in the Carpathian Convention via science-policy-practice interface”, according to the project documents.
• Activities strengthening integration of science-policy-practice interface into the Carpathian Convention
• Contribution to the development of the updated Caucasus Environmental Outlook
• Strengthening the cooperation between S4C and SNC-mt

• Coordination with Caucasus and Carpathian partners on potential new project development

  Work Location Vienna

  Expected duration The expected duration of the assignment is 4 months, from September 2022 until January 2023, with the possibility of extending. Total remuneration will be of 32,400 EUR. Payment will be made in four installments, after submission of a brief report on the progress with respect to the expected deliverables.

  Duties and Responsibilities 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. UNEP has the mandate to keep the state of the global and regional environment under review, in order to inform decision making on the state and trends of our changing environment, and to foresee emerging environmental problems and threats, particularly those of a transboundary nature.

Mountains, just like other ecosystems, do not recognize political borders. The importance of mountain ecosystems and sustainable development of the mountainous areas as well as the challenges faced by mountain communities have been recognized in a number of international policy documents, such as Chapter 13 of Agenda 21 (1992), the Millennium Ecosystem Assessment (2003), and the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development (UN 2015), as well as numerous scientific publications. A number of processes and mechanisms for cooperation on protection and sustainable development of the mountainous regions have emerged, including regional cooperation efforts in the Caucasus and the Carpathian mountain region.

The Caucasus Region:

Regional co-operation for sustainable development in the Caucasus mountain region dates back to the elaboration of the Mountain Convention in 2000. While inter-governmental processes were suspended in 2009, key actors reunited in 2012 to continue regional collaboration. With support from UNEP and the University of Geneva (UniGE), a process of establishing a regional scientific network was initiated; similar to the S4C in the Carpathians. In July 2014, representatives of the six Caucasus countries (Armenia, Azerbaijan, Georgia, Iran, the Russian Federation and Turkey) formally created the Scientific Network for the Caucasus Mountain Region (SNC-mt) . The founding members signaled their commitment to promote research collaboration through targeted activities, exchange of knowledge and best practices across borders, and strengthening the connections between scientists, practitioners and decision makers. Currently SNC-mt, through its Coordination Unit (Sustainable Caucasus ), is implementing the four-year project “Strengthening the Climate Adaptation Capacities in the South Caucasus” with financial support from the Swiss Co-operation Office-South Caucasus. The overarching goal of the project is to reduce the vulnerability of populations to climate-induced natural hazards and strengthening regional cooperation on climate adaptation and sustainable mountain development. The project seeks to mobilize SNC-mt's transnational and cross-sectoral expertise in order to help consolidate and mainstream activities of the Swiss Cooperation Office in South Caucasus and, furthermore, to embed hazard mapping in the larger context of disaster risk reduction (DRR), which is a core feature of sustainable mountain development in the 2030 Agenda. The project’s outputs include: - increased learning and teaching capacities in the region’s higher education institutions in the domain of disaster risk reduction; - improved global, regional and national knowledge exchange and multi-stakeholder dialogue on climate adaptation and sustainable mountain development; and - enhanced processes and tools for Caucasus data, information, and knowledge collection, analysis, and dissemination. The process of knowledge and data collection, analysis, and dissemination about the Caucasus will be facilitated via the elaboration of an updated and extended second edition of the Caucasus Environmental Outlook (CEO), the first edition of which was produced in 2002 by GRID-Geneva, together with the UNEP Regional Office for Europe (ROE) . The updated CEO will form an integrated environment assessment (IEA) and sub-regional examination and synthesis of the current environmental situation in the Caucasus mountainous region that includes Azerbaijan, Armenia, Georgia and parts of Iran, the Russian Federation and Turkey. The aim is to provide a key reference document for assessing the implementation of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in the Caucasus region. A major objective of this process is to build on a large amount of data and information in a fully-informed, peer-reviewed and scientifically-validated integrated environmental assessment. The CEO is to be carried out with a 'bottom-up' approach, in a collaborative and consultative manner, similar to other products such as the Mountain Adaptation Outlook for the Caucasus, and will feed into wider global processes and products such as the GEO.

The Carpathian Region:

The countries of the Carpathian region decided to cooperate in a framework of a regional Multilateral Environmental Agreement, the Carpathian Convention (CC) – a regional treaty, which supports cooperation on protection and sustainable development of the Carpathians. The Convention is coordinated by the UNEP – Vienna Programme Office, Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention. The Carpathian Convention parties agree on the importance of awareness raising and public participation, reflected in the Article 13 of the convention “Awareness raising, education and public participation”. This is a cross-sectional issue, which is meant to contribute to capacity building in all aspects of sustainable development, and is in line with the Education for Sustainable Development (ESD) Strategy of the United Nations Economic Commission for Europe (UNECE) and the global process led by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO), including the recently adopted ESD 2030 Framework. The CC Secretariat, focal points and many local partners understand the importance of ESD as fundamental for long-term environmental protection and sustainability transformations in the region, however, integration of ESD into the Convention, as well as the implementation of the Convention provisions related to ESD requires cooperation between the many actors working in the field of science, policy and practice. Science-policy-practice interface in the Carpathians is implemented via cooperation of the CC Secretariat, and other CC partners with the Science for the Carpathians (S4C) – a scientific network which connects/involves to scientists both from the Carpathian region and from around the world, who are engaged in research focused on the Carpathians. This cooperation has been strengthened in the framework of the recent project “Integrating nature protection and sustainable tourism development into the Carpathian region via science-policy-practice interface”, supported by the Advisory Assistance Programme of the Federal Ministry for the Environment (BMU) and the German Environment Agency (UBA) which also supported participatory events in the field of ESD. During these events recommendations to further strengthen ESD and Science-policy-practice interface in the Carpathian Convention have been elaborated. Moreover, the project supported the first Carpathian ESD seminar, which took place in April 2019, and where for the first time ESD experts from all seven countries met, exchanged knowledge and expressed interest, as well as the need to continue regular cooperation on the regional level. They have recommended establishing “a Convention Working Group / network of experts to coordinate activities related to education and Education for Sustainable Development”. In order to facilitate the establishment of a Carpathian ESD expert network, the project “Carpathian ESD: Strengthening the ESD network in the Carpathian Convention via science-policy-practice interface” has been developed by the Secretariat with support from several partners, and funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry’s Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP) for environmental protection in the countries of Central and Eastern Europe, the Caucasus and Central Asia and other countries neighbouring the European Union. It is supervised by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and by the German Environment Agency. The initial project activities included strengthening exchange on ESD and science-policy-practice interface at the 6th Forum Carpaticum, organized by the S4C network in close collaboration with the Convention Secretariat on 21-25 of June, 2021. The Forum participants provided recommendations to the Convention Secretariat. Moreover, the Forum served as the next step in the process of integrating ESD and cooperation between the S4C and the Carpathian Convention Secretariat, parties, and the stakeholders. Caucasus-Carpathian Scientific Cooperation A Memorandum of Understanding (MOU) has been signed between the S4C and SNC-mt networks in June 2021 with support of the UNEP Vienna Office. The aim of the MOU is to support cooperation, exchange of information and experience, sharing success stories as well as elaboration, financing and implementation of joint activities, with the aim of reaching these objectives for both S4C and SNC-mt networks. The next step for both networks is to facilitate collaboration between their members. The role of the UNEP– Vienna Programme Office The UNEP– Vienna Programme Office, Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention (UNEP Vienna) is supporting the processes of strengthening the science-policy-practice interface in both the Carpathian and the Caucasus region, as well as cooperation between the respective scientific networks. In the Carpathian Region, the Carpathian Convention Secretariat will continue implanting the project “Carpathian ESD: Strengthening the ESD network in the Carpathian Convention via science-policy-practice interface”, funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry’s Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP) and supervised by the German Federal Agency for Nature Conservation and by the German Environment Agency. As part of the project, the Secretariat will continue strengthening collaboration with the S4C network and supporting the implementation of the priorities of the current Convention presidency of Poland “Cooperation with regional and local authorities and relevant stakeholders” (DECISION COP6/2). In the Caucasus Region, UNEP Vienna will support Sustainable Caucasus and other partners (including GRID-Arendal, GRID Geneva and scientific partners of the Caucasus region) in the development of the CEO 2.0, including finalization of the detailed outline and methodology, including timeline, identifying and coordinating among the authors and contributors, drafting, reviewing and editing of narrative text, etc. UNEP Vienna will support cooperation and exchange of knowledge between the scientific networks of the Caucasus and the Carpathian regions and share its experiences gained via collaboration with these networks internationally.

The consultant will support the UNEP–Vienna Programme Office, Secretariat of the Carpathian Convention in:

1) Coordination of the science-policy-practice interface and ESD-related processes, including:

• Contributing to the implementation of the project “Carpathian ESD: Strengthening the ESD network in the Carpathian Convention via science-policy-practice interface”, funded by the German Federal Environment Ministry’s Advisory Assistance Programme (AAP), in close collaboration with the Secretariat and the project partners; o Organizing the Second Carpathian ESD Seminar and the Side Event at the Environment for Europe Conference, and follow up, as necessary, o Cooperation and exchange between the S4C network and UNEP Vienna, o Contributing to the further integration of ESD, transdisciplinary approaches and science-practice-policy interface in order to support the implementation of the Carpathian Convention, o Communication and coordination with the Donor, reporting, as necessary, o Dissemination of the project information and results.

2) Contribute to the production of the Caucasus Environmental Outlook 2.0, including:

• Liaison with other partners including Sustainable Caucasus, GRID-Arendal, GRID-Geneva and scientific partners of the wider Caucasus network and coordination of efforts with the Sustainable Caucasus and other partners of the project “Strengthening the Climate Adaptation Capacities in the South Caucasus”;
• Contribution to the production of the CEO 2.0, including identifying and coordinating among the authors and contributors, facilitating peer review, etc. according to the overall timeline and logframe of the project.

3) Exchange and cooperation between the Science for the Carpathians (S4C) network and the Scientific Network for the Caucasus Mountain Region (SNC-mt) and support in sharing experiences gained by UNEP Vienna via collaboration with these networks in various international fora, as relevant.

4) Contributing to the development of projects for the Caucasus and the Carpathian regions, as needed.

Qualifications/special skills Academic Qualifications: A Master’s degree in sustainability sciences, environmental policy, environmental sciences, or a similar field is required. Experience: At least five years of experience in the field of environmental policy / sustainable regional development / nature protection / science-policy-practice interface is required. - Project management experience is required. - Working experience in academic institutions, particularly experience in writing and editing peer reviewed publications in an interdisciplinary and transdisciplinary setting is desirable. - Working experience with organizations in the Carpathian and Caucasus countries is desirable. Language: English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For the post advertised, fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of a Carpathian and/or a Caucasus language 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.