Environment Officer

Concerned with the security, humanitarian, human rights and political crisis in the Central African Republic and its regional implications, the Security Council authorized in April 2014 the deployment of a multidimensional United Nations peacekeeping operation, MINUSCA, with the protection of civilians as its utmost priority. Its other initial tasks included support for the transition process; facilitating humanitarian assistance; promotion and protection of human rights; support for justice and the rule of law; and disarmament, demobilization, reintegration and repatriation processes. The newly established mission subsumed the UN Integrated Peace building Office in the Central African Republic (BINUCA). MINUSCA current uniformed personnel levels stand at 11,650 military personnel and 2,080 police personnel, and are tasked with the strategic objective of creating the political, security and institutional conditions conducive to sustainably reducing the presence of — and threat posed by — armed groups. See http://www.un.org/en/peacekeeping/missions/minusca/.

Assignment is renewable on an annual basis (1 July – 30 June) up to a maximum of 4 years. There is no expectation of automatic renewal. Contract renewals are granted based on Mission mandate, availability of budget, operational necessity and satisfactory performance.

Duty station can change in the course of an assignment based on operational necessity; UN Volunteers may be required to work and travel anywhere in the area of operations of the host organization, including in remote locations.

Under the supervision of the Chief of Operations and Resource Management and Chief Environment Unit, the Environment Officer will be responsible for managing the Environment Unit in the sector and for coordinating and managing actions on environmental and cultural issues in the mission, establishing, implementing, monitoring and revising as necessary the mission’s Environmental Management System (EMS). The duties listed below are part and parcel of this task on the Mission’s EMS:

Policy and Guidance:

• Support the Chief of Operations and Resource Management and the Chief Environment Unit in review and/or development and implementation of the mission’s environmental policy and objectives (including directives, audit follow-up, Mission Environmental Action Plan, Standard Operating Procedures, etc.);
• Conduct environmental assessments and surveys of operations in the mission, including Environmental Impact Assessments (EIA);
• Liaise with Military at camps to assure recommended actions are completed;
• Provide environmental support and guidance to clients within the mission;
• Produce the mission’s Environmental Baseline Study (EBS), if no such study has been done, or update existing EBS as necessary;
• Implement the Environmental Action Plan in the sector of responsibility;
• Implement and collect data for the environmental Action Planning and Performance (eAPP)
• Produce the Environmental Emergency Preparedness Plan with relevant offices;
• Oversees the execution of all environmental actions in the sector of responsibility.

Environmental Action Plan – Implementation:

• Lead, coordinate and monitor the implementation of the environmental Action Planning and Performance (eAPP) including data collection and reporting in sector of responsibility;
• conducting regular environmental inspections and risk assessment;
• Maintain a record of environmental issues and actions thereon at the mission, including, for example, a list of potentially hazardous installations within the mission (e.g. petrol station, warehouse storing flammables) in cooperation with fire marshals or other staff at the mission designated to deal with emergencies;
• Investigate complaints or reports of pollution, contamination, health hazards and other environment-related incidents;
• Submit periodic reports on environmental issues at the mission, to the Chief Environment Unit including policy compliance status reports as required for DOS;
• Recommend to the Chief Environment Unit to undertake such measures as may be required to prevent or mitigate environmental problems;
• Advise relevant officers or offices on environmental issues arising from the assessments, studies and plans, including environmental information relevant to the operations of the mission.

Awareness and Training:

• Promote awareness on environmental issues;
• Provide an environmental briefing to all mission personnel including police and military contingents during their induction training and as needed;
• Conduct environmental training to all mission personnel.

Coordination and Partner Relations:

• Liaise on environmental issues with local authorities and the office of the United Nations Resident Coordinator and relevant United Nations bodies and agencies present in the country or region hosting the mission;
• Carry out any other tasks required to support the DPO/DOS Environmental Policy for Peacekeeping Operations and Special Political Missions and the environmental objectives of the mission as directed by the Director of Mission Support.

Results/Expected Outputs:

Successfully manage environmental performance in the Sector of responsibility as evidenced by measurable progress against the Mission’s Environmental Action Plan key performance indicators; and be an environmental champion and example to colleagues.