EU Bioenergy and Forest Policy Officer

EU Bioenergy and Forest Policy Officer

Stichting BirdLife Europe

Brussels, Belgium

INTRODUCTION

BirdLife Europe and Central Asia (ECA) is looking for a dynamic, passionate and committed EU Bioenergy and Forest Policy Officer.

BirdLife ECA is a Partnership of 48 national conservation organisations and a leader in bird conservation. Our unique local-to-global approach enables us to deliver high-impact and long-term conservation for the benefit of nature and people.

BirdLife ECA is one of the six regional Secretariats that compose BirdLife International, the global authority on the status of bird species. Based in Brussels, it supports the European and Central Asian Partnership and is present in 47 countries including all EU Member States.

With more than 4.100 staff in Europe, 2 million members and tens of thousands of skilled volunteers, BirdLife Europe and Central Asia, together with its national Partners, owns or manages more than 6,000 nature sites totalling 320 000 hectares.

OVERALL PURPOSE OF THE JOB

The Bioenergy and Forest Policy Officer will be part of BirdLife Europe’s policy team and will help ensure that EU policies promoting bioenergy are designed and implemented in a way that ensures delivery of real and substantial GHG emissions reduction, while minimising harm to biodiversity and forest ecosystems.

The policy officer will support and coordinate BirdLife Partnership’s work on these policy areas and represent and promote BirdLife’s views to the EU Institutions, and also help design and deliver successful campaigns aiming to achieve the policy priorities of the organisation.

The policy officer should be available to start from April 2024 for a period of one year, renewable depending on funds.

MAIN DUTIES/WORK PROGRAMME RESPONSIBILITIES

• Maintain up to date knowledge of the relevant topics and carrying out specific in-depth research where required;
• Lead the formulation of BirdLife policy and strategy with respect to the relevant topics and drafting BirdLife positions;
• Network with BirdLife partners to promote activities to influence EU decision-making on sustainability standards for biomass and wider bioenergy policies and respond to inquiries as necessary from within and outside the BirdLife network;
• Liaise with key players from the EU institutions and other stakeholders to gather information and influence positions;
• Collaborate, coordinate and exchange information with actual and potential partners (e.g. Green 10), in particular with Transport and Environment and FERN;
• Publicly present and defend the BirdLife positions, at conferences and meetings with industry and other stakeholders, in collaboration with the Agriculture and Bioenergy Policy Officer;
• Provide input to general BirdLife documents and processes (e.g. memoranda to Presidencies, reports to Board, relevant web pages, etc);
• Represent BirdLife Europe at relevant technical EU committees and working groups;
• Help identify opportunities for funding, in collaboration with BirdLife Europe fundraisers;
• Contribute to reporting to donors about relevant work areas;
• Contribute to BirdLife’s communication on bioenergy and related topics, for example through the https://www.eubioenergy.com/.

EDUCATION/SKILLS AND OTHER SPECIAL REQUIREMENTS

• Have a relevant academic degree (additional work experience may be accepted in lieu of this);
• Have at least three years of work experience with EU environmental policy, preferably but not necessarily with NGOs, including analysis and formulation of policy;
• Have in-depth understanding of forest ecosystems and land-use issues, and factors and policies that influence them;
• Be capable of understanding and presenting, in written and oral form, the key scientific, economic and legal dimensions of the relevant topics;
• Have a sound grasp of the operation of EU institutions and EU environmental law;
• Speak and write English fluently, with fluency in other EU languages being considered an asset.

Travel requirements: Occasional nights away from home, ready to travel by train (including night trains and long journeys). We have a low-flying policy hence the need for train travels of up to 9 hours.

WHAT WE OFFER

BirdLife can provide

• Competitive salary ranged between EUR 3,000 – EUR 3,400 gross/month, based on candidate’s experience;
• Lunch vouchers;
• Reimbursement of 50% of the transport expenses;
• 13^th Month salary.

Duration: 1-year contract – Belgian contract
Working hours: full-time

HOW TO APPLY

Please submit a full CV and a comprehensive cover letter (all in English) setting out your reasons for applying for the post and outlining the qualifications experience, knowledge and skills that you feel you can bring to the role to: recruitment.europe@birdlife.org.

Please include in the email subject: EU Bioenergy and Forest Policy Officer.

Closing date: 2 April 2024 at midnight CET. Please consider that applications received after the closing date will be automatically discarded. Due to the amount of applications received, only candidates that will be selected for the second step will be sent an email.