Geographic Information System (GIS) Officer

Northern Ukraine has approximately 3 million ha of wet peat soils, many of which have been drained for agriculture; approximately 1 million ha remain in a natural state. This landscape is a mosaic of steppe forests, wetlands, and river valleys, which sustain rich but threatened ecosystems. Livelihoods are agriculture-based, with livestock farming a key part of the economy. Although the drained peatlands briefly provided rich agriculture lands, over a short time the drained peatlands have become degraded, as mineralization and peat fires take a continuous toll, while emitting GHGs. The water table across the region continues to subside, which causes forest die-offs. Peat fires also have a significant negative impact on human health and local economies. Land use is not optimized, so agriculture continues to encroach on high value ecosystems. However, increased grazing and hay cutting could be beneficial in some abandoned lands in order to maintain biodiverse open peat meadows that are being overgrown by woody vegetation. Underlying drivers of this situation are limited local and national capacity and coordination in land use planning, limited technical knowledge for agriculture on wet peatlands (paludiculture), limited capital access and investment in sustainable agriculture, limited and deteriorating water management infrastructure, and livestock value chains that currently do not sufficiently incentivize sustainable livestock production in peatlands. 

The project will catalyze a transition across the landscape to sustainable livestock farming in peatlands, while restoring key areas for maintenance of ecosystem services to support both vibrant livestock agriculture and biodiversity. This will be achieved through i) implementation of Integrated Land Use Plans (ILUPs); ii) promotion of sustainable livestock production practices and value chains, including a multi-stakeholder sustainable livestock platform; iii) conservation and restoration of natural habitats; and iv) coordination, learning, information dissemination, and knowledge management. Planned project results include more than 9,000 direct beneficiaries; improved status of biodiversity including 18 globally significant species; 150,000 ha under improved agriculture; 40,000 ha of land restored; 240,000 ha of high value peatlands and steppe forest ecosystems conserved; and increased knowledge and understanding of sustainable livestock practices in wet peat soils. 

Against this context UNDP is seeking a GIS Analyst (Officer) with strong experience in sourcing environmental geospatial data. Under overall supervision and guidance from Project Manager/Coordinator, the expert will provide GIS technical support under multiple project activities to produce outputs related to management of geospatial data, land use planning, digitization of data, and mapping.

Duties and Responsibilities

Assessment of the land conditions in the targeted landscapes, information gathering and analysis, contribution to information products development:

• In cooperation with project team and in consultation with key project stakeholders, to define data needs to develop the following information products:
• a comprehensive inventory and database of land in the target landscape;
• Integrated Land Use Plans (ILUPs);
• Contribute to the development of criteria and methodologies for data collection.
• Provide inputs to the assessment of existing available software tools for integrated land use planning.
• Conduct research to locate and obtain information related to land conditions and land use in the target landscape.
• In cooperation with project counterparts to collect geo-localized information such as photos, videos, statistics, evaluation materials, and any other archives relevant to the goals specified in the Prodoc.
• Gather, analyze, integrate spatial data and determine how best the information can be displayed using GIS.
• Prepare metadata and other documentation as needed.
• Work with remote sensing data, including raw satellite images, and process them.
• Build required layers in GIS system that will show the full required satellite imagery analysis.
• Analyze spatial data for geographic statistics to incorporate into project information products, documents and reports.
• Contribute to and facilitate digitization of territorial maps of Amalgamated Territorial Communities (ATCs), Protected Areas, and other relevant data layers, with further integration into the State Land Cadaster.
• Coordinate and lead project activities on  development the ILUPs prescribing an ecologically and economically optimal land use approach, with areas for conservation, agricultural uses, and restoration.
• Contribute to identification of relevant methods to support implementation and monitoring of implementation of the ILUPs, such as quantitative analysis of remote sensing data.
• Produce other analytical GIS products and reports as needed.
• Perform other relevant duties as maybe assigned by Project Manager.

Monitoring and evaluation, impact analysis:

• Facilitate GIS analysis of project partners production areas where producers apply improved agricultural practices as a result of project interventions.
• Facilitate GIS analysis of targeted project intervention areas, including areas of degraded land restored for conservation and environmental services.
• Coordinate and lead project activities on field validation of remote sensing data analysis through limited sampling.
• Facilitate GIS analysis of integrated management plan maps.
• Contribute to the development of EX-ACT calculation tool.

Information dissemination, knowledge building, communication support:

• Present information to users.
• Provide training on the usage of final information products.
• Support the project GIS tools in use.

Required Skills and Experience

Education:

• Master’s degree or equivalent in natural resources management, agro-economics, geography, climate sciences, applied mathematics or other closely related fields.
• Bachelor`s degree with 2 additional years of relevant experience can be accepted in lieu of Master’s degree.

Experience:

• Min 2 years with Bachelor’s degree of working experience in use of GIS to analyze geospatial data, preferably in the following types of subject areas: biodiversity, conservation, ecosystem restoration or rehabilitation, land management and agriculture, protected areas etc.

Required Skills:

• Proven ability (based on CV information) to efficiently handle all the GIS and graphics related work during the assignment from researching sources, collecting data, analyzing existing conditions, developing maps, to final delivery of maps and GIS data to a user.
• Proficiency in use of office software packages (MS Word, Excel, etc).
• Experience in Satellite Imageries processing is required.
• Excellent information gathering and analysis skills.
• Strong organizational and communication skills.

Desired Skills:

• Previous experience in working with UN agencies, other development partners, the government on international technical assistance and/or donor projects/programmes is an advantage.
• Previous experience in sustainable development and environment protection projects is an advantage.
• Previous experience in provision of remote and onsite training to focal points and other stakeholders involved in GIS projects in order to build technical capacity is an advantage.
• Knowledge of UNDP rules, regulations, project management procedures is an advantage.

Language Requirements:

• Fluency in English and Ukrainian.

Source: https://estm.fa.em2.oraclecloud.com/hcmUI/CandidateExperience/en/sites/CX_1/requisitions/job/19943