Greener Cities Specialist

Details

Mission and objectives

Since its inception in 1972, the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) has been the global authority that sets the 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’s mission is to provide leadership and encourage partnership in caring for the environment by inspiring, informing, and enabling nations and peoples to improve their quality of life without compromising that of future generations.
Headquartered in Nairobi, Kenya, UNEP works through its divisions as well as regional, liaison and out-posted offices and a growing network of collaborating centres of excellence.

Context

UNEP’s Climate Change Division provides evidence-based data to inform policy decisions, collaborates with sectors for low-carbon transitions, provides climate finance mechanisms and aids countries in adaptation and mitigation efforts. The Cities Unit is part of UNEP’s Climate Change Division’s Mitigation Branch, with substantial collaboration with the Adaptation and Resilience Branch, as well as the Ecosystems Division. The Cities Unit acts as a hub for UNEP’s work on sustainable urban development.
The Unit coordinates the Generation Restoration project (2023-2025), which aims to implement a package of measures to address selected political, technical, financial challenges to promote restoration at scale, particularly in urban areas, within the framework of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration, the UNEA resolution on nature-based solutions and the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework. As part of the project, UNEP is seeking to increase work at the nexus between water risks reduction in cities and nature-based solutions.

Task description

Under the direction of and reporting to the Cities Lead within the Cities Unit of the Climate Change Division, the Greener Cities Specialist will undertake the following activities:
· Support the development of tools, methodologies, and knowledge products to help cities increase knowledge and capacity of local and national governments on existing NbS solutions, urban cooling, and best practices in urban contexts.
· Assists in capacity building of cities in the design and implementation of NbS interventions to reduce water risks in urban areas.
· Supports UNEP’s work on nature and climate with research and fundraising tasks in the context of green cities.
· Contributes to the development of a training package for the use of the NbS tool under development in partnership with UNEP-DHI.
In undertaking these duties, the Greener Cities Specialist will establish and maintain relationships to support collaboration with biodiversity, urban planning, and water management, experts, as well as technical staff across UNEP and in UN as well as representatives in national governments, international organizations, consultants, and NGOs.
Furthermore, UN Volunteers are required to:
· Strengthen their knowledge and understanding of the concept of volunteerism by reading relevant UNV and external publications and take active part in UNV activities (for instance in events that mark International Volunteer Day).
· Be acquainted with and build on traditional and/or local forms of volunteerism in the host country.
· Reflect on the type and quality of voluntary action that they are undertaking, including participation in ongoing reflection activities.
· Contribute articles/write-ups on field experiences and submit them for UNV publica-tions/websites, newsletters, press releases, etc.
· Assist with the UNV Buddy Programme for newly arrived UN Volunteers.
· Promote or advise local groups in the use of online volunteering or encourage relevant local individuals and organizations to use the UNV Online Volunteering service whenever technically possible.
Results/Expected Outputs
The Greener Cities Specialist will build on UNEP’s Generation Restoration efforts to support cities in the design and implementation Nature-based Solutions (NbS) strategies and interventions in urban environments. Additionally, they will play a crucial role in fundraising efforts to support the development of new NbS projects focused on implementing NbS in urban areas to increase resilience to climate and water risks. Furthermore, the analyst will engage in capacity-building activities to empower cities in the strategic application of NbS techniques.