Senior Environmental Specialist

Do you want to build a career that is truly worthwhile? Working at the World Bank Group provides a unique opportunity for you to help our clients solve their greatest development challenges. The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty, increasing shared prosperity and promoting sustainable development. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges
The South Asia Region comprises eight countries (Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan and Sri Lanka) that range in size from India (with a population of over 1 billion) to Maldives (with 0.3 million people). The region has experienced a long period of robust economic growth, averaging 6% a year over the past 20 years. It was the second-fastest growing region in the world in the aftermath of the global crisis. This strong growth has translated into declining poverty and impressive improvements in human development. The percentage of people living below the poverty line fell in South Asia from 56% to 16% between 1981 and 2013. Still, the region remains home to a third of the world’s poorest, with 216 million people living below $1.9/day.
The SSAEN is the ENB unit of the World Bank South Asia Region (SAR). Staff in the unit manage a full spectrum of environment, climate change, green growth, blue economy, pollution management and circular economy, forest and natural resource lending and non-lending tasks in Afghanistan, Bangladesh, Bhutan, India, Maldives, Nepal, Pakistan, and Sri Lanka. Importantly, the unit provides environmental risk management support to the entire World Bank investment portfolio in these countries, helping them to increase sustainability through managing potential environmental impacts from their Bank-financed development programs.
The Environment and Natural Resources and Blue Economy Global Practice (ENB GP): Sustainable environment and natural resources management is at the heart of the World Bank Group (WBG) poverty agenda. Natural resources and biodiversity often constitute a social safety net of the poor, representing a food bank and often their only source of livelihood. The World Bank promotes green, clean, and resilient development where natural resources–from forests to fisheries, freshwater, oceans, coastal zones– and pollution are managed to support resilience (natural infrastructures), livelihoods, strong economies, and a world better prepared for various shocks and global challenges. The ENB GP has been established to deliver on the opportunities, benefits and outcomes offered by enhanced management of the environment and natural resources. The ENB GP team also leads analytical work, policy dialogue, and lending operations in a range of areas such as pollution (including a new flagship on Air Quality Management) and circular economy, integrated coastal zone management, forest and fisheries management. The GP is also very engaged in cross- sectoral initiatives, tasks and teams.
The ENB GP in South Asia seeks to recruit a skilled Senior Environmental Specialist based in Islamabad, Pakistan to provide environmental management leadership to Bank-led dialogue, analytical, advisory and financing, own-led as well as cross-sectoral tasks led by other technical streams, including an on-going priority placed on activities under the flagship SAR Air Quality Management Platform, as well as contribution to other priorities under the CPF, in particular but not only, under the Resilience pillar. The Senior Environment Management Specialist will report to the ENB Practice Manager for the South Asia Region (SAR) and be the GP Focal Point outside of ESF under the Bank Pakistan program.
Duties and responsibilities: