Overview
Consultant to contribute to UNEP’s work under the GEF Biodiversity and Land Degradation Unit, Ecosystems Division, focusing on biodiversity finance.
Key Responsibilities
- Review and map current biodiversity finance initiatives, identify key finance commitments, targets, instruments and mechanisms, and provide a landscape of key actors, funders, intermediaries, and enabling mechanisms.
- Review biodiversity finance work within and outside the UN system, identifying mandates, programs, projects, funding mechanisms, strengths, and comparative advantages.
- Analyze UNEP’s current mandate, comparative advantages, programs, partnerships, and technical expertise in biodiversity finance, identifying areas of complementarity and differentiation.
- Conduct a strengths, weaknesses, opportunities, and threats (SWOT) analysis of UNEP’s current and future engagement in biodiversity finance.
- Identify and prioritize specific biodiversity finance thematic areas, instruments, and roles for UNEP, assessing each against defined criteria and proposing practical ways UNEP can achieve these priorities.
- Develop a strategic framework for mobilizing GEF-9 biodiversity finance resources through UNEP, defining how UNEP can position its prioritized niche areas to attract GEF-9 funding and providing recommendations on programming approaches, country and regional engagement, co-financing, and risk management.
Required Experience
- A minimum 7 years of experience in biodiversity finance, environmental economics, or related analytical work is required.
- Experience with UN system, GEF programming, or inter-agency analysis is required.
- Familiarity with innovative finance mechanisms and biodiversity targets (e.g., CBD post-2020, Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework) is required.
Qualifications
- A minimum Master's Degree in environmental finance, economics, biodiversity conservation, sustainable development, public policy, or related field.
- Alternatively, a bachelor's degree combined with two years of additional professional and academic experience may be accepted in place of the advanced degree.
