GEO Cities Consultancy of the Global Environmental Outlook for cities in Chile (Home Based)

Based on a regional inter-agency agreement, UNOPS is providing support to UNEP´s Regional Office for Latin America and the Caribbean (UNEP-ROLAC) and the Southern Cone Office for the recruitment of different project personnel. In this context, UNOPS wishes to recruit an experienced environmental affairs expert for six (6) months to join the UNEP-ROLAC and the Southern Cone Office team related to the following working area:

Since 1995, UN Environment has been conducting an ambitious integrated environmental assessment project known as GEO (Global Environment Outlook). The GEO Cities project was launched in 2001, within the framework of the GEO project and responding to the request of the Forum of Ministers of Environment of Latin America and the Caribbean and to the activities related to the Johannesburg Summit. The project aims at promoting a better understanding of the dynamics of cities and their environments, providing local governments, scientists, policy-makers and the public in general in the region with reliable and up-to-date information about their cities.

GEO reports have an established methodology to detect trends in the state of the environment and to monitor progress towards the achievement of environmental policy targets.

The GEO methodology employs a matrix of the Pressure-State-Impact-Response (SPIR) indicators to answer these questions as an analytical instrument that permits factors that act on the environment to be organized and grouped in a logical manner. It shows how urbanization affects the environment because of factors that put pressure on local natural resources and ecosystems, as well as action taken by local society and government to confront the problems caused by human activities.

GEOs provide the community with improved access to meaningful environmental data and information, which help increasing the capacity of local and central governments and the private sector for planning and decision-making. A GEO city process can be instrumental for the establishment of a multi-sectoral and comprehensive mechanism tasked with integrated monitoring and assessment of the environment and health of the population in areas where conflicts are detected, but in which simultaneously important environmental monitoring investments have been made that are not necessarily recognized.

II.         RESPONSIBILITIES

Functional Responsibilities

The overall objectives of the GEO-Cities consultancy are:

• Recognize the links between environmental conditions and human activities, especially those related to urban development.
• Contribute to building local technical capacities that will permit integrated assessments to be made on the state of the urban environment.
• Guide consensus building on the most critical environmental problems in each city by encouraging all sectors of society to engage in dialogue and participate in the decision-making process.
• Make it possible to formulate and implement urban strategies and plans that will help cities to improve urban environment management.
• Encourage the creation of permanent institutional networks in the city.

III.        EXPECTED RESULTS

Activity 1: Guidelines for the production of GEO-Cities

The main expected deliverable from this consultancy will be a careful and detailed description of the main topics and related chapters to be included in the GEO-City for the Fifth Region. This shall include a thorough analysis on available sources of data and information; their nature (private, public, open format, scientific literature, grey literature); existing gaps in terms of data sustainability, accessibility and availability (frequency of publication, existence of a mandate, availability of operating funds); a list of public institutions, private organizations and individuals to be approached and engaged in the development of each chapters and, finally; a preliminary list of key references to be considered for the development of each chapter;

Product: Guidelines for the production of GEO and Outlines of the GEO report

Activity 2: Collection and classification of background information for the design of a GEO Information Platform.

Through this activity, the consultant will perform a systematic collection and analysis of existing information regarding national and international experiences (good practices) for the design and deployment of a data platform for on-line publication of validated data on air quality and meteorology.

The proposed data platform would provide users with the following functionalities: 1) systematic data collection, validation, publication, and sharing; 2) Data analysis and integration; serve as structured repository of up-to-date and robust data and information to feed into the development of periodic Global Environment Outlooks (GEOs) for the area; 3) Modelling patterns and trends of the environment to produce outlooks and future scenarios relevant to the area of study.

The data Platform will provide the users with direct access to the most up-to-date and relevant data sources (both from public institutions and from private sector), statistics and indicators included in the narrative of each Chapters. Furthermore, it would provide an opportunity to the population living in the areas object of the GEOs report to point out to the local authorities’ specific environmental issues and to upload data and information through the deployment of new monitoring systems based on innovative, non-conventional solutions (e.g., low-cost sensor networks, citizen science).

Product: Guidelines for the development and operational deployment of a data Platform based on different sources of data. Description of main functionalities and conceptual scheme.

Activity 3: Collection and classification of air quality and meteorological information:

• Processing of validated information from historical meteor and air-quality stations in the Fifth Region and trend analysis.

• Processing of information from monitoring campaigns and inferences about the current air quality situation in the study area (Fifth Region);
• Development of trend graphs from previous information, corrected by meteorological conditions.

Product: Mapping of data and analysis available about air quality in the Fifth Region.

Activity 4: Collection and review of atmospheric emissions data from the main sources operating in the Fifth Region and production of a background report for a technical mission of VTT-Finland scheduled for the month of June 2018.

• Review of information on emissions from existing reports and inventories for the area.
• Based on information from previous points, an executive report will be prepared as an induction for the experts of VTT-Finland visiting Chile in June 2018.

The report shall include

1. Technical data related to main emission sources in the area, type of measurement used, and the reports generated;
2. Identification of information gaps, duplication of reporting mechanisms and opportunities for simplification or optimization, and;
3. Detailed information about investments for abatement of atmospheric emissions supported by the main companies in the area, as a fundamental input for the GEO-City Report and related Information Platform.

Product: report          

Lumpsum payment modality.  There will be a single lumpsum payment issued at the end of the consultancy period, upon confirmation by the supervisor in written of his/her clearance of the below-described deliverables:

• Master’s Degree or equivalent is required in environmental sciences, Earth sciences, economy, or environmental statistics.
• A first-level university degree is required  in environmental sciences, Earth sciences, economy, or environmental statistics plus additional years of experience (+7) may be accepted in lieu of a Master university degree.

• A minimum of 5 years professional experience in environmental sector in Latin America and the Caribbean or related areas (7 years with a Bachelor)
• Experience as project manager  is an asset.
• Experience in international projects, as well as in South-South cooperation is desirable.

• Fluency in Spanish is required.
• Fluency in English is required

• Professionalism
• Communication skills
• Team work
• Planning and organisation
• Technology awareness
• Creativity
• Client orientation

• Please note that the closing date is 6:00 pm Chile time
• Applications received after the closing date will not be considered.
• Only those candidates that are short-listed for interviews will be notified.
• Qualified female candidates are strongly encouraged to apply.
• Work life harmonization - UNOPS values its people and recognizes the importance of balancing professional and personal demands. We have a progressive policy on work-life harmonization and offer several flexible working options. This policy applies to UNOPS personnel on all contract types
• For staff positions only, UNOPS reserves the right to appoint a candidate at a lower level than the advertised level of the post
• The incumbent is responsible to abide by security policies, administrative instructions, plans and procedures of the UN Security Management System and that of UNOPS.  

It is the policy of UNOPS to conduct background checks on all potential recruits/interns.
Recruitment/internship in UNOPS is contingent on the results of such checks.