Programme Specialist - Environment, Climate Change and Renewable Energy: UNDP
Deadline: 1 March 2020 (Midnight New York, USA)
Job ID: 35426
Duty Station: Harare, Zimbabwe
Contract Duration: 2 Year with possibility for extension

Background
Climate change continues to be a big challenge in developing sustainable livelihoods in Zimbabwe and is likely to present more developmental challenges in the years to come. Zimbabwe has a very high level of biodiversity and is home to all the "Big Five" – African elephant, white and black rhinos, lion, buffalo and leopard. However, it also faces multiple challenges for sustainable development associated with biodiversity loss, ecosystem degradation, high levels of pollution and climate change consequences some resulting from unchecked man-made activities such as mining, agriculture and industrial development and poor settlement planning. Rural and Urban communities in Zimbabwe are suffering from climate change and variability related impacts and risks such as prolonged dry spells, droughts, water stress, floods resulting in agricultural losses, food insecurity, infrastructure damage, increased human-wildlife conflict and limited livelihood alternatives. The country’s natural ecosystems on which communities depend on, continues to be threatened by overexploitation and inappropriate management. From 1990 to 2010, the country has been among the top ten countries with the largest annual net loss of forest area. The current energy challenges faced by the country and the traditional dependency on biomass for energy exert enormous pressure on natural forests. A fragile ecology, population pressure, overdependence on climate sensitive economic sectors particularly agriculture, a degraded natural resource base, limited access to livelihood assets, including variability are interacting to threaten the livelihoods of millions of rural households particularly women.
The National Climate Change Response Strategy and the National Biodiversity Strategies site weak technical capacity, limited knowledge and inadequate financing as factors reducing the effectiveness of resource users and government’s efforts towards climate proofing development programs and sustainable nature conservation, at the local, district and national levels. Solutions to these challenges require a robust response which includes policy reforms, innovative financing for scaled up action for mitigation and adaptation, landscape wide risk informed inclusive programming for sustainable conservation efforts; disaster risk management and strong partnerships. The ever-evolving climate vulnerabilities and impacts particularly require comprehensive transformative and gender sensitive measures that employ new capacities to adapt.

Guided by the UNDP Country Programme Document, and the 2018-2020 Strategic Plan, UNDP Zimbabwe is supporting the Government of Zimbabwe to pursue an enhanced transformative climate response trajectory by supporting climate change adaptation investments, wider ecosystems management and disaster risk management initiatives at national, subnational and grassroots levels. This support is building on the success of the previous support to the Government of Zimbabwe towards biodiversity conservation, environmental management, energy and climate change programmes. The effort has resulted in the development of various national strategies, planning and policy frameworks such as the National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan, the National Climate Change Response Strategy (NCCRS); Nationally Determined Contributions; Climate, Renewable Energy and Forestry Policies; the Se4ALL Action agenda; sustainable wildlife management plans; related disaster risk reduction and Zimbabwe Resilience Building Framework. The outcomes of the COP 21 negotiations, the SDGs and the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Management (DRM) further shaping a new global development landscape are all guiding this support. UNDP acknowledges that the close linkages between environment, climate change, energy, disaster risk reduction and sustainable development, require a comprehensive and coordinated programme that serves as an insurance bond for national development and a catalyst for the achievement of the national economic blue-print, and the Sustainable Development Goals.

UNDP is also supporting the Government of Zimbabwe towards climate change mitigation whose commitments are largely spelt out in the Nationally Determined Contributions (NDC). The NDC is the overarching framework to guide the development of Zimbabwe’s low carbon development pathway and a green economy. UNDP largely believes that a well-coordinated and supported Low Carbon Development Strategy will help Zimbabwe achieve most of the targets in the NDCs. As such partnership engagements at global, regional, national and subnational level are important in achieving the mitigation objectives. In addition, UNDP is supporting other nature-based solutions including biodiversity conservation, protected areas management, communal areas management of resources in communal conservancies, various nature based solutions and resilient agriculture in collaboration with Government, Civil Society and Private sector.
The Environment, Climate Change and Renewable Energy Specialist is required to spearhead the Climate Change, Renewable Energy, Environment, Nature Based Solutions and related programmes. S/he will work under the overall guidance of the UNDP Head of Poverty, Environment and Climate Change Unit to pursue the UNDP agenda as spelt out in the Zimbabwe Country Program Document

Please find more information on this opportunity as well as instructions on how to apply here: https://jobs.partneragencies.net/erecruitjobs.html...