Result of Service

The work on the Environmental-Economic Accounting workstream will have a direct impact on the strategy implementation of a system of Natural Capital Accounting in alignment with the Brazilian NBSAP targets and policies as the Bioeconomy Strategy and the Ecological Transformation Plan in Brazil led by the Ministry of Finance. The work on the Bioeconomy of sociobiodiversity in protected areas will contribute to assess the multiple values of sociobiodiversity chains, to deepen the understanding of potential economic instruments, Bolsa Verde and Payment of Ecosystem Services, to boost socio-biodiversity value chains. This work will contribute to the development of ongoing bioeconomy policies, including the National Bioeconomy Plan and the Sociobiodiversity Program. The work on the Wild Biodiversity Economy Project document will focus on developing a chapter of the LAC scoping report targeted at timber and NTFP.

Work Location

Home based

Expected duration

9 months

Duties and Responsibilities

Organizational Setting: The United Nations Environment Programme is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global 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. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. UNEP Ecosystems Division works with international and national partners, providing technical assistance and capacity development for the implementation of environmental policy, and strengthening the environmental management capacity of developing countries and countries with economies in transition. The United Nations development system will seek to rally all actors behind a set of high impact initiatives (HII) aimed at demonstrating that transformative progress is possible despite challenging global circumstances and at mobilizing further leadership and investment to bring progress to scale between now and 2030. One of those HII is ‘Nature Driving Economic Transformation’. The promotion of Environmental-Economic Accounts, as well as Bioeconomy and PES policies, could contribute to achieving the goals of the HII. This HII focuses on assisting countries to fundamentally shift economic policymaking in favor of sustainability, resilience, risk reduction and equity. Brazil was one of the champion countries committed to sustainable use of biodiversity that participated in the launch of HII and demonstrated viable pathways for change for a diverse set of contexts, particularly with their bioeconomy national plan. The consultant will provide content on Natural Capital Accounting, considering the Environmental-Economic Accounts (EEA) priorities, based on SEEA-Ecosystem Accounting (SEEA-EA) and Central Framework (SEEA-CF), defined in alignment with the Bioeconomy and Ecological Transformation Plan, linked to the Nature Driving Economic Transformation initiative. As part of UNEP’s work on the Early Action Support project, this consultancy will contribute to the analysis of which plans, policies and programs defined at the Pluriannual Plan 2024-2027 (PPA 2024-2027) in Brazil, can be informed by SEEA- CF and SEEA-EA and how those link to the GBF targets in the NBSAP. This consultancy will contribute to the following work: 1. Transversality and contributions of Environmental-Economic Accounting Framework to the targets of the Brazilian National Biodiversity Strategy and Action Plan (NBSAP) and its implementations. 2. Support the Natural Capital accounting governance structuring and its relation to the Green Taxonomy, Bioeconomy Strategy (as for example the sociobiodiversity value chains and payment for ecosystem service) and other national policies related to economic sustainable development, provided to Ministry of Environment and Ministry of Finance. 3. Initiative on the perception of the productive viability of socio-biodiversity products value chains in territories of traditional communities in Amazon (i.e. Extractive Protected Area – RESEX) to subsidize economic instruments such as Payment for Ecosystem Services (PES), Bolsa Verde, in alignment with the Bioeconomy National Strategy. 4. Contribution to the LAC Scoping report for the WBDE project document, specifically on Timber and Non-Timber Forest Products (NTFPs). Duties and Responsibilities: The consultant’s responsibilities will include: 1. Technical analysis of the transversality and contributions of the Environmental-Economic Accounting potential monitoring indicators to the implementation of the Brazilian NBSAP. 2. Preparation of meetings with government bodies (IBGE, Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Finance and others) to present applications of the EEA and development of a working plan with the prioritization of the EEA to meet economic-environmental policy demands on Bioeconomy Strategy and Ecological Transformation Plan. 3. Supporting the formalization of an interministerial arrangement for the EEA of different government bodies. 4. Coordination and articulation of updating the National Economic Activities Classifications (CNAE) aligned with the EEA and the Sustainable Taxonomy agenda. 5. Technical and scientific support to the Public Policy Research Group (GPP/ESALQ/USP) for the development of the initiative “Bioeconomy Territories: multiple benefits of socio-biodiversity value chains in Brazilian Amazon protected areas”. 6. Research on the practices and activities related to monitoring and facilitating sustainable use of timber and a deep dive into NTFPs in LAC. The scoping activity will cover the below items: • Define a framework for the chapter with a literature review, policy, regulatory, legal framework and socioeconomic data, about timber and NTFP value chains. • Conduct a literature review of all timber and NTFP WBDE related activities (recognizing that these activities may be done under different names in different countries / regions) to gather data and source relevant materials. • Identify relevant case studies and good practices from across the region to illustrate the state of the timber and NTFP WBDE in the region, including diversity in terms of geographic location, biomes, WBDE activities, policies and socio-economic context. • Provide an overview of the policy, regulatory and legal framework governing the use of timber and NTFP, incorporating insightful case studies from selected countries. • Identify country-specific gaps and opportunities pertaining to various types of use of timber and NTFP activities and practices, as relevant. • Obtain facts and statistics rooted in science and knowledge that can enable informed decision making on the use of timber and NTFP, monitoring progress, and that can provide guidance for the successful implementation of the use of timber and NTFP. • Identify the primary stakeholders engaged in activities related to the use of timber and NTFP, as well as any related terms, within the region. • Produce a regional scoping report summarizing findings from above.

Qualifications/special skills

An advanced university degree in Environmental Science, Social Science, Agricultural science or Public Administration, Economics or Environmental Economics, or a related field is required. A first university degree with a combination of two (2) years professional and academic qualifications may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree. A minimum of two (2) years of professional working experience in programme and project planning and implementation in the field of sustainable biodiversity value chains, bioeconomy and of economic instruments for biodiversity and ecosystems conservation is required. Experience in stakeholder engagement at federal, state and/or municipal level is desirable. Experience with valuation of ecosystem services, Payment for Ecosystem Services and biodiversity would be an added advantage. An understanding of the Brazilian environmental, bioeconomy and economic political context, as well as the Brazilian environmental and economic institutional framework is desirable.

Languages

English and French are the working languages of the United Nations Secretariat. For this position fluency in oral and written English is required. Knowledge of Portuguese is highly desirable.

Additional Information

Not available.

No Fee

THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CHARGE A FEE AT ANY STAGE OF THE RECRUITMENT PROCESS (APPLICATION, INTERVIEW MEETING, PROCESSING, OR TRAINING). THE UNITED NATIONS DOES NOT CONCERN ITSELF WITH INFORMATION ON APPLICANTS’ BANK ACCOUNTS.