Result of Service
CBIT’s most important contribution will be to strengthen Argentina’s reporting capacities so as to adequately comply with the requirements of the Enhanced Transparency Framework through the new reporting format under the Paris Agreement: the Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR). In order to carry out the activities of Argentina’s CBIT project it requires the hiring of a Specialist in georeferenced data of wetlands.
Ultimate Result of the Service:
1) Develop a proposal for a national definition of wetlands, applicable to National GHG Inventory (INGEI) and compatible with other land use categories, based on the Framework Document for the development of the National Inventory of Wetlands in Argentina.
2) Identify and analyze information and databases on wetland areas at the national level, focusing on pilot areas selected jointly with the DNGAAyEA and the NCCD, to contribute to the INGEI Wetlands category.
3) Elaborate a proposal of criteria, steps to follow and recommendations to advance with the incorporation of the Wetlands category in the INGEI for the entire national territory.
OUTPUTS
- Propose a definition of the Wetlands appropriate for incorporation into INGEI, based on the Framework Document for the development of the National Wetlands Inventory of Argentina and the compilation and analysis of international experiences regarding the incorporation of the Wetlands category into INGEI.
- Evaluate criteria and overlaps of the definition proposed in Activity 1 with other land use categories.
- Review tabular and/or geo-referenced information and available databases on wetlands at the national level to contribute to the INGEI, including obstacles, barriers, and gaps regarding their incorporation at the national level, within the framework of the INGEI.
- Collect tabular and/or geo-referenced information and available databases on wetland areas for the pilot sites pre-selected between the NCCD and DNGAAyEA.
- Use the geographic information obtained in Activity 4 to evaluate how much representative are the wetlands coverage on land through intersections in a GIS software, its interaction with other land uses and its temporal coherence, based on data from other land use categories provided by the NCCD.
- Evaluate difficulties encountered when performing the intersections and propose recommendations for the applicability of georeferenced information at the national level within the framework of the INGEI.
DELIVERABLES
Product No. 1: Report on the development and proposal of a definition of the Wetlands category applicable to National Greenhouse Gas Inventories, emerging from the review and analysis of official definitions, including adaptations carried out, criteria adopted, and overlaps identified.
Product No. 2: Report on the compilation and analysis of information and databases available on wetland areas at the national level, evaluating the methodological approach and its relevance for INGEI, including obstacles, barriers and gaps identified.
Product No. 3: Report including the sources of information collected for the pilot sites selected by the DNCC and DNGAAyEA, specifying the spatial and temporal scales used.
Product No. 4: Report including results of the intersections of geographic information with other land use categories, difficulties encountered and recommendations for its applicability at national level.
Product No. 5: Compilation folder of documents and geographic layers with their metadata in .PDF format, according to the standards suggested by IDERA.
Product No. 6: Methodological document of the procedure used in the management of the geographic information used in the pilot areas, including data sources, information processing and files used.
Detail on documents expected format:
All documents presented by the consultant within the framework of this contract must be in editable format. Likewise, the CTA must agree with the consultant on the preferred format and content of the documents and presentations to be generated. At a minimum, the documents must contain:
A. Reports, studies, papers
• Editable file, Word format (.doc).
• The structure of the draft and final product must be as follows:
o Cover
o Index
o Executive Summary
o Introduction
o Core content
o Conclusions
o APA-style bibliographic references
o APA-style bibliography
o Annexes
o Acronyms
• Pages must be numbered.
• Establish units of measurement.
• Reports must be presented in Spanish. The DNCC will indicate if it is necessary to present the document in English, this will depend on the type of document that is being generated.
• When information from external sources are included, it must be clearly referenced.
• When working on drafts, both the consultant and the reviewing technicians must work with the “change control” tool.
B. Formulas, calculations, graphs
• When the documents require calculations and formulas in Microsoft Excel, they must all be self-referential. This means that you must be able to modify and see the link between the formulas and calculations.
• Excel format (.xls). They must be able to be modified in such a way that data updating is possible.
• In the case of graphic figures that reflect results, calculations, etc. Excel sheets showing how they were done must be submitted.
C. Graphic or audiovisual pieces:
• Format (.mp4).
•Format (.ai).
•Format (.pdf).
•Physical format (printed).
•Web format (platforms).
•The final delivery, reviewed and approved by the Programme Manager Officer for Climate Change Unit of the UNEP Latin America and the Caribbean Office and must contain the entire editable package and final versions in high and low quality.
•Videos: The final delivery must have a low-quality web version with and without subtitles; and a high-quality version with subtitles and another without subtitles.
Work Location
Home-Based
Expected duration
6 MONTHS
Duties and Responsibilities
The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) 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.
The UNEP Latin America and the Caribbean Office (LACO), located in Panama City, Panama, works closely with the 33 countries of the region and its activities are integrated into the Medium-term Strategy and the Programme of Work approved by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).
The Argentine Republic ratified the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1994 (Law No. 24,295), the Kyoto Protocol in September 2001 (Law No. 25,438) and the Doha Amendment to the Kyoto Protocol in May 2015 (Law No. 27,137). As a signatory of the UNFCCC, the country undertook obligations including the report of the national greenhouse gases inventories, national programs with mitigation and adaptation actions against climate change and any other relevant information regarding to the fulfilment of the objective of the UNFCCC. As part of the country’s undertaken obligations, Argentina submitted its First National Communication in July 1997, and a revised communication in October 1999. The Second National Communication was submitted in December 2007 and the Third National Communication and the First Biennial Updated Report (BUR) were both submitted in December 2015. The Second BUR was submitted in August of 2017, the Third BUR was presented to the UNFCCC in November 2019, and the Fourth BUR was presented in December 2021.
In December 2015 during the 21st Conference of Parties (COP 21), the Paris Agreement (PA) was adopted; its article No. 2 established the objective of “holding the increase in the global average temperature to well below 2 °C above pre-industrial levels and to pursue efforts to limit the temperature increase to 1.5 °C above pre-industrial levels”. In September 2016, Argentina ratified the Paris Agreement (Law No. 27,270), then in December 2019, the National Congress approved the National Law No. 27,520 on Global Climate Change Adaptation and Mitigation. Finally, in December 2020, the country submitted its 2nd Nationally Determined Contribution (NDC) which reflects its enhanced commitment to combat climate change and its effects. Argentina´s 2nd NDC outlines an absolute economy-wide reduction target of limiting its Greenhouse Gas (GHG) emissions to 359 MtCO2e (Mega tons of Carbon Dioxide – equivalent) by 2030.
One of the most relevant challenges that the implementation of the Paris Agreement poses on countries is to count with strong Transparency Frameworks. Article No.13 of the PA establishes the need for Parties to implement national robust and transparent reporting and accounting systems to give clarity on action and support while providing clear information to stakeholders. As part of building and enhancing their Transparency Frameworks, Parties of the UNFCCC will progressively implement better tools and institutional practices, many of them not sufficiently developed in the countries. This is especially true for developing countries.
The UNFCCC Enhanced Transparency Framework (ETF) demands substantial and immediate progress in the countries’ domestic Monitoring Reporting and Verification (MRV) systems and strategic de-carbonization planning. This entails moving from often disintegrated and often different-methodological approaches in data management to an integrated and robust system. The success of the Paris Agreement hinges on enhanced transparency of action and support, as a critical foundation to making its bottom-up, country-led approach work, as well as building mutual trust and confidence amongst Parties.
The Global Environment Facility – Capacity Building Initiative for Transparency (GEF-CBIT) will support the Argentinian government for four years, mainly in strengthening its ETF. This will happen by improving the accuracy, completeness, and consistency of its greenhouse gas (GHG) emissions inventories and increasing its capacities to domestically track and evaluate mitigation measures and related finance support received and provided, as well as generating the technical inputs needed for medium and long-term planning contributing to the improvement of climate-related decision-making in the country. In order to achieve this objective, Argentina’s GEF-CBIT project, which was approved in July of 2019, is organized into three components:
- National and subnational GHG inventory System
- Domestic tracking of mitigation actions and support received
- Medium and long-term projections
In this sense, the Climate Change Unit of UNEP is recruiting a Specialist in georeferenced data of wetlands in the form of a consultant to strengthening Argentina’s reporting capacities so as to adequately comply with the requirements of the Enhance Transparency Framework-ETF through the new reporting format under the Paris Agreement: the Biennial Transparency Reports (BTR).
The incumbent will work from home and will be supervised by the UNEP´s Programme Manager Officer of Climate Change Unit and will work in close collaboration with the National Climate Change Directorate (NCCD) and the National Directorate of Environmental Management of Water and Aquatic Ecosystems (DNGAAyEA) within the of Argentina’s Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development (MAyDS). The specialist work will use as a basis the conceptual and methodological aspect of the process for the development of the National Wetland Inventory (INH) and its progress (Framework Document for the development of the National Wetland Inventory of Argentina), making the necessary adjustments and adaptations, according to the activities described below.
Qualifications/special skills
ACADEMIC:
¿ Bachelor´s degree in Environmental Sciences, Biological Sciences, Agricultural Engineering, Environment of related areas (required).
¿ Master´s degree in Environmental Sciences, Natural Resources or related fields (required).
PROFESSIONAL:
¿ A minimum of 5 year of professional experience in Geographic Information Systems (required);
¿ Experience working with national institutions responsible of generating maps and georeferenced data (desirable);
¿ Experiences with photointerpretation and classification in GIS software (desirable);
¿ Experience in mass processing satellite images and Database management (desirable);
¿ Demonstrates good understanding of Argentina’s national policy related to climate change with particular focus on wetlands; (desirable);
LANGUAGE:
¿ Fluency in Spanish (required);
¿ Basic level in English (required).
SPECIAL KNOWLEDGE AND SKILLS:
¿ Very good knowledge and understanding of theories, concepts and approaches related to the AFOLU sector (desirable);
¿ Knowledge of Google Earth Engine, SEPAL, AWS, Rstudio (desirable);
¿ Verifiable experience using IT tools such as Microsoft Office (Word, Excel and PowerPoint) and related apps (desirable);
¿ Verifiable knowledge of environmental equipment related to monitoring wetlands (desirable);
¿ Confident with numbers and equations, as well as drafting reports with procedures and results.
¿ Relationship skills with public and private sector officials;
¿ Ability to identify issues, analyze and participate in the resolution of issues/problems;
¿ Ability to apply judgment in the context of assignments given, plan own work and manage conflicting priorities. Shows pride in work and in achievements;
¿ Demonstrates professional competence and mastery of subject matter; Is conscientious and efficient in meeting commitments, observing deadlines and achieving results; Is motivated by professional rather than personal concerns;
¿ Shows persistence when faced with difficult problems or challenges; Remains calm in stressful situations; Shows leadership capacities;
¿ Experience in teamwork, with recognition in the field of their specialty to cooperate with consultants of other specialties;
¿ Works collaboratively with colleagues to achieve organizational goals; solicits input by genuinely valuing others’ ideas and expertise; is willing to learn from others; supports and acts in accordance with final group decision, even when such decisions may not entirely reflect own position; shares credit for team accomplishments and accepts joint responsibility for team shortcomings.
¿ Develops clear goals that are consistent with agreed strategies; identifies priority activities and assignments; adjusts priorities as required; allocates appropriate amount of time and resources for completing work; foresees risks and allows for contingencies when planning; monitors and adjusts plans and actions as necessary; uses time efficiently.
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.
