Species Action Planning Specialist at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Expected duration

• The consultant will be hired for 40 days spread over a period 5 months.

Duties and Responsibilities

The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations system's designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional level. For countries to be able to achieve the ambitious results of the 2030 Agenda, transformational changes in the way national institutions make decisions, devise policies, legislate and report on sustainable development issues are needed. Access to accurate information and knowledge, cross-sectoral collaboration and coordination both within and across institutions, as well as more inclusive mechanism are necessary. The attainment of environmental goals is a pre-condition to achieving the 17 sustainable development goals (SDGs). Therefore, countries need to be well equipped in understanding the environmental dimension of the goals and their linkages with other commitments; they also need to be able to translate this understanding into concrete measures to realize environmental objectives in an integrated manner.

The African Elephant Action Plan (AEAP), developed under the auspices of the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES), was agreed upon by African elephant range States during a meeting held in the margins of the 15th meeting of the Conference of the Parties to the Convention (CITES CoP15) in 2010 in Doha, Qatar.

The development of the AEAP was owned and managed by the African elephant range States, and as such, represents and seeks to address the real ‘situation on the ground’ in terms of what actions must be taken in order to effectively conserve elephants in Africa across their range. It was not intended to be an exhaustive analysis of the status of elephant populations and their conservation across Africa, but rather a concise and clear statement of those activities which must be implemented and most urgently require funding if Africa’s elephants throughout their range are to be protected from the multiple and serious threats they face.

The goal of the AEAP is to secure and restore where possible sustainable elephant populations throughout their present and potential range in Africa recognizing their potential to provide ecological, social, cultural and economic benefits. The Action Plan lists eight (8) prioritized operational objectives each with clear strategic objectives and activities. Although the goal remains very relevant, the actions required to achieve it could benefit from a review a decade after the approval of the AEAP.

After the adoption of the AEAP by the African elephant range States in 2010, the African Elephant Fund (AEF) and the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee (AEFSC) were established and operationalized in 2011. The AEFSC was established to oversee the implementation of the AEAP through resource mobilization and administration of the AEF, and to support implementation of the activities under the AEAP. The AEF is hosted and administered by the UN Environment Programme (UNEP), with the AEFSC making all decisions related to the administration. Various projects have been implemented with funds from the AEF. The projects that have so far been funded have focused mainly on the first three priority objectives of the AEAP:

•  Priority Objective 1: Reduce illegal killing of elephants and illegal trade in elephant products;
•  Priority Objective 2: Maintain elephant habitats and restore connectivity;
•  Priority Objective 3: Reduce human-elephant conflict.

In terms of Objective 8 (African Elephant Action Plan is effectively implemented), Activity 8.2.4 states that the AEAP should be reviewed and, where necessary, updated every three years, to keep abreast with the challenges and dynamics of conserving and managing elephants. The AEAP also included an indicative budget for each of the activities identified and for an initial period of three years of the Action Plan (2009 – 2012). At the third meeting of the AEFSC that took place in September 2014 in Ouagadougou, Burkina Faso, the indicative budget was amended after consultation with range States, to reflect the period (2014 – 2024).

The process of reviewing the AEAP was initiated in 2018. A technical report with proposed recommendations for the review was produced in 2019 by the IUCN/SSC African Elephant Specialist Group (AfESG). This informed the 2019 meeting of the African elephant range States convened at UNEP, Nairobi to discuss the revision of the AEAP. A report of this meeting was produced.

However, further progress on the review was disrupted by the onset of the Covid-19 pandemic. Therefore, the objective of this consultancy is to support the continuation of the work described above. The consultant will support the review and updating of the AEAP to ensure it remains an adaptive tool that will enable range States to have a comprehensive reference document from which to guide actions to address the multitude of threats elephants face and to ensure the species’ conservation across its range. This will include conducting a review of the reports from the IUCN/SSC AfESG Members meeting and the consultative meeting of the African elephant range States held at UNEP in 2019 as well as other documentation, and consolidating the inputs with a view of incorporating them into a revised AEAP. The consultant will, furthermore, propose the amendments to the AEAP based on the review, present the proposed amendments to the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee and the African elephant range States and finalise a document for adoption.

The consultant will work under the Under the overall guidance of the Chief of the Environmental Governance and Conventions Branch, Law Division, and the direct supervision of the Programme Management Officer.

The specific tasks for the Consultant will include:

• Review the reports from the IUCN/SSC AfESG Members meeting and the African elephant range States consultative meeting on the review of the African Elephant Action Plan (AEAP), as well as records of meetings of the AEF Steering Committee:
• Review the reports produced with inputs from the IUCN/SSC AfESG Members meeting, the 2019 consultative meeting of the African elephant range States, and the AEFSC meeting records in the context of the current African Elephant Action Plan (AEAP).
• Consolidate and incorporate proposed amendments to the AEAP to be presented to the African elephant range States:
• On the basis of the review and the assessment in paragraph (A) above, prepare a draft revised AEAP. All proposed changes should be reflected in track changes, but a clean version of the revised Action Plan should also be delivered. The revised AEAP should incorporate the inputs, comments and recommendations received from the African elephant range States during the consultative meeting held at UNEP in 2019. It should also include an indicative timeline for implementation;
• Present the proposed amendments to the African Elephant Fund Steering Committee (AEFSC);
• Incorporate the comments received from the AEFSC into the draft revised AEAP and submit to the AEFSC and the AEF Secretariat for distribution to the African elephant range States for any additional inputs/comments;
• Present, together with the AEFSC, the draft revised AEAP to the African elephant range States in a meeting to be scheduled physically or virtually.
• Finalise AEAP for adoption by range States:
  • Finalise the AEAP (including a tentative implementation period) on the basis of comments and additional inputs provided by the African elephant range States;
  • Assist the AEFSC and the AEF Secretariat in developing an estimate of resources required to implement the AEAP.

Qualifications/special skills

• Academic Qualifications: Advanced university degree in management, natural resource management, conservation, ecology or a related subject is required. A first level degree with an additional two years of qualifying experience may be accepted in lieu of the advanced degree.
• Experience: At least 10 years of progressively responsible experience in natural resource management, conservation, with programme/project management, Monitoring and Evaluation in Africa is required.
• Language: Fluency in written and spoken English. Excellent writing skills in English is required.
• French would be an added advantage.

Closing Date 07 April 2022