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. At the 1992 Earth Summit in Rio de Janeiro, world leaders agreed on a comprehensive strategy for ‘sustainable development’. One of the key agreements adopted at Rio was the Convention on Biological Diversity. The Convention has three main objectives: the conservation of biological diversity, the sustainable use of its components, and the fair and equitable sharing of the benefits arising from the use of genetic resources. The Secretariat of the Convention on Biological Diversity (SCBD) is located in Montreal and is administered by UNEP. This post is located in the Convention on Biological Diversity, Science, Society and Sustainable Futures Division (SSSF). Under the general guidance of the Head of Division and the direct supervision of the Head of the Biodiversity Science, Policy and Governance Unit (BSPG), the incumbent will perform the following duties:

Responsibilities

A. Provides neutral scientific, technical and information documents and expert advice on the conservation and sustainable use of marine, coastal and island biodiversity including in relation to post-2020 global biodiversity framework and Sustainable Development Goals, to COP and its subsidiary bodies as well as other scientific and technical preparatory processes; (a) Develops evidence-based documents from scientific and technical data and information to facilitate decision making by the COP and its subsidiary bodies (e.g. SBSTTA, SBI); (b) Prepares draft decisions and recommendations in an integrated manner to support Parties in reaching a coherent set of outcomes on marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (c) Provides substantive input to the COP and SBSTTA bureaux and their chairs regarding marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (d) Leads and coordinates the preparation of relevant scientific and technical reports, documents and publications on marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (e)Leads, designs, planning organization and servicing expert workshops/meetings, regional workshops, side events/meetings that provide inputs to the subsidiary bodies (e.g. SBSTTA, SBI) and the COP, regarding marine, coastal and island biodiversity as well as the development and dissemination of the workshop reports; (f) Leads identification and implementation of any further steps related to ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSA) and the impacts of the various pressures/threats on marine, coastal and island biodiversity, such as ocean acidification, unsustainable fishing, marine debris, anthropogenic underwater noise, climate change, pollution, including plastic pollution and etc., in collaboration with Parties, scientific community, individual experts, and relevant organizations; and (g) Leads the identification of new and emerging issues of particular significance for the work of the Convention on marine, coastal and island biodiversity.

B. Leads, coordinates, manages, and provides expert advice in the execution of the various components of the Convention’s work on marine, coastal and island biodiversity:(a) Ensures quality outputs as well as effective and efficient functioning of the Secretariat’s work on marine, coastal and island biodiversity, including the ecologically or biologically significant marine areas, monitoring the status and trends of different marine habitats and ecosystem features (e.g. coral reefs and associated ecosystems, cold-water biodiversity, open ocean and deep-sea habitats, other coastal and marine habitats and ecosystem features, living resources), addressing anthropogenic impacts (e.g. ocean acidification, climate change, marine debris, marine pollution, unsustainable fishing, coastal development, habitat loss and degradation) on marine biodiversity through the development of scientific synthesis, tools and guidelines (e.g. ecosystem and precautionary approaches, integrated marine and coastal area management, marine and coastal protected areas, impact assessments, marine spatial planning), capacity development, technical cooperation and information sharing, in line with the requests by COP and its subsidiary bodies; (b) Provides guidance to and maintain strategic-level as well as operational-level communication, coordination and collaboration with CBD national focal points, secretariats for various inter-governmental instruments and processes, various partner organizations and scientific communities, on issues of marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (c) Manages, provides guidance, coaching, and supervision, and evaluates the performance of the work of members of the marine team, including interns and/or consultants on marine, coastal and island biodiversity, and coordinates and liaises with other units and divisions as well as senior management within the Secretariat to ensure that the implementation of the above-mentioned tasks is harmonized with other work programmes/initiatives within the Secretariat; (d) Undertakes necessary missions and participates in inter-governmental and other substantive meetings relating to implementation of the above-mentioned tasks;(e) Coordinates and provides substantive inputs to the preparation of statements/messages by the Executive Secretary regarding marine, coastal and island biodiversity as well as responding correspondence and requests from any interested individuals/general public on the work of the Convention on marine and coastal biodiversity.

C. Provides policy and scientific support to Parties and other stakeholders in the integration of marine, coastal and island biodiversity into the ocean development agenda and relevant international/regional processes; (a) Engages and provides substantive inputs to the preparation of the UN Secretary General’s report on ocean affairs and the law of the seas, UN General Assembly’s process on biodiversity beyond national jurisdiction (BBNJ) and other relevant processes, UN-Ocean coordination mechanism and other UN and inter-governmental processes on policy development agendas to ensure the integration of marine and coastal biodiversity; (b) Promotes and coordinates the integration of marine biodiversity into fisheries, tourism, marine mining, shipping and other relevant sectors; (c) Promotes the integration of marine biodiversity into the policies and activities of regional bodies and inter-governmental processes, including regional seas conventions and action plans as well as regional fisheries bodies/regional fisheries management organizations; and (d) Engages indigenous peoples and local communities, international NGOs, representatives of business and other civil society stakeholders to strengthen integration of marine biodiversity in relevant international initiatives.

D. Provides capacity development opportunities to and facilitate technical and scientific cooperation among Parties and other stakeholders on marine and coastal biodiversity, including through the Sustainable Ocean Initiative; (a) Provides leadership and substantive inputs to the capacity development activities within the framework of the Sustainable Ocean Initiative, including through global training of trainers workshop and regional/national workshops, in support of Parties in their development and implementation of their NBSAPs or other coastal and ocean policies relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (b) Coordinates and provides leadership and substantive inputs to the engagement of partnerships as well as technical and scientific cooperation in support of Parties in their development and implementation of their NBSAPs or other coastal and ocean policies relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (c) Coordinates and provides leadership and substantive inputs to the development of on-line platform of delivering capacity development opportunities, partnerships and technical and scientific cooperation, including through the SOI website (www.cbd.int/soi); and (d) Leads and coordinates the provision of scientific and technical information, tools and technical guidelines on various management approaches, such as the ecosystem and precautionary approaches, integrated marine and coastal management, marine protected areas, marine spatial planning, environmental impact assessment, strategic environmental assessment, sustainable management of living marine resources, marine pollution and other conservation and management measures, etc, in support of national implementation of the Convention on marine, coastal and island biodiversity, post-2020 global biodiversity framework and Sustainable Development Goals relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity.

E. Designs, coordinates, and executes the preparation and dissemination of communication products and awareness-building information and provide leadership to raising public and political awareness on marine and coastal biodiversity: (a) Coordinates and provides leadership and substantive inputs into the development and dissemination of communication products to raise awareness among various target audiences on issues related to the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity; (b) Engages and establishes networks with partners, including high-level policy makers, and mobilizes them to further disseminate communication products and awareness-raising information on marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (c) Organizes high-level meetings/events at COP or other international fora, involving Heads of State, Ministers, parliamentarians, or other senior officials to raise political awareness on the issues relating to the conservation and sustainable use of marine and coastal biodiversity. (d) Coordinates and provides leadership and expert advice to designing and operationalization of the structures, main contents and functionalities of the CBD websites and information-sharing mechanism on marine and coastal biodiversity, website and global repository on ecologically or biologically significant marine areas (EBSAs) (www.cbd.int/ebsa), website on Sustainable Ocean Initiative (www.cbd.int/soi), global coral portal website, and an information sharing mechanism on marine spatial planning; (e) Engages partners to promote linkages between the above-mentioned websites with the relevant websites and information-sharing mechanisms of respective partner organizations; and (f) Plans, coordinates and provides leadership and expert advice to the development of on-line fora or webinar as information-sharing platforms to support Parties in their implementation of the Convention on marine and coastal biodiversity.

F. Coordinates and provides leadership and expert advice on the monitoring of the status and trends of marine, coastal and island biodiversity, review and evaluation of the implementation of the Convention as well as post-2020 global biodiversity framework and Sustainable Development Goals relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity: (a) Coordinates, promotes and engages participation of Parties and relevant organizations in the compilation, monitoring and collection of research data/information on the status and trends of marine, coastal and island biodiversity and ecosystem services; (b) Coordinates and provides leadership and expert advice on the development and application of indicators to measure the progress in implementation of the post-2020 global biodiversity framework and Sustainable Development Goals relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (c) Liaises with Parties and relevant UN/international organizations as well as regional bodies/initiatives, such as regional seas conventions and action plans and regional fisheries bodies/regional fisheries management organizations on accessing data/information relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity and applying the indicators for post-2020 global biodiversity framework and Sustainable Development Goals relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity; (d) Provides expert advice, substantive inputs and review comments on the preparation of Global Biodiversity Outlook and other global assessment reports relating to marine, coastal and island biodiversity.

G. Performs any other duties as assigned by the management of the unit, division, and the Executive Secretary.