Adaptation Expert

Result of Service

The Expert is expected to deliver three main deliverables, namely 1) An interim report with a description of the suitable climate adaptation policies containing the proposed data and metrics needed to monitor and report the progress of the policies. This report will be the background report for the NDC tracking sheets for Mozambique’s climate adaptation plans. The report shall be subject to UNEP-CCC’s review and should be validated with national stakeholders. 2) An interim report containing an analysis of the baseline scenarios for the local adaptation plans, including NDC tracking sheets. The report shall be subject to UNEP-CCC’s review and should be validated with national stakeholders. 3) A final technical report outlining the application of ICAT guidance(s) for estimating the ex-ante and ex-post impacts of the local adaptation plans, and proposal for improvement in Mozambique. Said report should build on the data collected and analyzed and contain details about stakeholder consultation and validation processes. The report shall be subject to UNEP-CCC’s review and should be validated with national stakeholders.

Work Location

Maputo, Morrumbala or Inhassunge, Mozambique

Expected duration

9 months

Duties and Responsibilities

To build mutual trust and confidence and to promote effective implementation, the Paris Agreement established an enhanced transparency framework (ETF) for action and support (Art. 13), the mechanism to catalyze and track the progress of the implementation of countries’ NDCs. In this respect, and while noting some flexibility for developing countries on the information to be reported and providing SIDS the option to submit the information at their discretion, countries are expected to submit Biennial Transparency Reports (BTRs), the first one to be submitted by 31 December 2024. The Paris Agreement also established through Article 6 both market and non-market approaches for voluntary cooperation to reach their climate targets, amongst others, through a high-integrity carbon crediting mechanism. The Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) was established in 2015 at the Conference of Parties (COP) that adopted the Paris Agreement to support the implementation of the Agreement’s Enhanced Transparency Framework. The Initiative works with over 50 developing countries. ICAT provides countries with tailored support and practical tools and methodologies to build robust transparency frameworks needed for effective climate action in sync with national development priorities. The projects ICAT supports relate to building or enhancing transparency frameworks for mitigation; building a monitoring and evaluation approach for adaptation; building or enhancing frameworks to track progress in implementing nationally determined contributions; assessing the impacts of climate policies; estimating or enhancing projections of greenhouse gases; integrating and/or aggregating climate actions at the subnational level and by non-State actors; building a tracking system for just transition processes; establishing or enhancing a climate data system; and putting in place a framework to track climate finance. To support these areas, ICAT offers a suite of practical, open-source tools and methodologies to provide effective support to the transparency efforts of countries around the world. The UNEP Copenhagen Climate Centre (UNEP CCC) is a leading international advisory organization on energy, climate, and sustainable development. Its work focuses on assisting developing countries and emerging economies in transitioning towards low-carbon, climate-resilient development pathways and supports the integration of climate action into national development. UNEP CCC is actively engaged in implementing UNEP’s Climate Change Strategy and Energy Programme by delivering technical assistance and policy advice to developing countries and emerging markets in the context of the Paris Agreement and the Sustainable Development Goals. As one of ICAT’s Implementing Partners, UNEP CCC has been selected to support the implementation of the ICAT Phase 3 in Mozambique. To be able to carry out reporting on implementation progress, as well as on support needed and received, an ETF needs to be established at the national level. Measuring, reporting, and verification (MRV) systems are key elements to guarantee transparency, precision, and comparability on climate change information. In response to the needed actions presented by the Paris Agreement, Mozambique requires a robust MRV system to track progress and impacts of mitigation and adaptation actions and assess whether set targets are being achieved. Enhanced transparency through a robust MRV system will also support national policy decisions, and the tracking of climate finance flows received and needed. As part of its efforts to enhance its transparency capacities Mozambique has requested support from the Initiative for Climate Action Transparency (ICAT) to: • Align the previously developed institutional arrangement for the enhanced transparency framework and NDC Tracking framework with the recently updated National System for Monitoring and Evaluation of Climate Change. • Enhance institutional capacities to monitor and track NDC implementation. • Enhance capacity to assess impacts of climate policies and sub-national adaptation plans to support the preparation of new NDC and BTR submissions. • Share knowledge and lessons learned for replication of activities in other sectors and institutions. • Guide the development of criteria for the classification of measures relevant to the generation of Internationally Transferred Mitigation Outcomes. Based on the above objectives, the project will contribute to the following key impacts in Mozambique: • Refine Mozambique’s Monitoring, Review, and Verification (MRV) framework. • Refine Mozambique’s NDC tracking framework. • Create a system for Mozambique’s adaptation monitoring measures, and processes, and ensure that plans are developed and put in place. • Improve climate and/or sustainable development policies. The ICAT project in Mozambique will be implemented within the period of 1 September 2024 and 30 August 2025. For all ICAT activities, the main institutional partner is the Directorate of Climate Change of the Ministry of Land and Environment (DMC), where the UNFCCC focal points and the ICAT focal point are located. DMC will be responsible for guiding the consultant in the engagement with other stakeholders, including other ongoing projects with activities related to MRV and climate transparency. The ICAT phase 3 project will build upon the work done in the previous two phases of ICAT support and will coordinate with other ongoing projects relevant to transparency of climate change, in order to stimulate synergies and avoid overlaps. UNEP CCC will review and sign off all written deliverables and provide technical support throughout project implementation. Specifically: • All deliverables specified in this TOR will be drafted by the consultant. • Feedback, comments, and suggestions provided by DMC and by UNEP CCC, will be addressed by the consultant. • UNEP CCC to be ensured enough time to review in detail and provide feedback on the deliverables. • UNEP CCC will sign off the final version of deliverables.

Qualifications/special skills

A bachelor’s degree or equivalent in engineering, environment studies, business, management, resource management, disaster risk reduction, administration, or another relevant field is required. A master’s degree is desirable and preferred. A minimum of 3 years of work experience in the field of project support, implementation and/or management. The Expert should be in possession of strong inter-personal and verbal communication skills, possess proven analytical capabilities, as well as excellent writing skills. The contractor should have good knowledge of – and experience with – the organization of workshops and events. Experience working with public institutions in Mozambique is required.

Languages

Fluency in written and spoken English and Portuguese is required. Knowledge of other UN languages is an asset.

Additional Information

To achieve the Consultancy Outcome listed under point 1.1, the Adaptation Expert is tasked to fulfill the following activities: Activity 3.1 Review the national guidance for the development of local adaptation plans – Mozambique is developing local adaptation plans, which also have mitigation co-benefits in its districts. Currently, more than 130 out of 154 districts have developed such plans. – The Expert shall review the national guidance for the development of the local adaptation plans and identify the potential for improvement related to transparency aspects and national reporting into the national MRV system. Activity 3.2 Review local adaptation plans against ICAT guidance. – Mozambique’s ability to submit transparent and quantifiable NDCs in the future, and to report on the implementation of climate measures, depends on the ability to assess the potential impacts of climate policies and measures ex-ante and measure these impacts ex-post. – As such, in activity 3.2 the Adaptation Expert will review two local adaptation plans in Mozambique, namely for the District Inhassunge and Morrumbala respectively. The Consultant will identify appropriate ICAT guidance and other methods for this assessment. Activity 3.3 Review data and metrics related to the expected impacts of the local adaptation plans. – In activity 3.3 the Expert must review the relevant metrics for MRV of the local adaptation plans in Mozambique following ICAT’s methodology. This should be done by mapping the causal chain and including the significant impacts in the assessment boundary of the local adaptation plans and implementation modality, and by defining the criteria and the level of data needed to be generated on a sectoral level. Activity 3.4 Development of NDC tracking sheets for the selected policies. – In this activity, the Expert is expected to be guided by and build on the NDC tracking sheets developed under Activity 2.2 of the project and develop and populate NDC tracking sheets for Mozambique’s climate adaptation plans. – The tracking sheets will serve as the main tool for Mozambique to report on local implementation in the districts. – The tracking sheets are to be validated with the local government and other stakeholders, and depending on the results of this validation exercise, they may be incorporated into Mozambique’s national reporting structures and the national guidance for the development of local adaptation plans accordingly. Activity 3.5 Estimate baseline scenarios for the local adaptation plans. – In this activity, the Expert must work on developing climate trajectories that would have taken place in the absence of the selected local adaptation plans and their implementation modality. – Via the above exercise of this activity, the Expert must define a baseline scenario (or multiple baseline scenarios) that is appropriate for each local adaptation plan and that represents the climate conditions most likely to take place in the absence of the local adaptation plan. Activity 3.6 Ex-ante and ex-post estimation of the local adaptation plans’ impact scenarios. – In Activity 3.6, the Expert is expected to assess the impacts of the selected local adaptation plans, ex-ante for the District of Inhassunge, where no dedicated project has yet been implemented, and ex-post for the District of Morrumbala, where the adaptation focused Mercim project. – The lessons learned from this activity will feed into other planned revisions of guidance for the development of local adaptation plans for Mozambique and will also be shared with the other districts in the country. Activity 3.7 Identify relevant barriers and gaps in MRV reporting against the policies and establish suggestions on procedures to overcome these barriers. – In this activity, the Adaptation Expert shall focus on the MRV reporting systems for climate adaptation against the selected policies and work to identify all relevant barriers and existing gaps. – The Expert is furthermore expected to make suggestions on procedures to overcome existing barriers and bridge reporting gaps.

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.