1st month -
1. Develop a revised structure of the Plastics Management Strategy for SIDS and Islands
2. Propose and compile a list of peer reviewers who will sign off on the structure of the strategy
3. Finalize the structure of the strategy and make it available to UN Environment for sign-off
2nd month -
4. Prepare first draft of the strategy and submit it to UN Environment
5. Organize two webinars together with UN Environment that will aim to introduce the first draft strategy and obtain feedback on it
3rd month -
6. Prepare revised draft of the strategy for peer review by prelisted peer reviewers
7. Submit a final list of peer reviewers and contacts to UN Environment and coordinate review
4th & 5th month -
8. Prepare a revised final version of the strategy and make it available to UN Environment
9. Establish and initiate contact with Pacific SIDS (via liaison with Anthony Talouli, Waste Management and Pollution Control Division, SPREP ) to nationalize the strategy for one country as a first draft
- Consult with the selected Pacific island Government as well as identify relevant private sector corporations and organizations that can be liaised with
6th month -
8. Prepare a revised final version of the strategy and make it available to UN Environment
9. Establish and initiate contact with Pacific SIDS (via liaison with Anthony Talouli, Waste Management and Pollution Control Division, SPREP ) to nationalize the strategy for one country as a first draft
- Consult with the selected Pacific island Government as well as identify relevant private sector corporations and organizations that can be liaised with
7th month -
11. Establish and initiate contact with Caribbean SIDS (e.g. Jamaica) on the nationalization of the strategy 2
- Consult with the Government as well as identify relevant private sector corporations and organizations that can be liaised with
12. Submit final report
Home Based
Workplan, Reporting Formats and Deliverables
The GPA Coordination Office will provide reporting format, and outline of reports. Time frames for this assignment and individual deliverables will be discussed in greater detail during the inception of the assignment.
Working days may be spread over a period of seven (7) months between October 2017 and 30 April 2018, in accordance with the deliverables presented above.
A. General Background
The Global Programme of Action for the Protection of the Marine Environment from Land-based Activities (GPA) is an intergovernmental mechanism that aims to protect the coastal and marine environment from land-based activities. The GPA is the only global programme explicitly addressing the linkages between freshwater, coastal and marine environments. Source-categories identified by the GPA include sewage, persistent organic pollutants, radioactive substances, heavy metals, oils (hydrocarbons), nutrients, sediment mobilization, litter and physical alteration and destruction of habitats.
The United Nations Environment Programme (UN Environment), as secretariat to the GPA, is tasked with facilitating implementation at the national, regional and international levels. The GPA Manila Declaration (2012) gave the GPA a renewed mandate, agreeing that the priority source categories for this period would be nutrients, marine litter and wastewater and mandated a focus on developing global multi-stakeholder partnerships in these three priority areas.
The UN Environment Assembly has during both its first and second session adopted marine litter resolutions; 1/6 “Marine plastic debris and microplastics” and 2/12 “Marine plastic litter and microplastics”.
In this regard, related activities to support the implementation of the UNEA resolutions and the UN Environment Programme of Work (PoW) include:
• Implementation of UN Environments 2016/17 Programme of Work on Ecosystem management, expected accomplishment B output number 322 under a PRC approved project entitled “Global Partnership on Marine Litter – Out of sight, out of mind – changing the state of marine litter globally”. Relevant components include:
o Strengthening and promoting the GPML and raising awareness of ML (Component 2);
o Develop a SIDS plastics management strategy and related feasibility studies (Component 3.2);
• Implementation of resolution 2/12 with regard to Operative Paragraphs include:
o 11: development and implementation of national and regional measures and action plans (focus on least developed countries and SIDS)
o 10: education, capacity-building, knowledge-transfer and awareness raising.
The Global Partnership on Marine Litter aims to collate scientific knowledge for policy decisions and to mobilize technical support for partners to tackle the issue of marine litter. The GPA Coordination Office’s role is to provide the Secretariat for the partnership and to support awareness raising and resource mobilization efforts. The partnership is supported by the following; a: www.marinelitternetwork.org (which is being updated) and http://www.unep.org/gpa/gpml
The International Environmental Technology Centre (IETC) is a branch of the UN Environment, under the Division of Economics. IETC staff is based in Osaka, Japan and the centre main function is to promote the application of environmentally sound technologies (ESTs) in developing countries and economies in transition. With focus on waste management and in particular plastic marine litter, IETC is working closely with the GPA office and the Global Partnership on Marine Litter to identify solutions to this growing challenge.
B. Scope of Assignment and Terms of Reference
Under the supervision of the Programme Officer in charge of marine litter in the GPA Coordination Office of the Ecosystems Division, in coordination with the Associate Programme Officer of IETC (Economics Division), and in partnership with relevant Regional Seas Programmes, regional experts and with inputs from the Science and Communications Divisions, the consultant will:
1- Prepare a Plastics Management Strategy for Small Island Developing States and Islands.
2- Support the “domestication”/ feasibility studies of the strategy in three SIDS that will be preselected.
3- Support the preparation of documentation for the promotion of the strategy during the Fourth Intergovernmental Review Meeting of the GPA, 25-27 October 2017
4- Support the inclusion of the strategy in the Massive Open Online Courses on marine litter.
The consultant is expected to undertake these tasks for a period of 7 months over 12 months.
The Consultant will be responsible for presentation of information to a wide range of partners, including government officials, industry, scientists, non-governmental organizations and the public at large. He/she shall work under the day-to-day supervision of the Programme Officer in charge of marine litter at the Ecosystems Division and in coordination with the Associate Programme Officer of IETC (Economics Division)..
The consultant will be recruited to perform the following broad tasks:
In particular, the consultant shall:
1. Develop a structure for the Plastics Management Strategy for SIDS and Islands, in coordination with the marine litter team, relevant regional seas programmes and GPML partners;
2. Prepare a first draft of the Plastics Management Strategy for SIDS and Islands which he/she will submit to UN Environment for initial feedback;
3. Coordinate a review of the first draft Strategy through two webinars to present the draft, obtain feedback and populate the proposed list of peer reviewers;
4. Prepare and make available a revised draft to UN Environment;
5. Prepare a list of peer reviewers along with a review template;
6. Finalize the strategy following peer review and prepare a copy edited, laid out, and structured version of the strategy to UN Environment for launch;
7. Consult with staff of the GPA Coordination Office, IETC and others within UN Environment (relevant regional seas offices and others in the Economy Division in Paris and Nairobi) partnership with UN agencies and others, throughout the process;
8. Consult with selected SIDS and prepare national action plans for the domestication of of the strategy;
9. Prepare relevant promotional material for the Fourth Intergovernmental Meeting in Bali 25-27 October 2017 to showcase the initiative;
10. Provide relevant input to the Massive Open Online Course on marine litter to allow for a component on the Strategy to be developed;
11. Provide relevant input to the development of information management tools (e.g. Information Systems) with regard to plastics management;
The Consultant targeted for this assignment should possess:
• Master degree in engineering, waste management, environmental science, or natural sciences with focus on environmental management or a directly related field;
• Excellent English writing skills;
• 10 years of relevant work experience in the field of plastic waste or directly related fields;
• Familiarity with working in and with SIDS as well as private sector;
• Familiarity with the goals and procedures of international organizations, in particular those of the UN partners;
• Excellent interpersonal skills;
• Fluency in English. Knowledge of French and/or Spanish is an asset;
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.