Posted on 10 March 2023

Want to make a positive difference to the future of people and our one shared home, the Earth? Working at WWF could be your opportunity of a lifetime.

All around the world, people are waking up to the deepening crisis of nature loss. A growing realisation that nature is our life-support system. And that nobody will be spared from the impacts of its loss. Here at WWF, we are helping to tackle this enormous global challenge.

Our people come from hugely diverse backgrounds and with a variety of expertise, ranging from HR and finance to advocacy and conservation science. We welcome applications from anyone who believes they can help us create a better future for people and wildlife.

What we do

We are an independent conservation organisation, striving to sustain the natural world for the benefit of people and wildlife. From individuals and communities to business and government, we are part of a growing coalition calling on world leaders to set nature on the path to recovery by 2030. Together, we seek to protect and restore natural habitats, stop the mass extinction of wildlife, and make the way we produce and consume sustainable.

Location: Flexible

Contract type: Consultancy

Duration: Until 30th Sept 2023

MISSION OF THE DEPARTMENT

Despite decades of effort, global trends on the loss of nature remain deeply alarming. Urgent action is needed to reverse biodiversity loss in the next decade and restore natural ecosystems that underpin humanity’s sustainable development.

In December 2022 the Kunming Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework was agreed which commits Parties to the UN Convention on Biological Diversity to reverse nature loss by 2030 through a set of 23 Global Targets. The Framework calls on Parties to publish revised National Targets in 2024 to align their biodiversity strategies with the Framework, and include those targets in updated National Biodiversity Strategies & Action Plans (NBSAPs). They must also submit National Reports in February 2026 and June 2029, which will also include Headline Indicators that track progress. Those national reports will in turn inform a “global review of progress”, planned for 2026 and 2030.

The Framework includes ‘halting and reversing nature loss’ as its Mission, though there is as yet no widely-agreed way to measure this. Nature-positive – a concept that distils ‘halt and reverse’ and ‘bending the curve’ approaches has been developed, along with an approach to measuring it, though this measurement also lacks formal agreement. Meanwhile a number of actor/sub-national initiatives are underway to understand how to apply nature positive and work towards its measurability and practical application.

WWF seeks either a consultant, a partner organization or internal staff secondment to monitor the nature-positive/halt-and-reverse/bending-the-curve space, providing technical capacity internally and with partners, and also to inform the development of a Nature Action Tracker and how it can approach Outcome tracking.

MAJOR FUNCTIONS

The Nature Positive Technical Coordinator will work with the Director, other relevant WWF staff including senior leadership, technical staff, policy staff and communications experts as well as external allies and stakeholders.

The coordinator will monitor measurability efforts on nature-positive at the global, national and actor/company/landscape levels. This will include providing advice to WWF and other interested organizations, championing common approaches to understanding and applying nature positive, and alerting when actors may be using nature-positive in a way that is not aligned with the underlying definition.

The Coordinator will also advise on how to approach tracking of outcomes on nature, through advising a team and relevant partners or consultants on how to track outcome nationally, and taking into account the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

Major Duties and Responsibilities

• Monitoring developments: build and tap relevant networks to monitor global, national and actor-level efforts to apply measurability to nature-positive and halt and reverse nature loss; Actively manage a tracker, and analyse nature-positive methodologies and claims.
• Integrity: Alert others when efforts appear not aligned with the underlying definitions and intentions of nature-positive and develop approaches and interventions to help better align them
• Nature Action Tracking Outcome: Analyse existing approaches to measure outcomes for nature; Develop approaches to tracking national efforts to halt and reverse nature loss, in collaboration with staff and consultancies developing a Nature Action Tracker;
• Technical guidance: Provide technical guidance on a range of issues related to the GBF, its 23 Global Targets and its Headline Indicators to WWF Policy teams, Practices and WWF’s Global Nature Positive Initiative.
• Communications and advocacy: Be a champion for nature-positive and its measurability within WWF and externally, in collaboration with a communications team
• Networking: Work closely with other organizations who are aligned and pioneering nature positive as a communications narrative and a measurable global goal for nature

PROFILE

Required Qualifications

• Masters degree in a relevant subject (conservation, sustainable development, political science and/or international relations)

Required Skills and Competencies

• At least five years’ experience in conservation, sustainable development and / or climate change
• Exposure to international and national policy-making
• Familiarity with tracking of actions and/or monitoring & evaluation frameworks
• Success in developing new ideas from concept to implementation
• Strong background in partnering and partnerships
• Experience in conveying complex ideas in clear and simple language
• Experience working for a non-profit organization preferable, familiarity with WWF preferable
• Identifies and aligns with the core values of the WWF organization:
• Courage, Integrity, Respect & Collaboration

WORKING RELATIONSHIPS

Internal - WWF Global Nature Positive Initiative team; Global Policy Advocacy team. Nature Action Tracking development team(s). Other staff as relevant

External - This post requires some relationships with external technical individuals or organizations including IGOs, NGOs and academia

How to apply

In order to be considered for this role, please make sure to send, by the deadline indicated below, to Grace Bond at gbond@wwfint.org , indicating in the email subject "Application - Nature Positive Technical Coordinator" the following documents in English:

- CV

- Cover Letter

- Consulting proposal - outlining the nature, scope, and timeline of this specific consulting project

Deadline for applications: by Sunday March 26th 2023

Early application is encouraged as we will review applications throughout the advertising period and reserve the right to close the advert early.

WWF is an equal opportunity employer and committed to having a diverse workforce.