Ecosystems specialist, short-term technical assistance

Background

DAI works at the cutting edge of international development, combining technical excellence, professional project management, and exceptional customer service to solve our clients’ most complex problems. Since 1970, DAI has worked in 150 developing and transition countries, providing comprehensive development solutions in areas including crisis mitigation and stability operations, democratic governance and public sector management, agriculture and agribusiness, private sector development and financial services, economics and trade, HIV/AIDS, avian influenza control, water and natural resources management, and energy and climate change. Clients include international development agencies, international lending institutions, private corporations and philanthropies, and host-country governments.

Job Description

DAI, a global development consulting firm headquartered in Washington, DC, USA seeks to fill an Ecosystems Specialist short-term technical assistance (STTA) consultancy position to support a five-year U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID)-funded Climate Change Adaptation project on the Mekong River Basin, covering communities in Thailand, Vietnam, Laos, and Cambodia. The project aims to strengthen human and institutional capacity to develop and implement climate change adaptation plans and strategies; strengthen policies, tools, methodologies, and practices for ecosystem services valuation and climate resiliency; demonstrate and scale-up model actions for integrated approaches to climate change adaptation, and sustain regional learning networks to share and replicate best practices. The position will be based in the Lower Mekong River Basin (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, Vietnam) with an anticipated start date in late November. US-Citizenship is required.

Responsibilities

Working with the Team Leader, the Ecosystems Specialist shall

- Guide Riparian specialists in identifying data needs for climate change assessments of ecosystems
- Develop with the Climate Modeller climatic zones for the Lower Mekong Basin based on key hydro-physical parameters (temperature, elevation, rainfall)
- Develop with the Agricultural modeller agro-ecological zones for the Lower Mekong Basin
- Develop biodiversity, habitat health and ecosystem services baselines for agro-ecological zones
- Analyze baseline trends for Mekong ecosystems and agro-ecological zones
- Identify the linkages between biodiversity, ecosystems and agriculture in each zone
- Identify climate and non-climate drivers of change to Mekong ecosystems and biodiversity
- Undertake climate change vulnerability assessment, prioritizing vulnerable zones in the region
- Develop adaptation options for vulnerable ecosystems and biodiversity and agro-ecological zones

Qualifications Required

- The Ecosystems Specialist will have at least 15 years of experience in biodiversity management, floodplain and terrestrial ecosystems; climate change, environmental assessments, and policy support with a relevant masters or doctoral degree in ecological sciences, climate change or similar.
- The specialist should have extensive experience working in and assisting government institutions of Mekong countries (Cambodia, Lao PDR, Thailand, and Vietnam); be familiar with the institutional arrangements and protected area systems in these countries; and demonstrated experience working in data poor and institutionally weak environments.
- Also required is the ability to work effectively in inter-ministerial groups and with riparian counterpart specialists and to report effectively in strategic consultations and in written reports.
- The specialist should have excellent analytical and inter-personal skills and a team-oriented work style.