Senior Environmental Analyst - Land Resilience and Human Security Case Study Synthesis, Bonn

Result of ServiceA curated database of implementation projects that build land-based resilience and improve human security, and a report based on analysis of those cases providing insights on success factors, enabling conditions, trade-offs, and lessons learned in building resilience and improving human security across regions and across diverse landscape/land-use/land tenure system types. Work LocationHome based Expected durationAugust 2025 to January 2026. Duties and ResponsibilitiesBackground: Established in 1994, the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD) is the sole legally binding international agreement linking environment and development to sustainable land management. The vision embraced by the Convention’s 197 Parties in its 2018-2030 Strategic Framework is for “a future that avoids, minimizes, and reverses desertification/land degradation and mitigates the effects of drought in affected areas at all levels and strives to achieve a land degradation-neutral world consistent with the 2030 Agenda for Sustainable Development”. The Global Land Outlook (GLO) ( is the flagship publication of the UNCCD. It aims to communicate evidence-based, policy-relevant information and trends in an accessible way to a variety of stakeholders, including national governments formulating their responses to commitments to better manage and restore land resources and build community and ecosystem resilience to drought. The GLO primarily targets national governments and policymakers, while also informing and mobilizing a broad audience—including civil society, the private sector, Indigenous Peoples, local communities, educators, researchers, media, investors and the general public—to engage them in a global movement focused on tackling desertification, land degradation and drought. Following decisions 20 and 21/COP.16, GLO3 is being developed under the scientific leadership of the 35 experts serving on the Science-Policy Interface ( as detailed in their work programme ( GLO3 will be a scientifically grounded strategic communications publication and platform that will facilitate insightful debate and discourse on the critical role healthy land can play, leading to resilience, security and transformation to sustainability. GLO3 will support UNCCD Parties and partners in advancing practical solutions, policy guidance and tools to address compounding global crises by positioning land stewardship as a catalyst to systemic transformation. It will drive action by demonstrating how integrated land, water and food system approaches—grounded in both scientific evidence and Indigenous and local knowledge—can be applied and upscaled to avoid, reduce and reverse land degradation, build drought resilience and deliver intergenerational benefits for human well-being, including food and water security, ultimately safeguarding resilient development under climate change. Under the overall management of the Chief of the Science, Technology and Innovation unit of the UNCCD, the scientific oversight of the Chief Scientist, the direct supervision of an assigned Officer, and through iterative consultation with the lead authors of the GLO3, the consultant will complete tasks including the following: 1. Assess and synthesize documented case studies focused on land-based project implementation from selected global databases and initiatives, characterizing their contributions to ecosystem and community resilience and the dimensions of human security. 1.1. Databases to be considered, among the others, include the Global Environment Facility (GEF) and Green Climate Fund (GCF) project databases; World Overview of Conservation Approaches and Technologies (WOCAT) Global Database on Sustainable Land Management; the Restor conservation and restoration data sharing platform; and the UNCCD Communities of Learning and Practice Investing in Drought Resilience Case Study Competition. Project aggregation platforms include InforMEA, the G20 Land Initiative Global Restoration Information Hub, and the Framework for Ecosystem Restoration Monitoring (FERM) Registry and Platform. 1.2 Dimensions of human security should include (i) food security, (ii) water and health security, (iii) livelihood/economic security, (iv) community and cultural security, and (v) political/personal safety. 2. Conduct a quality assessment to identify well-documented effective and diverse implementation cases. 3. Create a curated database/structured compendium of ~200 systematically relevant effective implementation cases across regions (e.g. the 5 United Nations regional groups of Member States, and/or the 8 regional groupings used in SDG reporting). The curated database should also incorporate a relevant landscape/ land use / land tenure system typology. 4. Develop and apply a coding framework aligning the implementation project data with: (a) the landscape/land-use/land tenure system typology employed, (b) the Resilience, Adaptation Pathways and Transformation Assessment (RAPTA) framing of resilience and related outcomes, and (c) a UNDP 1994-based framing of human security and related outcomes. 5. Generate an evidence base that supports the GLO3 by conducting an analysis of the ~200 compiled effective implementation cases to provide global and regional insights on success factors, enabling conditions, trade-offs, and lessons learned in building resilience, facilitating transformation (as defined by IPBES in 2025 and improving human security across regions and across diverse landscape/land-use/land tenure system types. 6. Identify those case studies having interventions and measures that can be upscaled across spatial scales and/or transferred effectively in other regions. Evaluate barriers and enablers of such a process. 7. Also identify 10–12 high-quality, fully documented case studies that best illustrate land-based interventions that have been demonstrably effective in building resilience and ensuring human security as defined in 1.2. 8. Draft a synthesis narrative of the global, regional and landscape/land-use/land tenure system analysis and create a summary for each of the 10-12 high-quality case studies as inputs for GLO3 as well as for those measures and interventions identified in 7. The consultant will perform the outlined activities with the understanding that a) the proposed writing and editing tasks are done in collaboration with the Chief Scientist and other assigned officers, as well as with the substantive authors, b) the final responsibility for the approach, substantive content and language in outcome documents lies with the substantive authors of GLO3. Qualifications/special skills- An advanced university degree (Master’s or higher) in environmental data science, environmental science, climate science, geography, natural resources management, international development, or a related field is required. - A minimum 10 years of experience in environmental project assessment and resilience analysis is required. - Demonstrated proficiency with relevant quantitative and qualitative data analysis, machine learning and database management software is required. - Demonstrated experience in synthesizing case studies from large environmental project databases (e.g. GEF, GCF, WOCAT) is desired. - Familiarity with human security frameworks and land system science is desired. LanguagesFluency in English (oral and written) is required. Additional InformationOnly individuals who can act as independent, individual economical operators are qualified to apply. Individuals who can provide their services only on account of an institution or enterprise are not eligible under this procedure. Individuals engaged under a consultancy or individual contract will not be considered “staff members” under the Staff Regulations and Rules of the United Nations Secretariat and will not be entitled to benefits provided therein (such as leave entitlements and medical insurance coverage). Their conditions of service will be governed by their contract and the General Conditions of Contracts for the Services of Consultants and Individual Contractors. Consultant and individual contractor is responsible for determining tax liabilities and for the payment of any taxes and/or duties, in accordance with local or other applicable laws. For remote consultancies, the selected candidate will be required to have a laptop or desktop PC (with Windows 10 or newer) or Mac (with the latest MacOS update), as well as a reliable, high-speed internet connection. An Office 365 license will be provided by the UNCCD to enable the candidate to access official emails, SharePoint, OneDrive and other office applications, such as Word and Excel. Further computer requirements: An antivirus application which receives regular updates; Browsers must be a newer version with regular updates enabled; Regular Windows 10 updates should be enabled with Windows laptop or PC. In addition, a mobile phone will be required to enable Multifactor Authentication (MFA) through SMS or the Authenticator App. No FeeTHE 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.