Vacancy Announcement Details

The UN Environment Programme (UNEP) is the United Nations system’s designated entity for addressing environmental issues at the global and regional levels. Its mandate is to coordinate the development of environmental policy consensus by keeping the global environment under review and bringing emerging issues to the attention of governments and the international community for action. UNEP’s Industry and Economy Division works with international governments and non-governmental organizations, national and local governments, business and industry to develop and implement policies, strategies, and practices that are cleaner and safer, incorporate environmental costs, use natural resources efficiently, reduce pollution and risks for humans and the environment, and enable the implementation of conventions and international agreements. The UNEP Medium Term Strategy (MTS) 2022-2025 identifies unsustainable consumption and production as the underlying cause of the current three planetary crises of climate change, biodiversity loss, and pollution. The MTS aims to address those existential threats by working towards climate stability, living in harmony with nature, and towards a pollution-free planet. Under the Chemicals and Pollution Action of the MTS, UNEP is developing and implementing the One Plastics Initiative aiming to trigger a systems' change to accelerate the transition towards a circular economy of plastics, with concerted actions by key stakeholders across the plastics life cycle, to end plastic pollution. The project "Reducing marine litter by addressing the management of the plastic value chain in South-East Asia" (SEA circular), under the UNEP Plastic Initiative is implemented by the UNEP and the Secretariat of COBSEA, with support from the Government of Sweden. The project runs from August 2018 to December 2024 and aims to reduce marine plastic litter by ensuring that less plastic is wasted in the face of largely inadequate waste management systems in the region. The project leverages the COBSEA intergovernmental mechanism and contributes to achievement of the COBSEA Regional Action Plan on Marine Litter (RAP MALI). Project activities take place in six target countries (Cambodia, Indonesia, Malaysia, the Philippines, Thailand, Viet Nam) with knowledge sharing across all nine COBSEA countries (incl. PR China, Singapore, Republic of Korea) in four output areas: • Output 1: Market-based solutions in the way plastic is managed are promoted and demonstrated, including effective business incentives for reducing single-use and hard-to-recycle plastic and improving recovery and recycling. • Output 2: Strengthening the scientific basis for effective decision-making, by identifying and closing research gaps, and building national capacities to monitor and assess the sources, flow and impacts of marine litter in line with global guidelines and COBSEA regional guidance on harmonized monitoring programmes. • Output 3: Outreach on marine litter and plastic pollution raises awareness to promote behavioural change among consumers and businesses, and to create an enabling space for policy development. • Output 4: Regional networking and leveraging COBSEA regional mechanisms to strengthen regionally coherent national marine litter planning, engage constituencies and facilitate multi-stakeholder knowledge exchange, including coordination with regional frameworks such as the Association of Southeast Asian Nations (ASEAN).

Full details on the UNEP website. Application deadline 1st December.