Overview

BirdLife Europe and Central Asia is looking for a Climate change and Land use Policy officer. The policy officer will work under the supervision of the Senior Head of Policy as an integral part of the Brussels based policy team.

BirdLife Europe is the European Division of BirdLife International, and is one of the six BirdLife regional offices around the world. It is composed of an international team of permanent staff working on conservation, capacity building, policy, management, finance, fundraising, advocacy, science, communication, marketing and administration. Stichting BirdLife Europe supports the European and Central Asia Partnership of BirdLife International, which consists of 45 independent, grassroots Civil Society Organisations, governed by a democratic programme.

BirdLife International is a global Partnership of autonomous, national non-governmental conservation organisations, with a large grassroots membership, in 117 countries and territories. BirdLife works together as a Partnership to conserve wild birds, their habitats and global biodiversity, by working with people towards sustainability in the use of natural resources. BirdLife is the global authority on the status of bird species, has unparalleled technical expertise in bird and biodiversity assessment, and provides a global outreach through its national Partners and decentralised Secretariat.

1          OVERALL PURPOSE OF JOB

The Climate change and Land use Policy Officer, as part of BirdLife Europe’s policy team, will help ensure that EU policies on the interface between climate action, agriculture, forestry, energy and circular economy are ecologically sound, contribute to effective climate mitigation while not increasing pressure on biodiversity. In particular he/she will coordinate ongoing campaigning on bioenergy. The post holder will lead work on LULUCF and will work closely with the Agriculture and Bioenergy Policy Officer on efforts to reduce GHG in the agriculture sector and make farm policies more climate friendly.

He/she will support and coordinate BirdLife Partnership’s work on these policy areas and represent and promote BirdLife’s views to the EU Institutions, and also help design and deliver successful campaigns aiming to achieve the policy priorities of the two organisations.

2          TASKS

1. Maintain up to date knowledge of the relevant topics and carrying out specific in-depth research where required;
2. Lead the formulation of BirdLife policy and strategy with respect to the relevant topics and drafting BirdLife positions;
3. Network with BirdLife partners members to promote activities to influence EU and national decision-making on policies supporting the use biomass for energy (including biofuels, woody biomass and biogas) and respond to inquiries as necessary from within and outside the BirdLife network.
4. Liaise with key players from the EU institutions and other stakeholders to gather information and influence positions;
5. Collaborate, coordinate and exchange information with actual and potential partners (e.g. Green 10);
6. Publicly present and defend the BirdLife positions, including with the media, at conferences and meetings with industry and other stakeholders, in collaboration with other BirdLife staff;
7. Provide input to general BirdLife documents and processes (e.g. memoranda to EU Presidencies, reports to BirdLife’s European Committee, relevant web pages, etc);
8. Represent BirdLife Europe at relevant technical EU committees and working groups.
9. Help identify opportunities for funding, in collaboration with BirdLife Europe and EEB fundraisers. Contribute to reporting to donors as necessary.

3       Qualifications required

The successful candidate would have a relevant university degree and a good understanding of the following topics:

• Climate change and climate mitigation policies
• Ecology and biodiversity conservation
• Functioning of EU institutions and EU policies
• NGOs campaigning

4          BirdLife offer

This is a 1-year contract, renewable depending on funding.

Gross monthly salary: between 2900 and 3200 EUR plus benefits [holiday bonus, 13th month, pension scheme, luncheon vouchers].

Place: Brussels – Starting Date: ASAP (Ideally October 2018)

5          Test to be joined to motivation letter

Please answer each of these two questions, with around 500 words each. The purpose of these questions is to help gauge the candidates’ knowledge of the policy issues and to get a sense of a candidates communications skills

• Describe the environmental impacts of EU policies supporting bioenergy?
• What is meant with carbon debt when wood is used for energy purposes?
• What are the main potential synergies and risks for biodiversity conservation of efforts to mitigate GHG emissions in the LULUCF sector?

6          How to apply

Please submit to recruitment.europe@birdlife.org the following documents (all in English):

1. Written test
2. Full CV
3. Comprehensive cover letter setting out your reasons for applying for the post and outlining the qualifications experience knowledge and skills that you feel you can bring to the role

Closing date: 5 September 2018 at midnight. Please consider that applications received after the closing date will be automatically discarded.

7          Short listing and interviews

Short listing is based on CV, cover letter and written test. Successful candidates will be asked to attend face to face interviews and perform an additional test.

Please note that due to the large number of expected applications, only successful candidates will be contacted.

Interview day: 14 September 2018, in Brussels