The United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP) is the leading global environmental authority that sets the global environmental agenda, promotes the coherent implementation of the environmental dimension of sustainable development within the United Nations system and serves as an authoritative advocate for the global environment. 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.
This consultancy is managed by UNEP’s Climate Change Division (CCD). CCD engages with the Member States and Partners to accelerate and support a just transition by addressing climate change mitigation and adaptation through enhancing implementation capacity, provision of data information and knowledge, access to finance and technology and building resilience.
The National Consultant – Climate Services Financing Framework and Business Model, will report to the Chief Technical Advisor in the Project Management Unit in Dili, Timor Leste, and work under the supervision of the International Consultant – – Climate Services Financing Framework and Business Model. The consultant will serve to implement portions of the USD 21.7m Project “Enhancing Early Warning Systems to build greater resilience to hydro meteorological hazards in Timor-Leste”.
The Project addresses the urgent need for integrated and end-to-end climate information services and Multi-Hazard Early Warning Systems (MHEWS) in Timor-Leste through comprehensive institutional, technical and technological capacity building from national to local level to generate and disseminate robust climate data and information at all stages of the climate services value chain. Under Sub Activity Sub-Activity 1.1.5 “Establish a financial framework and business model for sustainable climate services” the consultant will develop a financial framework to ensure that DNMG has the means to sustain and ensure the ongoing operation of its mandated services in order to mitigate weather-, climate-, and water-related risks beyond the term of the Project.
Long term sustained financing for National Meteorological and Hydrological Service (NMHS), especially in Small Island Developing States, remains a constant challenge. The consultancy will support the overall sustainability of DNMG with the investment provided through the UNEP CIEWS Project. The Financial Framework will be informed by a scoping activity, examining opportunities for sectors and business segments to utilise the strengthened climate services and identify opportunities to develop value-added climate products and services (e.g. targeting a particular sector such as agriculture or health, or related to a particular climate-related hazard); and potential for public-private partnerships and private investment in climate services. The scoping exercise will be led by an international consultant with strategic support provided by the national consultant; the role of the national consultant in the scoping exercise will be to identify and facilitate engagement with relevant stakeholders in country and to identify and gain access to relevant documentation. The Financial Framework should be linked to the National Meteorological and Geophysics Act (draft awaiting Ministerial approval), the National Meteorological and Geophysics Strategy (draft awaiting Ministerial approval), the National Framework for Climate Services (draft awaiting Ministerial approval), Climate Services Action and Communications Plan (2025), the National Roadmap for Anticipatory Action (2025), FbF/AA financing mechanism and SOFF.
The role of the national consultant is to facilitate an understanding by relevant stakeholders of these linkages between new policy documents, through engagements during this consultancy. The national consultant should also provide strategic support to the international consultant in the exploring potential to establish a National Climate Fund as a mechanism to support Timor-Lete to manage its engagement with climate finance, through facilitating access to relevant stakeholders. Given the specific circumstances of Timor Leste and its relatively small economy and remote location, the financing framework will be carefully developed to ensure it is tailored to the local context. The intention is that by the end of the Project, DNMG will be ready to negotiate cost recovery for new climate information products, have a concrete sustainability plan for the investments made in upgrading meteorological observations, and have a concrete Financing Action Plan, to ensure value added and sustainability of the Programme Investments.