The IUCN Center for Science and Knowledge (CSK) advances IUCN’s critical work as a leading global authority on conservation science and knowledge as well as curation of IUCN standards, including the IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions. Based at the IUCN Secretariat, the Global Head, NbS is a leadership role to mainstream and scale-up NbS as a IUCN standard and the associated tools and knowledge products
An important part of the role is to foster cross-functional collaboration with IUCN Members, IUCN Commissions and Partners and actively engage on NbS with a group of Technical Leads and NbS experts from across the IUCN Programme and Regions. Nature-based Solutions (NbS) is a leading programmatic area of work for IUCN.
NbS refer to actions addressing key societal challenges through the protection, sustainable management and restoration of both natural and modified ecosystems, benefiting both biodiversity and human well-being. NbS have a significant, but currently underutilised potential to help address global challenges such as climate change, human health, food and water security, natural disasters and biodiversity loss. The IUCN Global Standard for Nature-based Solutions, launched in July 2020 and updated in 2025, provides a standardised approach to the design of effective NbS projects that are ambitious in scale and sustainable, creating a shared language for stakeholders and facilitating innovative partnerships.
IUCN currently has multiple teams working on NbS related topics. The Global Head, NbS and the small NbS Thematic team will ensure that all activities fall under a single coordinated institutional strategy that optimise the institution’s leadership and profile on the issue. Therefore, this position is designed to develop and coordinate activities associated with NbS, including the development of a recognition scheme as concerns appropriate application of NbS, and ensure that they come together in a strategic and coherent manner.
The NbS team will work to optimise, harmonise and further enhance IUCN’s established leadership, recognition and reputation on the subject area. It will build and ensure coherent external partnerships and facilitate and support the growth of IUCN’s portfolio, with both the public and private sector, based on agreed upon NbS business lines.
This role will be critical in coordinating the day-to-day functions of the NbS team, as detailed in the next section. In addition, the incumbent should help to expand NbS business opportunities by helping to develop strategic partnerships, fundraise and shape value propositions in accordance with IUCN Programme needs.
JOB DESCRIPTION
Portfolio and Staff management
• Provide day to day supervision of the NbS team, including management of performance, wellbeing and workflows;
• Manage financial resources and projects within approved budget allocations, policies and procedures and according to the designated timelines.
• Work with relevant internal stakeholders and advise on their prioritisation and delivery of NbS activities.
• When appropriate matrix manage staff in other teams who are working on NbS through their own thematic scope.
NbS coordination for an IUCN programmatic approach
• Socialize and ensure implementation of the IUCN Nature-based Solutions Strategy supported by key internal stakeholders.
• Develop, execute and manage workplans for IUCN to expand its work on NbS through mainstreaming the concept and use of the standard within the organisation’s portfolio;
• Provide technical leadership of ideas, concepts, projects and portfolio development across the institution.
• Provide regular updates to senior management about the NbS progress.
Facilitate and Share Knowledge on NbS
• Coordinate knowledge sharing, best practices, and scaling NbS efforts internally as well as externally as relevant for the IUCN Programme.
• Provide technical oversight and quality assurance to capacity development related initiatives on NbS, including training, briefing sessions and training done via the IUCN Academy, and other associated training platforms;
• Build NbS capacity of practitioners, governments and communities.
• Advance the evidence base for NbS, including analytical tools and generate NbS case studies in collaboration with IUCN Members, IUCN Commissions and Partners.
Enhance uptake of NbS
• Design and lead global engagements to mainstream and upscale NbS;
• Support countries and practitioners to develop and pilot high integrity NbS projects.
• Support countries to embed NbS in policies, laws and national frameworks.
• Promote safeguards, social inclusion and equitable benefit-sharing.
• Enable public and private NbS investments by helping to develop and pilot delivery of finance-readiness criteria and financial screening tools ;
• Identify and leverage opportunities for advocacy on NbS, including through webinars, workshops, events at international gatherings ;
Partnerships and communication on NbS
• Convene actors across sectors to enhance the global leadership of IUCN in NbS according to emerging global issues and opportunities.
• Advocate for NbS at global policy forums and strengthen collaboration with Indigenous people and local communities, where possible.
• Coordinate and support communications and relationships with relevant IUCN Members, Commissions and partners for profiling NbS, especially in view of joint opportunities for action;
• Promote and support high-level NbS engagement opportunities with IUCN senior management, IUCN Centres, Regions and external stakeholders as relevant for NbS and other IUCN Programme needs.
Growth of IUCN’s NbS portfolio and resource mobilisation
• Proactive outreach to identify and engage prospective partners of relevance to NbS and the IUCN Programme, in order to fundraise for and incubate strategic business developments for NbS.
• In collaboration with the relevant IUCN teams and partners, manage ongoing relationships with funders and partners to enhance IUCN’s visibility and leadership on NbS.
• Provide consistent strategic engagement with existing and possibly NbS donors and framework partners on NbS;
• Identify and approach donors with the aim to facilitate fundraising opportunities and maintain IUCN’s global leadership role on NbS;
• Pursue and unlock new funding opportunities for maintenance of the IUCN Global Standard on NbS and associated databases, knowledge management tools, technical service provision and portfolio expansion with public and private donors, financiers and investors.
Institutionalising NbS
• Provide support for the effective working of the International Standards Committee (ISC) for the IUCN Global Standard on NbS;
• Support the Deputy Director General – Programme in representing the IUCN Secretariat on the ISC, as needed;
• Work with the Office of the Legal Advisor to establish institutional frameworks for protecting IUCN’s intellectual property related to the IUCN Global Standard on NbS;
• Support the reporting of NbS results and impacts, working closely with IUCN’s Programme Performance, Monitoring and Evaluation Unit;
• Develop a NbS recognition scheme in collaboration with IUCN Commissions, Members, partners and consider its possible promotion, roll-out and implementation.
The above job description contains the main duties and responsibilities for this position.
However, in a small organisation such as IUCN Secretariat, staff members are expected to show flexibility in their approach to work and be willing to undertake other tasks that are reasonably allocated to them but which are not part of their regular job description. Where any task becomes a regular part of a staff member’s responsibilities, the job description will be changed in consultation with the manager, the staff member and the Human Resources Management Group.