Climate Change Adaptation Concept Note Development Consultant

Result of Service

Single country concept note endorsed by UNEP and the National Designated Authority of Madagascar for submission to the Adaptation Fund.

Work Location

Home-Based with 1 mission to Madagascar.

Expected duration

The expected contract duration is for a period of 6months. The consultant will work part-time for a total of 28days over the 6-months period.

Duties and Responsibilities

Organization setting 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. UNEP promotes increased action and investment in climate change adaptation, with a focus on incorporating nature-based solutions as part of an overall adaptation strategy. UNEP’s Climate Division supports developing countries in accessing funding to address their climate change adaptation needs, including funding from several multilateral funds established under the UN Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC). Background The Adaptation Fund was established in 2001; it supports developing country Parties to the Kyoto Protocol, in increasing their resilience through concrete adaptation projects and programmes that reduce the adverse effects of climate change facing communities and sectors. The Adaptation Fund provides funding to LDCs and SIDS to address their immediate and urgent climate change impacts identified through the country Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), National Policies on Climate Change, National communications on Climate Change and National Adaptation Plans. The Government of Madagascar has requested UNEP's support to develop a new single country project proposal to the Adaptation Fund which objective is to strengthen the adaptive capacities of vulnerable agricultural communities in the Atsinanana region through the adoption of agroecological practices in pilot communities, and to reinforce national capacities for the scale-up of agroecology in the country. Madagascar is one of the world’s most climate‑vulnerable countries. In Atsinanana region (East coast), livelihoods are predominantly agriculture‑based and climate-sensitive, with food and cash crops (rice, cassava, sweet potatoes, litchis, coffee, bananas, cane sugar, citrus) underpinning household income and regional exports. Rain‑fed production, limited infrastructure, and expansion of unsustainable practices—including tavy (slash‑and‑burn)—have driven land degradation (soil erosion, gullying/lavaka, sedimentation of rice valleys), resulting in a decline in soil fertility and humidity. Climate change compounds these human pressures through: (i) more intense cyclones causing crop loss, infrastructure damage, and accelerated erosion; (ii) erratic rainfall with below-avera...