Organizational Setting

The Forestry Division (NFO) leads FAO's work in promoting sustainable forest management and providing leadership on the environmental, social and economic dimensions of forestry, including its contributions to poverty reduction and food security and nutrition. It liaises with Members, civil society and the private sector in aspects ranging from development of effective forest policies to the promotion of forestry and livelihoods, forest conservation and management issues and strengthens the role of forests in climate change mitigation and adaptation. The Division also collects, analyses and disseminates information on the world's forest resources and on the production, trade and consumption of wood and non-wood forest products.

The position is located in the Forestry Division (NFO) at FAO headquarters in Rome, Italy.

Reporting Lines
The Senior Forestry Officer (Forest Biodiversity and Drylands) reports to the Deputy Director, NFO.

Technical Focus
Sustainable use, management and conservation of forests and drylands across multifunctional landscapes.

Key Results
Leadership and technical policy expertise for the planning, development and implementation of divisional and cross-divisional programmes of work, projects, products, services in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.

Key Functions

Plans, manages or leads highly specialized or multidisciplinary teams; leads, coordinates and/or participates in Organization-wide, cross-divisional committees, project teams and working groups, and/or provides technical leadership/secretariat services on technical networks and/or international technical policy and standard setting bodies.
Analyses global and country specific requirements and relevant technical issues to provide critical input into the FAO Strategic Framework, Programme of Work, work plans and the supporting budgets and/or resourcing strategies.
Implements and monitors programmes of work involving the development of the approach, evidence-based strategies and related tools, methodologies and the supporting system/database, monitoring and reporting frameworks.
Conducts, designs and oversees research and analysis of activities to support the development of technical standards, international instruments, innovation, technical reports, publications and/or ongoing programme development as well as the provision of technical and/or policy advisory services.
Provides technical and policy advice to Members and technical support to Decentralized Offices in the development and implementation of their programmes.
Leads and/or collaborates in, provides technical backstopping to and ensures the quality/effectiveness of capacity development and knowledge sharing activities within Member Nations such as policy support, organizational development and individual learning events including preparation of related information, learning and online tools.
Represents the Organization at international meetings and conferences, identifies and implements strategic partnerships, advocates best practices and increased policy dialogue and develops and negotiates effective working relationships/consensus and agreements with international and national stakeholders.
Leads and/or participates in resource mobilization activities in accordance with the FAO Strategic Framework.

Specific Functions

Provides leadership and guidance to mainstreaming biodiversity in forestry, sustainable forest management and sustainable dryland landscapes management.
Supports the NFO lead of the Biodiversity and Ecosystem Services for Food and Agriculture Programme Priority Area (BE3) of the FAO Strategic Framework.
Coordinates and enhances support to countries in mainstreaming of biodiversity in forestry, including within dryland ecosystems, through technical support to field projects, capacity development and policy advice, in a wider context of the transformation of agrifood systems and contributing to the implementation of the FAO Strategy on Mainstreaming Biodiversity Across Agricultural Sectors and its Action Plans.
Leads technical work with other relevant FAO units to harmonize forest and dryland biodiversity conservation with sustainable production goals.
Coordinates forestry inputs to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) and the implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF); and the United Nations Convention to Combat Desertification (UNCCD), aligning KMGBF with Land Degradation Neutrality (LDN) targets.
Fosters, strengthens and manages strategic partnerships with relevant institutions at international, national and local levels, including the private sector, non-governmental organizations (NGOs) and donors.
Oversees the secretariat services to the COFO Working Group on Dryland Forests and Agrosilvopastoral Systems.
Mobilizes and manages financial resources for programmes and projects.
Performs any other duties as required.