New

Forest Governance Technical Advisor in Papua New Guinea (Based in Port Moresby)

Management & Engineering Technologies International, Inc.
United States, Illinois, Chicago
Dec 20, 2024
Program Title: Strengthening Forest Governance in Papua New Guinea Implementing Entity: United States Forest Service Program End Date: September 30, 2025 Program Background and Rationale: The US Forest Service (USFS) manages 174 national forests and grasslands (approximately 80 million hectares) to sustain the health, diversity, and productivity of the nation's forests and grasslands to meet the needs of present and future generations. The Agency's Office of International Programs (IP) leverages the 35,000-person USFS workforce to support international cooperation on natural resource management and disaster response. USFS currently implements programs in 96 countries in partnership with the US Department of State (DOS) and US Agency for International Development (USAID). In the United States, the USFS manages multiple use activities including logging, mining, grazing, and tourism activities on national forest lands. The USFS employs monitoring and compliance officers to ensure adherence with contracting and permitting requirements for these activities. The Law Enforcement and Investigations (LEI) branch of the USFS is recognized as leaders in public and employee safety, natural resource protection, and as a professional cooperator with other US law enforcement agencies at federal, state, and local levels. IP works with USFS monitoring and compliance officers, in addition to LEI officers, to build the forest governance capacity of international partners to ensure compliance with contracts, permits, and adherence to natural resource laws and regulations. The Papua New Guinea (PNG) forestry sector is a major contributor to the country's economy and the Government of PNG (GoPNG) has committed to building a forestry sector that is sustainable and highly profitable. This commitment is reflected in its Medium-Term Development Plan and its Vision 2050, which include action items^{^[1]} such as: Decreasing unprocessed round log exports from natural forests to 50% by 2025; Increasing domestic onshore processing (such as sawn timber, plywood, and veneer) by 50% by 2025; Expanding forest plantation areas to 800,000 hectares by 2050; Increasing landowners' and provincial governments' participation in forestry activities; and Assessing how the management of PNG's forests can contribute meaningfully to climate change issues. As part of this vision, PNG is working to upgrade the timber sector so that forests are maintained to provide benefits into the future. Developing a trusted "PNG-Brand", and subsequently broadening PNG's international market for domestically processed wood products is part of this vision. The PNG Forest Authority (PNGFA), along with other government agencies and stakeholders, has developed and piloted a PNG Timber Legality Standard (TLS) that has been passed by the National Executive Council and is awaiting gazettal by the National Institute of Standard and Industrial Technology. The TLS provides an agreed upon definition of what constitutes legal timber produced in PNG, in accordance with six principles and 42 criteria with verifiers. PNGFA, with help from international donors, is conducting a pilot assessment of legality against the PNG TLS with several current logging operations. An outcome of the pilot will be statements of compliance and insights to guide the development of a PNG Timber Legality Verification System (TLVS). The TLVS will include the supporting infrastructure (such as an integrated information management system) that contains verification of legality status and certification of outcomes. Once a TLVS is in place to support the TLS, monitoring and compliance checks will be adapted and conducted respectively as well as law enforcement investigations and prosecutorial actions. A USFS Forest Governance Technical Advisor therefore could play a useful role to support PNG in strengthening their forest sector objectives. This could include helping PNG operationalize their TLS, TLVS, and any related certification system; capacity building on the collection, storage, and reporting of monitoring data; adapting and strengthening compliance checks, and law enforcement actions. Program Description In collaboration with US Department of State, USFS proposes to expand the Technical Advisors Program in the Asia-Pacific region to include a third target country, Papua New Guinea (PNG). The Technical Advisors Program was initiated in late Fiscal Year (FY) 2021 and aims to enhance the capabilities of key government partners by providing technical cooperation and supporting capacity building activities. USFS Technical Advisors are currently working with government counterparts in Indonesia and Vietnam. It is proposed that the Technical Advisor will provide long-term, bilateral technical assistance that is highly customized to the Government of PNG's priorities to promote forest product legality and sustainable forest management in PNG. By the end of the program, the Technical Advisor will have developed and supported the implementation of strategies to enhance forest governance, monitoring, compliance, and enforcement, in close collaboration with GoPNG agencies with natural resource regulatory authority. In collaboration with US Department of State, USFS' long-term goal is to strengthen the monitoring, compliance, and reporting capabilities of key government of PNG partners, with a focus on strengthening forest governance in Papua New Guinea. The following short-term objectives will support the achievement of this goal: Objective 1: Provide long-term, customized technical assistance on forest governance through the placement of a Forest Governance Technical Advisor (FGTA) in Papua New Guinea; Objective 2: Amplify the impacts of the technical assistance provided by the FGTA through the implementation of capacity building activities in Papua New Guinea; and Objective 3: Produce recommendations for PNGFA and the US Government's strategic engagement in forest governance beyond the end of the tenure of the FGTA in Papua New Guinea. The focus of the Forest Governance Technical Advisor's (FGTA) work will be to support priority technical areas identified by the Government of PNG. The Advisor's approach will be highly demand-driven and adaptable to the needs and vision of PNGFA. The FGTA will support one or more focus areas (identified below) and will leverage USFS Subject Matter Experts, US-based USFS/IP Program Managers, and PNG &/or international consultants as needed. While subject to further adjustment and additions, the following have been identified by USFS as potential focal areas of the the FGTA Program: Focal Area 1: Strengthen remote detection and field-level compliance with the TLS and existing legal frameworks. The FGTA's duties may include but are not limited to: Support PNGFA to develop data-driven monitoring and enforcement strategies and capacity building activities to support Forest Monitoring Officers, Environment Officers, and Project Supervisors within the Field Operations Directorate of the PNGFA and other government of PNG officers, as appropriate; Support improved remote sensing technology and monitoring surveillance systems to verify compliance of logging operations in remote areas; and Assist PNGFA to develop field protocols for assessing compliance with the PNG Timber Legality Standard (TLS). Focal Area 2: Support development of the PNG Timber Legality Verification System (TLVS). The FGTA's duties may include but are not limited to: Assist PNGFA to develop technical requirements to acquire and capture metrics associated with the TLS indicators that integrates with existing PNGFA's systems (e.g., the Decision Support System); Support PNGFA in their development of a timber traceability system from stump to export to strengthen accountability and reporting while ensuring integration with SGS monitoring; and Work with PNGFA to identify how to integrate the TLVS with other Government of PNG information management systems. Promote communication among and ensure understanding of the TLVS by all impacted parties (government, private sector, civil society, indigenous communities) Focal Area 3: Promote downstream processing and the international marketability of PNG products. The FGTA's duties may include but are not limited to: Work closely with PNGFA to enhance awareness of, and domestic compliance capabilities of relevant PNG government and private sector entities related to the regulations and requirements of the US and other significant international markets on the quality, origin, and environmental standards of timber and wood products and support the development of a plan to meet those requirements; and Support PNGFA in the development of a "PNG Brand" that can comply with requirements from other countries (e.g., FLEGT, Australia, Japan, South Korea) and collaborate with educators to develop a training curriculum for auditing and certification at PNG Universities and Technical Colleges. Focal Area 4: Establish new, or strengthen existing, cooperation mechanisms between government agencies in PNG that have regulatory authority related to forest resources. The FGTA's duties may include but are not limited to: Support the PNGFA in relationship building between government agencies related to the TLS, TLVS, and any associated GoPNG regulatory authorities (e.g., CEPA, CCDA, DLPP, IRC, PNG Customs, RPNGC, etc) through technical working groups; Support PNGFA in the development of public relations strategies with communities to increase the deterrence and detection of natural resource crime; and Support relationship strengthening and awareness building around the importance of addressing natural resource crimes among various entities within the justice sector to ensure cases are prosecuted and reach adjudication. Focal Area 5: Strengthen cooperation among other donor projects currently working in the Forest Governance space. The FGTA's duties may include but are not limited to: Coordinate with USAID Sustainable Landscape project on their forest governance components; Collaborate with JICA's work with PNGFA on revisions to the Logging Code of Practice; Coordinate with FAO's work on remote sensing and geospatial technologies; and Coordinate with other donor projects as needed. Forest Governance Technical Advisor Qualifications and Additional Subject Matter Expertise Support The Forest Governance Technical Advisor (FGTA) will serve as a senior-level advisor to facilitate bilateral cooperation on technical assistance, information exchange, policy recommendations, and other activities related to strengthening forest governance within Papua New Guinea. Through this outreach the USFS is conducting a Skills Search for qualified candidates to serve as the FGTA. USFS anticipates the Advisor will have extensive experience in forestry activity monitoring and compliance, natural resource law enforcement and investigations, and/or regulatory and policy frameworks related to forest governance and sustainable natural resource management. The following list represents an illustrative summary of the desired qualifications for the FGTA: A minimum of 15 years of monitoring, compliance, law enforcement, policy, regulatory, and/or legal experience in the fields of forestry, land management, natural resources, and/or international trade; Extensive knowledge of core technical and policy issues pertinent to forestry and the development and implementation of strategies and/or policies, regulations, or legislation related to promoting timber legality and marketability; Knowledge of emerging technologies (e.g., remote sensing, geographic information systems) used for mapping and monitoring land cover change; Knowledge of information management systems and their use in monitoring and reporting of natural resource data and information; Demonstrated ability to provide technical coordination and leadership with a broad range of interested parties, across cultures, and varying capacity levels in order to catalyze improved outcomes; Experience working with US Government agencies; Experience in program design and strategy formulation; Experience managing teams, facilitating multi-stakeholder consultation processes, and building partnerships; Excellent written and oral communication skills; Excellent interpersonal skills; Demonstrated sensitivity to cultural differences; Educational, professional, and/or personal experience overseas, preferred; Required computer proficiencies: Word, Excel, PowerPoint, Internet; and, Language skills: English- fluent spoken, written. Additional USFS subject matter experts may support specific capacity building elements of this project under the guidance of the FGTA and may include: USFS Law Enforcement Officer &/or Special Agent Experience in preventing, detecting, and enforcing criminal activity; Direct experience handling natural resource crime cases; Excellent technical skills in various law enforcement and investigation techniques, such as patrolling, utilizing check points, defensive tactics, etc., as determined by programming needs; Experience in developing, implementing, and/or coordinating law enforcement training programs; and Experience coordinating with local, state, and other federal agencies to investigate and prosecute crimes. USFS Timber Management Officer &/or Sale Administrator Experience in logging contracts and permit compliance; Experience in forest inventory; Knowledge of timber valuation techniques, sustainable forest management systems (including plantation/woodlot management), and internationally recognized forest certification systems (e.g., FSC, PEFC); and High comfort level with mobile field data collection technology. USFS Geospatial Technologies Specialist Experience with data dictionary standards and data management best practices; Experience with remotely sensed data (e.g., imagery, lidar); Experience with mobile data collection platforms; and Experience with ArcGIS On-Line (AGOL) content management and creation (including web maps and editable feature services). Salary: Salary will be commensurate with experience and will be at the GS 13/14 equivalent level. Location: The FGTA position will be based in Port Moresby, Papua New Guinea. The first 1-3 months can be remote based if necessary. Period of Performance: The tenure of the FGTA is estimated to be a continuous 28-month period. To express interest in this position, please apply with this link- https://jobs.localjobnetwork.com/j/75219875 by January 31, 2024. If you have any questions or issues, send an email to Ms. Allison Saracina at: Allison.Saracina@usda.gov. METI is proud to be an equal opportunity employer and is committed to building a workforce representative of the diverse communities we serve. All qualified applicants will receive consideration for employment without regard to race, color, religion, sex, sexual orientation, gender identity, national origin, disability or veteran status, age or any other federally protected class.