Oil Spill Sensitivity Mapping Expert - Support to the Government of Mauritius at United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP)

Duties and Responsibilities

• Organise a consultation workshop with relevant government institutions and key stakeholders to confirm the specific uses and geographical extent of an updated sensitivity Atlas, discuss how the MESA (Mapping Environmentally Sensitive Assets) guideline will be applied, acknowledge limitations, and agree priorities.
• Identify data gaps and collect baseline information/data and update the sensitivity maps for the two sites from Pointe aux Cannoniers to Le Goulet and Montagne Jacquot to Le Morne. The baseline information/data will be validated through field surveys.
• Organise consultation meetings with stakeholders to provide nationally specific sensitivity rankings for ecological and socio-economic assets.
• Work with partners to carry out initial processing of the sensitivity atlas using the MESA toolkit and based on the nationally refined sensitivity rankings.
• Develop supporting documentation to the atlas in consultation with stakeholders to define scope and a detailed methodology to aid future updates.
• Organise a capacity building workshop with stakeholders to provide an overview to relevant staff within the Government of Mauritius on how the atlas was produced, any outstanding data gaps that would be a priority for future data collection, limitations for its use, data management needs and requirements to update the map in the future.

Qualifications/special skills

•  Academic qualifications: Advanced university degree is required (MSc or PhD) in marine science and/or other related disciplines (e.g., Oceanography, fisheries management, natural resources management, environmental economics, etc.) relevant to the assignment
• Minimum of 7 years working experience is required in implementing coastal and marine projects involving Geographic Information Systems (GIS) and comprehensive knowledge of Mauritius coastal and marine ecosystems. Experience working in national programmes, particularly natural resource management programmes and projects in Mauritius is desirable.
• Working knowledge of the Western Indian Ocean (WIO) region and experience of working with the Governments of the WIO region would be desirable.
• Ability to work within very short timelines and with minimum supervision with be added advantage. Demonstrated competency in excellent scientific/technical writing and consistency in critical writing and review of documents is desirable.