Urban climate risk management specialist

Background

ADPC, established in 1986, is a regional non-profit foundation with headquarters in Bangkok, Thailand supporting the advancement of safer communities and sustainable development, through implementing programs that reduce the impact of disasters upon countries and communities in Asia and the Pacific. ADPC is governed by its Board of Trustees and annually convenes the Regional Consultative Committee on Disaster Management (RCC) that brings together National Disaster Management Offices (NDMOs) from 26 countries of the Asian region. ADPC is currently in transition to an Intergovernmental Organization, with the ADPC charter signed in 2005 by 9 founder member countries of the Asian region. ADPC has 4 thematically focused teams that support the achievement of the overall vision, mission and goals of ADPC- namely Climate Risk Management (CRM), Disaster Risk Management (DMS), Public Health in Emergencies (PHE) and Urban Disaster Risk Management (UDRM). Details about the organization and its present programs are available at www.adpc.net

The Urban Disaster Risk Management (UDRM) Team envisions “Helping to make Asian Cities safer before the next Disaster Strikes” and focuses on the following areas:

- Helping to reduce disaster risk by building disaster resilient urban communities;
- Promoting city development efforts, protecting environment without increasing the vulnerability to disasters;
- Promoting Mainstreaming Disaster Risk Reduction in Urban Local Governance;
- Giving priority to building up physical, social and economic capacity of urban communities and institutions in disaster prone areas;
- Promoting improvement to access to safe shelter, services and infrastructure for urban communities by advocating for and facilitating the incorporation of disaster risks in development planning and management processes;
- Providing multi- disciplinary, multi- level, multi- cultural and multi-hazard approaches to risk reduction focusing long term development and environmental protection.

The UDRM team undertakes activities on Urban DRR program implementation, capacity building & training, knowledge networking and consolidating partnerships, developing tools and techniques, research and documentation of good practices, and new program development related to the above areas. The team works closely with the National Disaster Management Offices of partner countries, Cities, Un agencies, INGOs, NGOs etc. to implement its projects in the partner countries.

At present, the UDRM team implements disaster risk reduction programs/projects in countries of South and South East Asia with national, regional and global partner agencies namely:

- Sectoral Agencies and ministries in national governments including Ministries of Disaster Management, Urban Planning, Public Works;
- City governments and city level stakeholders;
- UN agencies including UNDP, UN-ISDR, UNHABITAT;
- International financial institutions such as World Bank, ADB;
- Donor agencies namely USAID, DFID,EC,UNDP, Government of Norway;
- Regional organizations such as ADRC, Asian Institute of Technology (AIT), Oyo IC, Norwegian Geotechnical Institute, ITC-Netherlands etc.;
- International and National NGOs in the region.

UDRM Team implement a number of Programs to achieve its goals such as Program for Hydro – Meteorological Disaster Mitigation in Secondary Cities in Asia (PROMISE), Asian Program of Regional Capacity Enhancement for Landslide Impact Mitigation (RECLAIM), Earthquake component of the Comprehensive Disaster Management Program (CDMP) of Bangladesh in countries of SA & SEA. Bangladesh, Bhutan, China, Nepal, Pakistan, Philippines, Indonesia, Iran, Vietnam, Sri Lanka, Thailand are some of the target countries where UDRM extends its services at present. The UDRM Team works with reputed DRR specialists and practitioners on a regular basis for specific technical inputs in implementation of its programs.

Duties and responsibilities

- Analyze observational data for historical and current patterns of climate variability to capture extreme events and observable trends in urban areas in selected countries;
- Conduct climate change projections using appropriate tools that confirm observed trends in Urban built up;
- Analyze socio-economic risks in urban areas from a changed climate utilizing results from research on historical impacts, current adaptation/ coping strategies and policy and institutional landscape, and changing socio-economic conditions (population growth, urbanization, economic growth, consumption trends, environmental degradation, etc.);
- Develop adaptation strategies and urban risk management opportunities to address residual risks;
- Develop decision-support tools for a range of city level stakeholders;
- Package scientific and technical information for communicating risk;
- Contribute to training program development to enable user institutions and communities to translate climate information and apply decision-support tools at city level;
- Advocate for the integration of climate forecast information application in Urban development planning processes;
- Assistance in Developing strategic approach to achieving program goals and sustainability of UDRM program efforts;
- Development of new programs, fund mobilization and development of new partnerships to increase the outreach;
- Other duties and responsibilities as assigned by Director, Urban Disaster Risk Management (UDRM) Team.

Supervisor(s)

Director (UDRM)

Required qualifications / Selection criteria

Qualifications and Experience:

- Doctoral or master's degree in meteorology, climatology, Urban climate risk management , environmental engineering or related field.
- At least ten years experience in climate risk analysis and program implementation in the field of climate risk management.
- Extensive working experience in developing decision-support tools for climate risk management in the urban development sector will be an added qualification.

Training Skills and Knowledge:

- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of climate change science;
- Demonstrable ability to analyze observable trends;
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of the impacts of natural hazards and climate change on societal systems in particular in Urban areas.
- Demonstrated knowledge and understanding of Urban climate hazard risk and probability, and communication skills.
- Skills in numerical modeling will be an added qualification;
- Excellent English proficiency in oral and written communication, including a demonstrated track record in technical report writing and ability to communicate technical matters effectively to general audiences.

Personal Qualities:

- Self-motivated, pro-active and takes initiative;
- Demonstrated ability to plan and organize work and time independently;
- Excellent interpersonal skills, team-oriented work style, and experience in working in a multi-cultural environment;
- Strong desire to learn; undertake new challenges; must be a creative problem-solver; must have self confidence; willingness to work hard; good sense of humor, but with seriousness about the quality and excellence of work.