Climate Change Associate

Turkmenistan joined the United Nations on 2 March 1992 as a new independent state. Since then, the UN has been supporting Turkmenistan to achieve its national priorities, which respond to the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). The United Nations Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework (Cooperation Framework) articulates the strategic programme planning framework for collaboration between the UN system and the Government of Turkmenistan for the 2021-2025 period focusing on the following three strategic priorities:
• People-centered governance and rule of law
• Inclusive, green, and sustainable economic growth
• Quality, inclusive and affordable health, education, and social protection
The UN agencies coordinate their work through joint Work Plans and UN Joint Programmes. The United Nations Resident Coordinator Office supports the work of the UN Resident Coordinator. The UN Resident Coordinator leads the UN country team in consultations with the Government to define and agree on the UN strategic response to the Government’s development priorities. This response is captured in the UN Sustainable Development Cooperation Framework for 2021-2025.
The office coordinates activities related to common programming including Agenda 2030, joint programmes, joint programming activities and development coordination work. This is done in conformity with the objectives and priorities of the Government, and the mandates and objectives of the United Nations agencies.
The UN Resident Coordinator Office has five core functions:
• Strategic Planning
• Economics
• Partnerships and development finance
• Data and results management and reporting
• Communications and advocacy

Turkmenistan is located in Central Asia – one of the most vulnerable areas to climate change impacts due to its arid and semi-arid ecosystems. In fact, the country is already facing, to various extents, the extreme impacts of climate change. These adverse impacts are predicted to become more commonplace as climate change intensifies. They pose a significant risk to the communities that face the prospect of losing their income sources, suffering adverse health impacts, and might be forced to abandon their traditional lands and homes. The combined impact of increased temperatures and decreased precipitation levels can only lead to more severe aridisation of an already arid region. Some of the most important effects are aridisation / desertification, impacts on agriculture and biodiversity, increase in natural disasters, water stress and salt intrusion and impacts on the health of the population.
One of the major challenges for Turkmenistan is to achieve sustainable economic development in a changing climate. The country has been on a strong industrial development trajectory in the past 15-20 years, being endowed with significant energy-related natural resources including the large potential for wind and solar energy generation and reserves of natural gas, and oil. Turkmenistan, having the largest reserves of natural gas in the region, is also among the largest methane polluters from industrial production facilities and its frameworks. For continuous and sustainable economic development, Turkmenistan is required to diversify away from commodity revenue, harness its’ renewable energy potential and needs to develop new economic drivers.
Both climate change adaptation and low carbon development need to be strongly linked to national development goals. Increasing the resilience of poor communities to climate change is a key concern related to adaptation, as poor groups tend to be the most vulnerable. Finding pathways for low-carbon energy systems and industrial processes are key requirements for sustainable economic development of Turkmenistan.

Under the direct supervision of RCO Team leader, the UN Volunteer will undertake the following tasks:
• Support the UN Resident Coordinator’s Office and the UN Country Team in coordinating/organizing activities related to Climate Change;
• Support to development and monitoring of the Annual Joint Action Plans for implementation of the MOU on cooperation in the area of Climate Change Mitigation and Adaptation between the government of Turkmenistan and the UN;
• Provide regularly updates and briefings to UN RCO/UNCT on the progress of the above action plans and MoU and other activities;
• Engage key UN agencies in support of climate change agenda including but not limited to UNEP, UNDP, ECE, ESCAP, FAO.
• Support the establishment and functioning of the Climate change technology center;
• Contribute to the development of joint project/programme proposals to global MPTFs;
• Contribute to learning initiatives and workshops;
• Other support related to the Climate Change area.