National Forest Inventory, Database Design and Data Analyst at Food and Agriculture Organization Of the United Nations

Job Type: Service Contract - NPP
Duration: 8 Months

General Description Of Task(S) And Objectives To Be Achieved

• The Forest Carbon Partnership Facility (FCPF) is supporting the Federal Government of Nigeria to develop her REOO+ readiness process by expanding the process initiated at Cross River State (through UN REDO Programme) to Nassarwa and Ondo States; and by upscaling the sub-National FREL initiated at CRS to the entire country. Part of the Readiness funds have been allocated to undertake ‘low intensity” foest inventory in different ecological zones in Nigeria; and FAD will be supporting Nigeria in the implementation of this activity through a Technical Assistance (TA) Agreement(UTF/NIR/066/NIR) signed between the Federal Government of Nigeria and FAa. Output 2 of the TA Agreement is concerned with the design of inventory methodology, capacity building on NFl field data collection, field data collection, data base development and data analysis.
• The main objective of this assignment is to supervise/coordinate the implementation of national forest (carbon) inventory field data collection, design a NFl database, supervise/coordinate data entry, data cleaning, processing and analysis of the forest inventory data, within the framework of a Technical Assistance (TA) Agreement (UTF/NIR/066/NIR).

Scope of Services
Under the overall supervision of the FAG Representative (FAOR) in Nigeria, the technical guidance) of the Regional Technical Forestry Officer at the FAG Regional Office for Africa (FAORAF), and in close collaboration with the National REDD+Coordination Unit for Nigeria, the incumbent will undertake the following tasks:

• Support the design and testing of the NFl methodology in accordance with the current IPCC guidelines and Guidance under the UNFCCC;
• Assist in the development of training manuals/field measurement protocol for NFl and preparation of the training documents; and assistance in organizing technical training workshop of field crews prior to field data collection;
• Provide continuous and on-the-spot capacity strengthening/coaching to field inventory teams for effective and efficient implementation of the NFl;
• Participate in the selection and organization of inventory field teams, including assignment of roles and responsibilities to team members, institutionalization a regular reporting system of field activities, and ensuring that weekly reports and completed field data sheets are collected and securely stored, monitoring field equipment status and maintenance/repairs, planning and implementing communication flow around the NFl, etc.
• Supervise the field crews during field data collection and perform regular spot checks, as deemed necessary; and report on any implementation bottlenecks timeously and propose solutions to them.
• Provide ongoing support to the Project Coordinator in preparing work plans and reporting on progress on NFl activities;
• Collate, review and assess existing historic forest inventory datasets and forest inventory information management systems in Nigeria and make recommendations on their appropriateness or not for updating with NFl data to be collected;
• Compile and harmonize all existing data in a central and functional NFl database containing tree species list, existing allometric equations, and wood densities; and assess their relevance to biomass and carbon stocks estimates for REDD+ MRV purposes
• Design the database in a format appropriate to the data parameters collected in the National Forest Inventory
• support and coordinate For staff in the data entering, data cleansing, and database maintenance and management;
• Provide inputs into the final NFl report(particularly data entry, cleansing and management)
• Undertake,with FoF staff data analysis and production of final NFl report.
• Produce Terminal Report for the consultancy using appropriate FAO reporting template.

Deliverables:

• Detailed NFl work plan based on TA agreement;
• Monthly reports of the NFl field work progress;
• Training reports on the implementation of NFl, NFl design and data processing;
• Field mission reports including recommendations to improve the quality of and team work.
• NFI final report;
• Detailed ToRs for NFl field team members, including roles and responsibilities;
• NFl database system populated with inventory data
• Other materials developed, including presentations, information kits, white papers, prepared for meetings, workshops an do ther consultative events during the contract period.

Qualification and Experience Criteria
The NFl Field Supervisor shall meet the following minimum requirements in qualifications and experience:

• Advanced degree (MSc, but preferably PhD) in Forestry/Forest Inventory and/or Forest Mensuration;
• At least 7 years of experience in forest inventory, forest biometry, data processing and analysis; including relevant experience of forest carbon with excellent field experience in leading field inventory teams, in measurement;
• Strong ability working with, and coordinating field team in forestry;
• Practical skills in the use of forest measurement equipment, including modern laser equipment;
• Practical experience in the development of NFl databases
• Excellent analytical skills, and use of statistical software for data analysis, including open source software (e.g. R-package).
• Demonstrated ability work in, and coordinate inventory teams, take initiatives and ability to deliver results within stipulated deadlines;
• Extent and relevance of academic achievements in subjects relevant to forest inventory (example, scientific publications on forest inventory, and allometric equations).
• Good Knowledge of REDD+, MRV procedures and IPCC Guidelines and Guidance for GHG inventories in the LULUCF sector.
• Excellent oral and written communication and managerial skills;