Senior Natural Resources Management Specialist

The World Bank Group is one of the largest sources of funding and knowledge for developing countries; a unique global partnership of five institutions dedicated to ending extreme poverty and promoting shared prosperity. With 189 member countries and more than 120 offices worldwide, we work with public and private sector partners, investing in groundbreaking projects and using data, research, and technology to develop solutions to the most urgent global challenges. For more information, visit www.worldbank.org . VPU Context: The Europe and Central Asia (ECA) Region ECA is a highly diverse region, with countries of all income levels and wide differences in resource endowments, human capital, and institutional capacity. ECA has a strong lending portfolio, as well as a large and growing portfolio of Reimbursable Advisory Services. Knowledge is critical to the Bank’s value proposition to client countries in the ECA region in both lending and advisory services. Despite being a predominantly middle-income region, ECA continues to experience a weak recovery from the 2009 crisis and the COVID-19 pandemic. Slow growth and persistently high unemployment threaten to reverse the region’s achievements in reducing poverty and increasing shared prosperity. After the crisis and the pandemic, the region faces low growth rates, albeit with a more upbeat outlook, and struggle with multiple structural weaknesses, including high public debt burden, tight fiscal space, low investment, and financial sector vulnerabilities. The region also faces longer-term challenges, most notably rapid population aging (especially in Europe), with implications for labor productivity and fiscal sustainability of social spending. https://www.worldbank.org/en/region/eca Unit Context: The World Bank’s Environment Department supports client countries in advancing environmental sustainability, natural capital, and green growth through investments, analytical work, technical assistance, and capacity building. The sustainable management of the environment and natural resources is vital for economic growth and human wellbeing. When managed well, renewable natural resources, watersheds, productive landscapes and seascapes can provide the foundation for more and better job creation, sustained inclusive growth, food security and poverty reduction. In the region the agenda is implemented by Environment Unit, which is part of the Planet Department. Duties and accountabilities: ECA Environment Unit is seeking to recruit Sr. Natural Resources Management Specialist to lead a broad and evolving portfolio of lending operations and policy dialogue on forests, landscapes and biodiversity (green business line) in Turkiye and South Caucasus, based in Ankara. He/she will have the following main duties and responsibilities: Technical and Operational Leadership • Serve as the Bank's lead technical specialist on forestry, land management, integrated fire management, and landscape restoration for the Türkiye and South Caucasus country programs, providing hands-on technical guidance to government counterparts. • Lead or co-lead implementation support missions for the Investment projects under implementation (Türkiye Climate Resilient Forests Project and TULIP, Armenia Resiland) reviewing technical progress against results frameworks, identifying implementation bottlenecks, and proposing corrective actions. • Provide technical review and quality assurance of sustainable forestry and land management interventions, and related technical deliverables produced by the client and consultants. • Advise on the design and implementation of nature-based solutions, afforestation and reforestation programs, forest and pasture rehabilitation, erosion and sediment control works, and post-wildfire landscape recovery. Portfolio and Pipeline Development • Lead the identification, design, and preparation of new investment and advisory operations on forests, land, biodiversity, and climate resilience in Türkiye and South Caucasus (and other ECA countries, if needed) in line with the Country Partnership Frameworks and regional environmental priorities. • Lead and/or contribute technical expertise to Analytical and Advisory Activities (AAA), including climate and disaster risk assessments, Country Climate and Development Reports, and sector strategy work relevant to forests and natural resources. • Coordinate with CMU for opportunities and build the portfolio pipeline. Client and Partner Engagement • Build and maintain strong working relationships with the Ministry of Agriculture and Forestry, General Directorate of Forestry, and other relevant government agencies, as well as bilateral and multilateral development partners active in the forestry and natural resources sector in Türkiye. • Represent the World Bank in technical dialogue, workshops, and knowledge exchange events, such as on forest fire management and integrated landscape approaches. • Engage other countries and build coalitions in the region on integrated forest fire management whilst drawing on expertise from other countries. • Support capacity-building activities for government counterparts and Project Implementation Unit staff on natural resource management, fire management, and sustainable landscape planning. Team Leadership and Knowledge Management • Provide mentorship and technical guidance to junior staff, consultants, and technical specialists on forests, landscapes and biodiversity • Lead knowledge agenda by dissemination of lessons learned and good practices from Türkiye's forestry and landscape operations for broader use across the ECA Region and other Global Practices, as well as bring knowledge from other parts of the world to Turkiye and South Caucasus. • Undertake other related duties as assigned by the Practice Manager. Note : This internal requisition is open to WBG and IMF staff only (including short-term and extended term consultants/temporaries). External candidates are requested not to apply. In case an external candidate applies, their application will not be considered.