Submission Deadline: Monday 20 June 2022, 5.30pm (AEST)

The Australian Water Partnership (AWP) is seeking an Australian Partner to provide support in a series of dialogues leading up to United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change 27th Conference of Parties (UNFCCC COP27; 7–18 November 2022) and the UN Water 2023 water conference (22–24 March 2023). The support consists in coordinating and organising resources that will contribute towards engagement at COP27.

Activity Background

Climate change is putting additional pressure on current water sector challenges by increasing rainfall variability, frequency of extreme weather events and the associated droughts and floods, as well as decreasing water quality, heatwaves which lead to higher water demand and continuous sea level rise, to name a few. The latest IPCC report states feasible and effective adaptation actions are integrated, multi-sectoral solutions to address social inequities based on climate risk. Importantly, the report recognises the value of diverse forms of knowledge including scientific, Indigenous and local knowledge to understand and evaluate climate adaptation processes and actions and avoid maladaptation.

Since its inception, the AWP has been sharing Australia’s water journey in the Indo-Pacific and beyond. AWP is increasingly working towards including Indigenous water knowledge in the Australian water journey. Highlighting the thousands of years of adaptive management in agriculture, irrigation, disaster reduction (for example, back burning and fallow processes) and water management with the Australian climate will be a key part of this activity.

Activity Description

AWP is organising a series of dialogues in the lead up to UNFCCC COP27 and the UN Water 2023 water conference. The dialogues aim to gather and integrate Australian Partners’ and partner stakeholders’ water sector experiences in the Indo-Pacific in the context of climate change to contribute to AWP’s involvement in the international events mentioned above.

Dialogue 1: Setting the scene – showing the link between adaptation and water resource management.
Dialogue 2: How does traditional, Indigenous, and local knowledge play a role in water management and climate adaptation?
Dialogue 3: Consolidation of messages and way forward to COP 27.
Dialogue 4: COP27 debrief and next steps towards UN 2023 Water Conference.

The partner may play a support role at COP27, but this requirement will be determined by AWP at a later date.

Selection Criteria

EOIs will be assessed against the following selection criteria:

• Excellent consultation, communication, analytical and writing skills.
• Project management.
• Capacity to identify water’s interconnections and interdependencies with people and other sectors across and between scales, from the local to the international, and across institutional and academic siloes.
• Identified opportunities for innovation in the delivery of the program.
• Be abreast of emerging practices to share including the integration of community and traditional knowledge into climate adaptation practices across the water sector.
• Value for Money as evidenced by proposed daily remuneration rates.

View full details and eligibility/selection criteria here.