Consultant – Migratory Tern Conservation Assessment (EAAF & WPMF)

About the role

The United Nations Environment Programme is seeking a consultant to deliver a concise, peer‑reviewed report that provides a flyway‑wide baseline assessment of the conservation status of migratory terns in the East Asian–Australasian and West Pacific Marine Flyways. The work supports the CMS Flyways Working Group, the Australian Government, and range‑state partners by consolidating knowledge on population trends, threats, protections and conservation actions.

Key responsibilities

• Conduct a systematic scoping review of scientific literature, national government reports and grey literature on target tern species across the East Asian–Australasian and West Pacific Marine Flyways.
• Identify and engage key experts and data holders in range states (Australia, Japan, China, Republic of Korea and others) to address information gaps.
• Prepare and submit an Inception Report detailing review methodology, then produce interim and final reports for the CMS Secretariat and Australian Government.
• Synthesize data on population estimates, distribution, breeding biology, migration routes, trends and threats such as habitat loss, climate change, by‑catch, invasive species and pollution.
• Assess the coverage and effectiveness of existing legal and policy frameworks, bilateral agreements and protected‑area networks, ranking threats and knowledge gaps.
• Compile summary tables for each target species covering population status, IUCN Red List category and CMS/bilateral agreement coverage, and prioritize critical knowledge gaps.
• Develop clear, actionable recommendations for research, monitoring, management, policy and capacity‑building, and incorporate feedback from the CMS Secretariat and Australian Government.
• Maintain regular communication with both parties, providing monthly progress updates and participating in milestone review calls.