Presently, Namibia does not have a legislated uniform land cover management system and those that do exist at regional and municipal level are often incompatible and inconsistent. To fill this gap and fulfill its national responsibility, UNDP through the SDG Data Innovation Project in partnership with NSA and the National Spatial Data Infrastructure (NSDI) project has initiated a process of implementing national legislation with the aim to harmonize land cover classification management in the country. It has been identified that a uniform national land cover classification system is needed to properly classify different land covers and for them to be comparable over time. One of the aims of the NSDI is to provide a uniform, effective and comprehensive system of spatial planning in the country. The spatial planning system consists of a number of components including: spatial development frameworks, principles, norms and standards to guide spatial planning, land use management and land development.

A uniform and national land cover classification standard will benefit the country immensely and have a profound impact on tracking changes over time. Likewise, the Agenda 2030 has set out Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) to measure the progress over time on a wide variety of themes. Some SDGs are proving to be difficult to track or compare as results by different individuals and entities differ due to a lack of a harmonized national land cover classification standard. It is against this background that the NSA seeks the services of a qualified, experienced and innovative Land Classification Specialist to formulate the national land cover classification framework standard for Namibia.

The consultant may assist with other capacity building and other aspects of project preparation to ensure gender considerations are mainstreamed into the development of the project.