Protected Area Conservation Intern
Washington DC
World Wildlife Fund (WWF), the world’s leading conservation organization, seeks a Protected Area Conservation Intern.
Conservation areas – particularly those categorized as ‘protected areas’ – are a key strategy for sustaining critical ecosystems. To achieve their full potential, they need to be well designed, well managed, politically supported and sustainably funded. The gap between how much money is available to properly manage protected area systems and how much is needed is enormous - US$1.5 billion per year. If the gap is not filled, there is no guarantee that natural resources will be protected from illegal logging, poaching, development and other threats.The Project Finance for Permanence (PFP) approach, adapted from Wall Street, has a growing record of securing these outcomes through commitments made during a single deal closing when all financial, political, environmental, social and organizational commitments for conservation are finalized. The approach has already been used in the Brazilian Amazon, Costa Rica and the Great Bear Rainforest of Canada to protect an estimated 70 million hectares of key systems. There are plans to accelerate the pace and number of these initiatives in the future.
Responsibilities:
The Forest program in Washington, DC seeks a Protected Area Conservation Intern to inform expansion of the PFP approach to new regions in an effort to permanently protect key ecosystems and species, while learning about one of the most innovative strategies in landscape conservation. The intern will:
- Research protected area management, threats facing protected areas, past and current PFP efforts, regions where future PFP projects could be implemented, and potential funding mechanisms (E.g., climate funding, private sector funding) – Note that the intern could focus within these topics based on their interest as the current research needs are vast
- Generate an annotated resource library for global PFP work by collecting information from WWF colleagues and other stakeholders
- Assist in the development of metrics to track the conservation impact of past, current, and future PFP projects
- Assist in the planning of PFP-related events at the IUCN World Conservation Congress
Qualifications:
- Bachelor’s degree required; student pursuing a Master’s degree in a related field is preferred, such as conservation biology or natural resource management
- Familiarity with protected area management, conservation finance, incentives, landscape conservation and related topics helpful
- Fluency in Spanish and/or Portuguese would be helpful, but is not necessary
- Exceptional research and analytical skills, and attention to detail
- Strong interpersonal and communication skills
- Ability to think strategically and creatively to achieve internship goals
- Strong organization and time management skills
- Proficiency with Microsoft Office applications
- Strong interest in conservation and WWF’s mission
- Commitment of 35 hours per week (some flexibility)
Compensation:
Unpaid. For all unpaid internships, applicants must be enrolled in school and be able to obtain academic course credit from their university.
To apply:
Please submit a resume & cover letter through our Careers page.
https://careers-wwfus.icims.com/jobs/search , IN-16074
* Please note that WWF does not provide VISA sponsorship to interns