The following internships are available at the World Wildlife Fund – United States. They are designed typically for graduate students, although some may be appropriate for advanced undergraduates. Projects can be undertaken over the summer (with extensions, as necessary, into the fall semester). Most projects could also be extended over the course of one or two semesters as part of a student’s course work or thesis requirements; advance arrangements would be necessary with faculty advisors. Internships are typically unpaid unless otherwise noted, but facilities, library resources, and computers at WWF headquarters are available. Hours are flexible. To qualify for an unpaid internship, the student must provide documentation that they are receiving credit from their university, or that the work they will be performing is consistent with a course requirement.
In general, our interns need solid data management and writing skills, self-motivation, an ability to work both independently and collaboratively. Specific skills (required or preferred) are listed with each project, along with the primary contact person.
To apply, please email a cover letter and resume/CV to the contact individual listed for each project, with
“INTERNSHIP” and the relevant internship number listed in the subject line.
1. Analyzing and Mainstreaming Forest Certification
Intern sought to help consolidate new knowledge and tools at the business-policy interface for forests and agricultural commodities; build and synthesize evidence that demonstrates ways to capture environmental impacts of forest certification; and, mainstream results by bringing them to the attention of potential users and decision makers. Specific areas of focus may include:
- Using standardized methods for measuring carbon and other co-benefits
- Role of various voluntary carbon certification schemes e.g. VCS, CAR
- Overlaps with existing certification schemes
The successful applicant will have an interdisciplinary background in environmental policy or and/or environmental economics. Position requires excellent research and writing skills, with a preference for demonstrated expertise in policy analysis or framework analysis. Must be able to work efficiently and independently. Experience with agriculture and certification schemes would be a plus.
Stipend: Negotiable
Due date for CV and cover letter: March 15, 2013
Contact: Charlie Parker, charlie.parker@wwfus.or<mailto:charlie.parker@wwfus.org>g
2. Protected Area Research Intern
Protected areas are a cornerstone of global conservation strategy. Conservation policy assumes that national parks and other protected areas are permanent fixtures on the landscape, but recent WWF research demonstrates that a contrary phenomenon is affecting protected areas worldwide: Protected Area Downgrading, Downsizing, and Degazettement, or PADDD. WWF is analyzing patterns, trends, and causes of PADDD, and their implications for the sustainability of conservation efforts. We are looking for a motivated intern to help us continue building our understanding of PADDD.
Internship responsibilities may include data collection on PADDD from existing datasets, popular, gray, and peer-reviewed literatures; administration of PADDDtracker.org (a wiki-style online database that integrates spatial mapping tools to collect and deliver data on PADDD); assistance in editing and producing content for PADDDtracker; development of new promotional material for outreach to the conservation community.
This internship is an excellent opportunity to interact with scientists in WWF-US and around the world; gain exposure to a wide range of conservation science and policy issues; and play an important part in contributing to our growing knowledge of the role of protected areas in conservation.
Minimum Requirements:
A successful candidate with have strong research, writing, and communication skills; excellent organizational skills, interest in conservation (particularly in global protected area systems), and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team. Knowledge of GIS, Drupal, database management, reference management databases (such as EndNote or Mendeley), and website management experience preferred. Spanish or other language skills preferred.
Duration: May 2013 through August/September 2013 (Minimum 12 weeks)
Stipend: Unpaid internship. Only enrolled students are eligible for this internship and you must be able to receive academic credit from your current academic institution.
Due date for CV and cover letter: April 1, 2013
How to apply: Please email a resume & cover letter with the subject line “Internship Application” to Roopa
Krithivasan at roopa.krithivasan@wwfus.org<mailto:roopa.krithivasan@wwfus.org>.
3. Protected Area Research Intern – Democratic republic of Congo
Protected areas are a cornerstone of global conservation strategy. Conservation policy assumes that national parks and other protected areas are permanent fixtures on the landscape, but recent WWF research demonstrates that a contrary phenomenon is affecting protected areas worldwide: Protected Area Downgrading, Downsizing, and Degazettement, or PADDD. WWF is analyzing patterns, trends, and causes of PADDD, and their implications for the sustainability of conservation efforts. We are looking for a motivated intern to help us continue building our understanding of PADDD in the Democratic republic of Congo (DRC).
Internship responsibilities may include data collection on PADDD from existing datasets, archival legal documents, and popular, gray, and peer-reviewed literatures; will include review of legal documents (including microfilm) at the Library of Congress in Washington DC.
This internship is an excellent opportunity to interact with scientists in WWF-US and around the world; gain exposure to a wide range of conservation science and policy issues; and play an important part in contributing to our growing knowledge of the role of protected areas in conservation.
Minimum Requirements:
A successful candidate with have strong research, writing, and communication skills; excellent organizational skills, interest in conservation (particularly in African protected area systems), and have the ability to work both independently and as part of a team. Fluency in French necessary. Knowledge of GIS and database management preferred.
Duration: May 2013 through August/September 2013. (Minimum 12 weeks)
Stipend: TBD.
Due date for CV and cover letter: April 1, 2013 or until filled.
How to apply: Please email a resume & cover letter with the subject line “Internship Application – DRC” to Roopa
Krithivasan at roopa.krithivasan@wwfus.or<mailto:roopa.krithivasan@wwfus.org>g
4. Getting conservation to scale: Research Intern
Despite billions of dollars invested, “getting to scale” remains a fundamental challenge for conservation donors and practitioners. Effective community-based projects often struggle to deliver national-scale results, while a well-recognized “implementation gap” frequently exists between regional conservation plans and action. Occasionally, however, a conservation intervention will have widespread adoption and implementation that transforms the relationship between people and nature across large areas. Understanding why an intervention scales up is essential to evidence-based conservation policy and practice.
Internship responsibilities will include:
Review the peer-reviewed social science literature on “getting to scale”, employing a conservation lens.
Provide support to identify specific conservation interventions which have been scaled up, to better understand the patterns of adoption.
This work will help contribute building our understanding of the social factors that determine spatial patterns and temporal trends in the adoption and implementation of conservation policies and practices.
Minimum Requirements:
A successful candidate with have strong research, writing, and communication skills; excellent organizational skills, interest in conservation (particularly in global protected area systems), and the ability to work both independently and as part of a team. Knowledge of GIS and database management experience strongly preferred. Duration: May 2013 through August/September 2013 (Minimum 12 weeks)
Stipend: Unpaid internship. Only enrolled students are eligible for this internship and you must be able to receive academic credit from your current academic institution.
Due date for CV and cover letter: April 1, 2013.
How to apply: Please email a resume & cover letter with the subject line “Internship Application: Getting conservation to scale” to Roopa Krithivasan at roopa.krithivasan@wwfus.or<mailto:roopa.krithivasan@wwfus.org>g
5. Evaluating forest certification: Does certification reduce regional deforestation or degradation?
Tropical forests are the store-houses of most of the world’s biodiversity and carbon dioxide, but have also been under the threat of deforestation and degradation for many decades. In response to the rising commercial pressure on forestland, forest certification (e.g. Forest Stewardship Council) was developed as a conservation tool to ensure sustainable management of production forests. To better understand the effectiveness of this policy instrument, we seek an intern to help conduct a preliminary evaluation on the degree to which forest certification may have led to a decrease in the amount of regional deforestation or degradation.
Specific areas of focus may include:
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Impact evaluation research design, using spatial counter-factual areas to set up our comparison/assessment Remote sensing analyses of select countries or sub-national regions, comparing FSC areas, connectivity, and deforestation (degradation) rates. Countries may include Peru, Indonesia, Cameroon, Costa Rica or Colombia Exploring connections with carbon markets and links to avoided deforestation carbon emissions estimates Exploring links to agricultural production and the agricultural-forest frontier with respect to forest conversion and indirect forest loss.
The successful applicant will meet the following requirements:
Interdisciplinary background in relevant fields, such as conservation biology, spatial ecology, spatial statistics Excellent GIS and remote sensing skills
Excellent research, writing, and analytical skills Ability to work efficiently and independently
Demonstrated knowledge of tropical forests, forest certification, or other forest management approaches preferred
Knowledge of impact evaluation methods preferred Proficiency in Spanish is a plus.
Stipend: Paid-internship
Duration: May 2013 through August 2013
Hours: Negotiable
Due date for CV and cover letter: April 1, 2013
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