Intern, Impact Forecasting
Our Arlington-based staff continues to work remotely and visit the office on a limited basis. When our office officially opens, in-office work schedules/locations will be determined in accordance with CI policies and in keeping with the role’s responsibilities. Hiring managers will provide guidance on hybrid or blended work schedules for the role in question when a candidate is contacted for an interview.
Conservation International (CI) has been protecting nature for the benefit of all for over 30 years. Through science, policy, and partnerships, CI is helping build a healthier, more prosperous, and more productive planet.
POSITION SUMMARY
Global investments in conservation projects face an uncertain future under climate change. The Impact Forecasting Intern will help analyze the effects of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) on climate, biodiversity, and people globally by 1) reading through funded project descriptions from multiple sources (i.e., the Global Environmental Facility (GEF), World Bank, EU) and databases to determine which NCS pathway the project funds and how much funding each project allocates to NCS pathways, 2) contacting potential data sources to build our data repository, 3) helping clean and analyze the data and models and 4) assisting with accessible tool development to visualize the data. The major aims of the work are to determine the effects of NCS on carbon sequestration, biodiversity, and ecosystem services and to provide a global framework for projecting the impacts of NCS in the future. The information will be used to develop a Decision Support System to de-risk NCS project investment globally and under climate change. The intern will help assess project descriptions and data mining. The final product will be a database with the information collected as well as a series of visualizations including maps and figures of NCS impacts on the three major outcomes. The intern will benefit from working and interacting with staff, and improve their analytical and research skills, with the possibility of being a co-author in a publication. The results of the research could be used towards a master's project, honors thesis, or capstone project. This will be a paid internship.
Goals:
Use literature review techniques and data management expertise to help assess the potential risks and returns of Natural Climate Solutions (NCS) interventions on climate, biodiversity, and people.
Outcome(s):

• Completed data mining from funded project descriptions globally.
• Completed data cleaning and integration into Impact Forecasting database.
• Completed visualizations of NCS impact on climate, biodiversity, and people.

RESPONSIBILITIES
Assess Project Descriptions from Funding organizations:

• Read through relevant project descriptions from funding organizations globally.
• Identify investment costs per NCS intervention type within each funded project.
• Integrate findings into Impact Forecasting database.

Data preparation and assistance with analysis:

• Assemble and organize required data for the impact forecasting analysis.
• Produce mapped or graphical summaries of analytical results.
• Specific analysis that will be coordinated by CI will include:
• Modeling of forest cover change, biodiversity, and aggregated ecosystem services and integrating climate and human population projections to determine future risk.
• Mapping of risk and returns of NCS interventions on climate, biodiversity, and people outcomes globally and the intersection of the three.
• Assessing the NCS intervention investment risk at the global scale on carbon sequestration and biodiversity.
• The vulnerability of the forests, biodiversity, and local communities, by understanding how NCS pathways are and will impact them.

Data preparation for web-based analytical tool:

• Obtain/assemble relevant datasets needed to produce the Decision Support System
• Reformat datasets as necessary to be compatible with the tool
• Provide input as the user experience of the tool as it is developed

Other duties as assigned by supervisor
WORKING CONDITIONS

• This position is based in Arlington, VA (remote).
• Work will be remote – with the possibility of meeting with their supervisor at the Arlington office pending COVID re-opening protocols. The schedule will be a minimum of 10 hours per week with the possibility of additional hours on weekends or breaks.
• For the health and safety of our employees, their families, and our community, all US-based Conservation International staff are required to be vaccinated against COVID-19. This mandatory vaccine requirement applies to all staff working remotely, in a hybrid work arrangement, and on-site in CI US offices. Effective January 4, 2022, new hires will be required to provide proof of full vaccination with a government-approved vaccine as a condition for employment. Requests for reasonable accommodations or exceptions related to medical or religious reasons will be considered. Candidates are NOT required to state their COVID-19 vaccine status in their application.

QUALIFICATIONS
Required

• Bachelor's degree or higher in environmental science, earth systems science, geography, biology, ecology, or related field.
• Technical writing
• Literature review experience Data analysis and graphing (e.g. R; Python).
• Data cleaning and analysis (e.g. R; Python).
• Data management and workflow documentation.
• Current student or recent graduate required.
• Must be eligible to work in the United States.

Preferred

• Analysis involving climate change projection data.
• Analysis involving land cover + land-use change data.
• Communication of climate change uncertainty.

To apply for this position please submit a resume and cover letter.
See all Conservation International Career Opportunities HERE
Conservation International is an Equal Opportunity Employer Minorities/Women/Vets/Disabled

Job Type: Internship