Research Assistant for carbon program of Forest Trends' Ecosystem Marketplace

IMPORTANT:  This Advertiser has requested that applicants MUST be National Residents / Valid Work Permit-holders.  Other applicants need not apply.

 

Forest Trends’ Ecosystem Marketplace is seeking a full-time (35-40 hours/week) research assistant for our Carbon Program. The role will span an initial 3-month period, with potential for extension for an additional three months, with compensation provided at an hourly rate.

Ecosystem Marketplace is an initiative of Forest Trends, a Washington DC-based international non-profit organization that works to promote the conservation of forested ecosystems and the lives of those who depend on them through markets and payments for ecosystem services. 

Ecosystem Marketplace’s Carbon Program produces a range of qualitative and quantitative analyses of the voluntary and forest carbon markets, as well as a suite of other mechanisms for financing forest conservation. Our products include original news articles, annual marketplace reports, periodic topical reports, news briefs, a resource library and tracking carbon offset projects. Additional activities occasionally include providing specialized market and policy consultative services, leading in-person and remote educational lectures and hosting regional to international events.

Ecosystem Marketplace works to link practitioners and decision-makers with each other and advises companies, governments and other NGOs on voluntary carbon/forest carbon market developments, transparency, social and environmental co-benefits and other mechanisms. For more information about Ecosystem Marketplace, visit www.ecosystemmarketplace.com.

Responsibilities include:

MONTH 1 (January 2015):

• Assisting in the development of the survey contact list and drafting outreach content for a series of reports on the voluntary and forest carbon markets
• Collaborating with other Ecosystem Marketplace team members to complete, revise and update the associated surveys
• Updating forest carbon project profiles in Ecosystem Marketplace’s Forest Carbon Portal database

MONTH 2-3 (Feb-March 2015):

• Contributing to outreach efforts to gather data and insights relevant to the reports, including following up with project developers in English and Spanish to personally encourage responses and answer questions
• Compiling data and inputting into Excel spreadsheets and conducting data analysis 
• Interviewing and writing contributions to the reports as desired and required

ONGOING:

• Story identification and summary writing for weekly news briefs, reaching >10,000 readers;
• Researching carbon news and events to contribute to Ecosystem Marketplace and Forest Carbon Portal website news, feature stories, event listing and other online content platforms;
• Writing articles for publication on the Ecosystem Marketplace website, as desired and required;
• Providing additional contributions (written, strategic or otherwise) to future research products as desired and required;
• And other tasks that arise.

Qualifications:

• Graduate degree a plus;
• Interest in conservation finance/payments for ecosystem services and knowledge of the carbon markets or another ecosystem service market; expertise in voluntary and forest carbon markets will be highly regarded;
• Excellent verbal communication skills; comfortable with phone survey outreach
• Strong understanding and experience with complicated Excel formulas;
• Good writing, verbal communications, research and organizational skills; journalism skills a plus;
• Ability to multi-task and work well in a team environment
• Ability to commute to Washington, DC office;
• Spanish-language speakers strongly encouraged to apply.