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Title | Ecosystem Services Specialist, Americas and Caribben |
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Description |
Start Date: As soon as possible Duration of Contract: One-year fixed-term contract Founded in 1903, Fauna & Flora International (FFI) is the world’s longest-established international conservation organisation. Our vision is to create a sustainable future for the planet where biodiversity is conserved by the people living closest to it. We aim to do this through the conservation of threatened species and ecosystems worldwide, choosing solutions that are sustainable, based on sound science and take account of human needs. We operate primarily in developing countries where there is little capacity to conserve endangered and threatened habitats and species. We have become a trusted entity in the world of conservation. Today FFI is active in over 40 countries. FFI’s Environmental Markets Programme is focused on harnessing the power and resources of commercial markets to protect threatened habitats and provide real and meaningful benefits for the local communities who depend upon them. Understanding the values of ecosystem services is inherently complex and much recent interest has focused on the economics of ecosystems and biodiversity. We have been building expertise and a track record in this area for many years primarily through our work with carbon, and the expansion of our work on ecosystem services lies at the heart of our strategy for the period 2009-2013. We are developing our work around a range of other ecosystem services such as water and pollination, taking our learning from our work with carbon to help us better realise the opportunities other environmental markets can provide. We aim to translate emerging markets for ecosystem services (water, carbon and biodiversity) into sustainable finance for practical conservation in the field. This is a global initiative which complements our work in the field, where we will help local communities and partners to be effective, reliable suppliers of ecosystem services. In this way, FFI can make a significant contribution to the huge challenge of bridging the gap between emerging global/national mechanisms for monetizing ecosystem services and the realities of local management of natural resources on the ground. The FFI Americas and Caribbean Programme works to deliver the organisation’s mission in the wider Caribbean and Latin America. Currently the programme is working in Belize, Nicaragua, Ecuador, Brazil, Antigua & Barbuda and St Lucia. We work closely with local and national partner organisations, so a typical model is for a country programme to have just one or two FFI staff, supported by our regional team (based in Cambridge and Ecuador) and FFI’s specialist cross-cutting teams in areas such as livelihoods, governance and ecosystem services. Our funding is derived mainly from private individuals, foundations, corporate partners and bilateral development agencies. The programme is working to conserve globally important habitats including dry forest, lowland Chocó and Amazonian forest, as well as coastal and marine habitats in the eastern tropical Pacific and Caribbean. With a focus on landscape and habitat level conservation, in which communities have a central role, our lines of action include development of participatory governance systems for protected areas, support for development of local livelihoods, establishment of private protected areas, restoration of offshore islands and engagement of industries to improve their environmental practices. In this context, a high priority is the valuation and maintenance of ecosystem services, which have always been an integral part of biodiversity conservation and fundamental to local livelihoods. Ecosystem services have great potential to contribute more to sustainable development through innovative mechanisms, both market-based and non-market. Due to our expanding programme of work, FFI is seeking an individual to support our developing programmes in Environmental Markets and Ecosystem Services. S/he will work with the Environmental Markets team and the Americas and Caribbean team to explore the issues and develop opportunities within the current Environmental Markets and Americas and Caribbean Programmes presented by the environmental markets and ecosystem services concept. The successful candidate will have practical experience in developing REDD projects and projects that use the payments for ecosystem services (PES) approach (in a broad sense, market-based or otherwise). S/he will be a strong team player and enjoy working in a dynamic team environment where strategic approaches and conceptual thinking are being brought to deliver innovative projects that benefit conservation and communities. S/he will have a degree or equivalent level qualification in a relevant discipline and/or strong experience in a related role. For further details and to apply please visit: http://www.fauna-flora.org/about/jobs/ The closing date for applications is Monday 19th September 2011. No agencies please. FFI values diversity and is committed to equality of opportunity |