IN-23002 Fellow, Freshwater & Food Transformation

Overview

World Wildlife Fund (WWF), one of the world’s leading conservation organizations, seeks a Fellow, Freshwater & Food Transformation, Freshwater.

North American landscapes, along with the critical ecosystem services they provide (carbon storage, clean water, livelihoods for rural communities, critical habitat for plant and animal life, and fresh air) are at risk due to serious environmental degradation and climate change. According to the recent Plowprint Report, corn is one of the top three commodity crops driving new grassland conversion in the Great Plains (where grasslands are a huge carbon sink) and is tied to 25% of conversion of the landscape overall, and significant nutrient pollution in the Mississippi River basin including a large hypoxic zone in the Northern Gulf of Mexico (Hypoxia 101 | US EPA). Increasingly severe and frequent droughts, floods, fires, and hurricanes are likely to affect U.S. grassland ecosystems, and drought exacerbates soil erosion and aquifer depletion.

As part of the cross-cutting freshwater and food transformation group, this one-year fellowship will advance regenerative agriculture and livestock across the U.S. to protect natural ecosystems, improve both production practices and watershed health, while also supporting local communities, local economies, and livelihoods. This position will liaise with a corporate partner to determine baseline landscape and watershed health, map local stakeholder and organization engagement opportunities and support prioritization of targeted interventions (conservation practices, local partnership, policy, etc.) for specific locations to yield meaningful conservation outcomes.

Responsibilities

Key Responsibilities

• Identify and analyze most applicable data sources and scientific reports relevant to North American corn supply chains.

• Draft an implementation and engagement strategy to scope shared water and climate challenges.

• Link regenerative agriculture for conservation to corporate sustainability strategies and plans.

• Distill key learnings from project.

• Provide basic administrative support to project, e.g. meeting scheduling, notetaking, drafting presentations and briefings, maintaining working documents and other files.

Working Relationships

• Internal: Serves on the WWF US Freshwater & Food Transformation team, liaises with key related Freshwater & Food initiatives, Climate team, and Private Sector Engagement team

• External: Serves as a liaison with a core corporate partner and local stakeholders in US Midwest.

Qualifications

Minimum Requirements:

Education/Experience: Pursuing a graduate degree or recent advanced degree graduate in a related field is required, such as sustainable agriculture, natural resources management, corporate sustainability, or environmental science.

Preferred Experience

• Conservation, hydrology, agronomy, or natural resource management background
• Production agriculture experience
• Experience building private sector, public-private partnerships, or stakeholder consensus
• Experience with climate projections and/or modelling
• Skills and Abilities
• Personal passion for ecological conservation, US grasslands and farms, watershed health and/or market-based solutions to environmental change, familiarity with US Midwest agriculture and/or water resources systems and issues is preferred.
• Project management experience, relationship management skills with application in agriculture, water stewardship, corporate sustainability, or agriculture policy
• Ability to integrate cross-cutting issues and translate complex science with stakeholder input into actionable insights and recommendations for targeted audiences
• Excellent oral and written communication skills, including presentation development
• Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams
• Fluent in English (spoken and written)
• Identifies and aligns with WWF’s core values: Courage, Integrity, Respect, and Collaboration:
  • Demonstrates courage by speaking up even when it is difficult, or unpopular.
  • Builds trust with colleagues by acting with integrity, owning mistakes, and holding oneself accountable.
  • Welcomes other points of view and ideas, recognizing and embracing different and contrary perspectives with kindness, curiosity, and encouragement.
  • Makes conscious efforts to promote cooperative practices, behaviors, and ways of working across many groups and individuals.

US Remote – WWF employs interns in all states with the exception of: Alabama, Arkansas, Delaware, Hawaii, Idaho, Indiana, Kentucky, Louisiana, Mississippi, Nevada, New Hampshire, North Dakota, Oklahoma, Rhode Island, Wyoming.

WWF is committed to maintaining a safe and healthy workplace and requires all US-based staff to be fully vaccinated for COVID-19. WWF will consider requests for accommodation from the vaccine requirement based on disability, medical contraindication, sincerely held religious belief, or any other category protected by federal, state, or local law.

To Apply:

• Submit cover letter and resume through our Careers Page**,  Requisition #IN-23002**
• Due to the high volume of applications we are not able to respond to inquiries via phone

As an EOE/AA employer, WWF will not discriminate in its employment practices due to an applicant’s race, color, religion, sex, national origin, age, marital status, genetic information, sexual orientation, gender identity and expression, disability, or protected Veteran status. WWF values diversity and inclusion and welcomes diverse candidates to apply.