About the program:

Global Forest Watch (GFW) is a free forest monitoring system that provides timely and actionable information to support the sustainable management and conservation of forest landscapes. Since its launch in 2015, more than 5 million users have visited the GFW website from every country in the world. GFW is used by civil society organizations, journalists, communities, governments, and companies around the world to see where, when, and why deforestation is happening and take action to address it.

Internship Highlight:

• Contributing towards the pressing issue of forest protection, and sustainable forest management.
• Working with new data and state of the art platforms to communicate findings on changes to forests to users.
• Being part of the GFW team.
• Gaining insights into how international non-profit organisations function.

What you will do:

In this role, you will support the development of a new ‘deforestation alert’ product, using new ‘vegetation alert’ information. This will be carried out in the context of Global Forest Watch (GFW) and the Land and Carbon Lab (LCL) of WRI. New data developed by the University of Maryland (one of Global Forest Watch’s core partners) provides near-real-time alerts for vegetation disturbances – which needs further processing to make it into useable information for GFW stakeholders. Work has already commenced to evaluate the new data, including comparing it to current near-real-time ‘deforestation’ datasets on GFW and also in savanna areas available elsewhere. This work will continue, and thresholds required to provide reliable information on forest disturbances identified. GFW currently provides annual updates on the status of the world’s forests, and the global coverage of the new product, means that quarterly updates are now potentially possible, and that law-enforcement related to deforestation can be supported around the globe. Because alert data is available for all vegetation types, learnings from assessments in forests can also be applied to other habitats.

Your internship supervisor will be Sarah Carter, Research Associate, WRI Europe.

Focus Area 1: Exploring the vegetation alerts product to determine thresholds and processing steps needed to use as a ‘deforestation alert’ (50%)

• Explore the recently released vegetation alerts from the University of Maryland, which provide near-real-time on forest disturbances across the globe.
• Provide insights in how they compare with other available alert products both inside and outside of ‘forests’
• Prepare detailed metadata (including descriptions of methods etc.) and provide input on how to present data on GFW platform (data layers, downloadable statistics, and interactive graphs)
• Contribute to other communications products such as blogs on the new data

Focus Area 2:Exploring the global vegetation alerts in the context of providing quarterly updates on forest changes (50%)

• Comparing the alerts with annual tree cover loss data, and assessing the alert’s usefulness to provide global sub-annual updates on forest losses
• Scope out ways to clearly present the data and contribute to communications materials

What you will need:

• Good working knowledge of GIS software (ArcGIS or QGIS).
• GEE knowledge.
• Experience of analysing remote sensing derived forest data or similar data.
• Currently pursuing a degree in geoinformation science / forestry or related field (graduate program preferred).
• Interns at WRI Europe must be registered in a study program with a Dutch college or university for the full duration of the internship.
• You have written and verbal proficiency in English

Conditions of the internship:

• This is a 4 to 6-month internship with a start date of 7 March 2024.
• This internship will be based at the WRI Europe office in the Hague with some flexibility to work from home.
• This internship offers a reimbursement of 700 euros per month based on full-time working hours (32 hours per week).

How to apply:

Please submit a resume and cover letter by 15 January 2024. Applicants must apply through the WRI Careers portal to be considered. You are encouraged to link to any relevant blogs, projects or other pieces of work that demonstrate your suitability for the internship.

About Us:

Founded in 1982, World Resources Institute (WRI) is an independent, nonprofit global research organization that turns big ideas into action at the nexus of environment, economic opportunity, and human well-being. We are working to address seven critical challenges that the world must overcome this decade to secure a sustainable future for people and the planet: climate change, energy, food, forests, water, sustainable cities, and the ocean. WRI has a global staff of over 1,800 people with work spanning 60 countries. We have offices in Africa, Brazil, China, Europe, India, Indonesia, Mexico, Colombia and the United States, as well as a growing presence in other countries and regions.

The foundation of our work is delivering high-quality research, data, maps, and analysis to solve the world’s greatest environment and international development challenges and improve people’s lives. We work with leaders in government, business, and civil society to drive ambitious action and create change on the ground. Equally important, we bring together partners to develop breakthrough ideas and scale-up solutions for far-reaching, enduring impact.

Our mission and values:

WRI’s mission is to move human society to live in ways that protect Earth’s environment and its capacity to provide for the needs and aspirations of current and future generations.

Our values are shared ideals that bind us together: Integrity, Innovation, Urgency, Independence, Respect.

Our culture:

WRI is committed to advancing gender and social equity for human well-being in our mission and applies this principle to our organizational and programmatic practices. We are committed to providing equal opportunities in employment, we embrace all diversity and encourage women, the LGBTQ+ community, persons with disabilities, Afro-descendants, and Indigenous people to apply. Recognizing our strong commitment to gender equality, WRI has also been awarded EDGE certification.

Our team carefully reviews all applications.