The Latin America and the Caribbean Office located in Panama City works closely with the 33 countries of the region – including 16 small island developing States, with a population of about 588 million people. The office works to serve the needs of the region and its activities are integrated into the work programs approved by the United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA).

The management of ecosystems posed by UNEP has a natural resource management approach that seeks to highlight the value of biodiversity and ecosystems for the economy and societies, as well as the cost of their degradation and loss. This management focuses on the care and maintenance of ecosystems and biodiversity to meet future needs, both ecological and human. Latin America and the Caribbean is the region with the greatest biological diversity on the planet and hosts several of the countries considered mega-diverse in the world. Its economy depends largely on this rich biological diversity, which, however, is increasingly threatened by human activity and a series of factors that are related to each other, such as habitat transformation and alteration, overexploitation or unsustainable use of land and water resources, unsustainable land management practices, population pressure and globalization. One of UNEP’s priorities is for countries to use the ecosystem approach to improve human well-being and promote sustainable development. To achieve this, UNEP recommends the application of equitable policies – based on scientific information and traditional knowledge – that are participatory and intersectoral and that seek to protect and recover biological resources.

UNEP is undergoing a process of strengthening its regional presence. To this end, regional coordinators for most subprogrammes have been placed in regional offices, including for the “Ecosystems Management” subprogramme in Latin America and the Caribbean (based in Panama City). This also implies a process of strengthening the quality and scope of the subprogramme, to increase UNEP’s visibility with regional member states and intergovernmental organisations as the leader on environmental issues related to ecosystems management and biodiversity.

The objective of this internship is to support the regional “Ecosystems Management” subprogramme to expand in quality and scope, through research and administrative support to the sub-programme, the regional coordinator, and the team.

This internship in the Latin America and Caribbean Office is for six (6) months. The Internship is UNPAID and full-time. Interns work five days per week (40 hours) under the supervision of a staff member in the department or office to which they are assigned.
The Ecosystems Management subprogramme seeks one intern to cover the period February – July 2020, and one to cover the period July – December 2020. Candidates should make clear in their cover letters which rotation they wish to be considered for. Due consideration will be given to the complementarity of the final candidates, in terms of skills, technical and regional knowledge and interests.

Responsibilities
Daily responsibilities will depend on the individual’s background; the intern’s assigned office as well as the internship period.

The intern will work with UNEP’s Latin America and the Caribbean Office’s Ecosystems Management Subprogramme, under the supervision of the Regional Coordinator for Ecosystems and Biodiversity and will:
– Support the Ecosystems Management sub-programme;
– Enable activities which increase the understanding of the values of ecosystem services for productive sectors and engage these sectors to improve protected areas management;
– Engage with the Regional Cooperation Programme for Biodiversity, supporting the activities and actions proposed;
– Support the various initiatives related to Oceans, including related to Blue Economy, Marine Litter and microplastics initiatives as well as the Integrated Coastal Zone Management.
– Develop infographics using regional data that can be used for the various projects and thematic areas in the sub-programme.
– Conduct secondary data research to support the development of concept notes, proposals or policy briefs.
– Support the preparation of communications pieces, technical briefing notes, news pieces, presentations, translations, draft reports and publications as necessary;
– Support the start-up phase of any projects if required;
– May assist in the organization of meetings, trainings and workshops;
– Support other activities as requested.