Our Forest Team is looking for a GIS intern (0.5-0.6 FTE)

Author

Judith Knibbe

Date

Jul 2022

We are hiring!

About AidEnvironment

AidEnvironment is a not-for-profit sustainability research, strategy and implementation organisation working to achieve transformative sector change.
We produce actionable insights and implement sustainable solutions to help protect and restore ecosystems and improve livelihoods in agricultural and forest landscapes across Asia, Africa and Latin America.
We have offices in Amsterdam (Netherlands), Jakarta (Indonesia) and Kampala (Uganda), and employ around 45 professionals (www.aidenvironment.org).

AidEnvironment’s Forest Team focuses on deforestation and land use changes caused by large-scale agricultural expansion linked to soft commodities. A video of the work we do can be found here. Our two main projects are Chain Reaction Research (CRR) and Realtime Deforestation Monitoring (RDM). Our work is embedded in relevant trends and recent EU regulation developments on deforestation and due diligence linked to soft commodities’ supply chains.

Internship: your role

We are looking for an GIS intern, who can provide overall support to AidEnvironment’s Forest team, including deforestation analysis, land use change analysis, database maintenance, coding, and programming. The intern will mainly work on our RDM project, that focuses on soy and beef supply chains in Latin America, and a specific focus on Brazil. In this work, AidEnvironment examines soft-commodities’ supply chain linkages from production sites to global operators and markets. For this work, mainly done through remote sensing we also collaborate with local Brazilian partners that conduct on-the-ground investigations.

Work topics and tasks for the intern may include the following:

Support near real-time monitoring of deforestation and fire events in global commodity supply chains, under the guidance and leadership of AidEnvironment sustainability analysts and researchers.
Organizing, processing, cleaning, and updating existing datasets in AidEnvironment’s database.
Cross-referencing datasets (tabular data with spatial data).
Prepare visuals to present our findings in current projects and to potential funders of the Forest team’s work.

The specific activities and objectives will be identified during the internship.

What are we looking for?

We are looking for a Master student with a background in geography and/or environmental studies, and preferably knowledge programming and/or code writing. Moreover, we look for someone who is enthusiastic to work on the topics of deforestation and sustainable value chains. The learning opportunity can serve as your final internship of your Master or link to your thesis (if the topic matches sufficiently with the Forest Team’s ambitions).

Key requirements

Have a complete or be at a final stage of your Master with a strong spatial and data analysis component
GIS knowledge (ArcMap, QGIS)
Strong analytical skills
Excellent working knowledge of English
Pros: Code writing, programming, and knowledge in SQL (PostgreSQL, DBeaver, etc.)
Affinity with one or more of the following topics: sustainability issues, commodity-driven deforestation (e.g. beef and soy sectors in Brazil), conducting company research.

What we offer

You will be a member of a highly motivated team in an international organization working for a sustainable future. AidEnvironment will provide a stimulating environment, with sufficient opportunities for learning, growing, and networking.
The learning opportunity is for four to six months, for 20 to 24-hours per week. Preferably the candidate will start as soon as possible. You will receive an internship compensation of 350 Euro per month. The position is open to applicants of all nationalities, but we will only consider candidates with a work and residency permit for the Netherlands.

Your application

Please send a motivation letter (not more than one page) and CV (two pages) to Marco Garcia (info@aidenvironment.org) by August 20, 2022. If you have any questions or want additional information, you can contact Marco by email: garcia@aidenvironment.org