Mar 2015
Volunteering Opportunity, EDGE of Existence Programme
ZOOLOGICAL SOCIETY OF LONDON
Volunteering Opportunity, EDGE of Existence Programme – Job Description
VOLUNTEER OPPORTUNITY
Research assistant, EDGE of Existence programme, Conservation Programmes department
ZSL
The Zoological Society of London (ZSL), a charity founded in 1826, is a world-renowned centre of excellence for conservation science and applied conservation. ZSL’s mission is to promote and achieve the worldwide conservation of animals and their habitats. This is realised by carrying out field conservation and research in over 50 countries across the globe and through education and awareness-raising at our two zoos, ZSL London Zoo and ZSL Whipsnade Zoo, inspiring people to take conservation action.
BACKGROUND
Launched in January 2007, ZSL’s EDGE of Existence programme highlights and conserves the world’s most Evolutionarily Distinct and Globally Endangered (EDGE) species. Many of these species are currently overlooked by the conservation movement. ZSL aims to secure their future through raising awareness of their importance, initiating targeted conservation action and encouraging others to support and engage in EDGE species conservation.
ZSL has initiated new conservation projects for several poorly-known EDGE species since 2007, while many EDGE species are the focus of projects undertaken by others. We aim to quantify, for each EDGE species highlighted on www.edgeofexistence.org, changes in conservation status, threats or degree of conservation attention received since the launch of the EDGE of Existence programme. We predict that species highlighted by the EDGE programme will show an increase in conservation attention and a decrease in threats and threat status over time compared with a control group not highlighted by EDGE.
The monitoring tool will take the form of a “report card” for each species which will show at a glance how each species scores on a number of parameters (e.g. public awareness, research attention, investment of funds, level of threat and viability, level of conservation management and status). Data for the report cards will be collected from the literature and relevant experts every two years.
ROLE OF EDGE VOLUNTEER
This volunteering opportunity involves supporting the development of the first set of Species Report Cards, building on previous work to finalise the report card framework, collect data on the top 100 EDGE mammals, amphibians, birds and corals for the time period 2011-2013 (and potentially prior), analysing the data collected, and assisting with the design of the final Species Report Cards, which will be published on the EDGE website.
Main duties and responsibilities
1. Work with ZSL scientists to finalise species report card framework, building on previous work
2. Collect data on pressures, state and response for the top 100 EDGE mammals, amphibians and birds and the top 50 corals from the scientific and grey literature, relevant experts and the web
3. Perform simple analyses on data collected and assist with design of the report cards
4. Publish final report cards online.
5. Attend weekly EDGE team meetings
6. Any other activities agreed with line manager
Reporting to EDGE Programme Manager