IUCN HQ Library serves as the unique repository of IUCN publications and reports and also holds a wealth of conservation-related material in its physical collections.

Thanks to a grant from the Arcadia Fund, IUCN aims to expand the digitization of our collection to increase the free, worldwide access to the conservation knowledge produced by IUCN.

Sterwat Maginnis is assigned as Unit Manager until the new Director is hired.

About the International Union for Conservation of Nature – IUCN
IUCN is the world’s oldest and largest global environmental network – a democratic membership union with more than 1,000 government and NGO member organizations, and almost 11,000 volunteer scientists in more than 160 countries. IUCN’s work is supported by more than 1,000 professional staff in 45 offices and hundreds of partners in public, NGO and private sectors around the world. Its headquarters are based in Gland, Switzerland.
IUCN’s work focuses on valuing and conserving nature, ensuring effective and equitable governance of its use, and deploying nature-based solutions to global challenges in climate, food and development. IUCN supports scientific research, manages field projects all over the world, and brings governments, NGOs, the UN and companies together to develop policy, laws and best practice.

IUCN is looking for a highly motivated intern for a 6-month part-time (50%) internship to provide support to the PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet initiative and the Tech4Nature Phase 2 project. The position would form part of the Knowledge Management, Learning and Library Services (KMLLS) Team and be based at the IUCN Regional Office for Europe in Bonn, Germany.
The intern would work under the formal supervision of the Senior Manager – Knowledge Management, with close coordination with the IUCN Tech4Nature Manager.

Background on PANORAMA
PANORAMA – Solutions for a Healthy Planet is a partnership initiative, grounded in its vision of a global community where changemakers share, adopt, and scale-up inspiring solutions for a healthy planet.
PANORAMA provides an open, neutral platform for anyone to share their successes, learn from the experiences of other practitioners and exchange knowledge as part of the community. It connects local solutions with global policy processes and frameworks, such as the Global Biodiversity Framework. Under PANORAMA, IUCN partners with GIZ, UNDP, UNEP, GRID-Arendal, the World Bank, ICCROM, ICOMOS, IFOAM – Organics International, Rare, OCTO and EcoHealth Alliance. Jointly with GIZ, IUCN manages the initiative and leads on promoting solutions across 8 out of 11 PANORAMA Communities, on topics such as species conservation, protected and conserved areas, sustainable urban development as well as marine and coastal issues.
Since 2020, the Federal Ministry for Environment, Nature Conservation and Nuclear Safety (BMUV) has supported coordination and strategic development of PANORAMA through the PANORAMA support project. A 2nd phase of the project has just been approved and will be jointly implemented by UNDP, GIZ and IUCN.

Background on Tech4Nature
IUCN and Huawei’s TECH4ALL programme established the Tech4Nature partnership in 2020. Since then, Tech4Nature has demonstrated the use of innovative digital technology and its potential for conservation success for key species in PCAs in Europe, Latin America, Africa, and Asia. Examples of early successes using technology and digital-based solutions to solve real conservation problems include: acoustic monitoring of the world’s rarest ape to identity individual Hainan Gibbons; convolutional neural network (CNN) analysis AI pattern recognition to identify and track jaguar individuals; and, advanced systems for live viewing and monitoring community coral reef conservation and restoration.

Tech4Nature is an open global partnership aimed at scaling-up success in nature conservation by leveraging the power of technology and digital solutions for fair and effective protected and conserved areas (PCAs). By applying and promoting technology and digital solutions, Tech4Nature enables PCAs to measure their conservation success, identify areas for improvement, and implement effective conservation and restoration strategies. By harnessing advanced data sensing, real-time transmission, machine learning, and artificial intelligence, the technology solutions implemented so far have accelerated data processing, supported evidence-based decisions, and empowered governments, local communities, environmental organisations, and the public to take more effective conservation action in and around protected and conserved areas.

Under Tech4Nature Phase 2, the ambition is to grow the partnership to continue to bridge the know-how and innovation from the information and communications technology (ICT) sector into biodiversity conservation, using IUCN standards and safeguards to help guide the appropriate use of technology to scale and accelerate area-based conservation successes. To achieve this, Tech4Nature will provide knowledge, technology and resources to flagship PCAs worldwide to support their Green List journey and achieve nature conservation results evaluated through digital technology. Building on the IUCN Green List website and PANORAMA and its “Solution-ing Approach” of documenting, sharing and supporting the upscaling of successful digital technology solutions, a Tech4Nature Award will be launched under PANORAMA to encourage and reward the sharing and submission of successful digital technology solutions for nature conservation.

Tasks and Responsibilities

On PANORAMA, the intern will lend support to the PANORAMA Management Unit, especially in the transition to the next phase of funding, helping to ensure continuity in day-to-day operations, partnership coordination, communication with users and providing administrative support.

Specific responsibilities:
• Contribute to finalization and operationalization of new PANORAMA governance model, including finalizing new terms of reference of Management Unit and Partnership Council, engaging with partners to set up initial meetings and other requirements under new governance
• Help ensure continuous and reliable engagement with PANORAMA partners and users, including responding to queries and troubleshooting
• Support initial consultation phase on IUCN knowledge management strategy, in particular with regards to the role of PANORAMA in strategic
• Support closure, reporting and reflection of the PANORAMA support project phase 1, including data collection on indicators, collation and sharing of results and lessons learned
• Support administrative processes for setup and inception of the IUCN component of the PANORAMA support project phase 2, including contracting process, work plan development and project inception
• Other tasks as required and feasible

On Tech4Nature, the intern will support project areas focused on communications, outreach, and knowledge sharing. The intern will also contribute to research tasks, mapping potential partners from the nature conservation and ICT sectors, will follow relevant nature tech developments and will maintain an overview of reports, documents and case studies of technology for nature conservation.

Specific responsibilities:
• Assist in tasks related to the design of the Tech4Nature Award, including concept development, and initial planning for the combined Tech4Nature Award ceremony and Changemakers match-making event;
• Review and update the PANORAMA Solutions in Focus: Tech4Nature template (to showcase successful cases of technology adoption for nature conservation in Tech4Nature flagship / satellite country projects, as well as for a Tech4Nature Award PANORAMA publication);
• Identify and support development of Tech4Nature solutions and case studies on PANORAMA;
• Assist in developing the evidence-base for i) the integration of digital technology solutions in National Biodiversity Strategies and Action Plans (NBSAPs), and, ii) analysis of the challenges, opportunities, and best practices in using technology for nature conservation, covering different topics such as ethics, data analysis, IoT, etc. via desk-based research, particularly to identify reports, documents, policy developments and analyses;
• how technology solutions support implementation of the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework (KM-GBF) targets;
• Contribute to mapping potential partners for Tech4Nature from the nature conservation and ICT sectors at national, regional, and global level;
• Support communications materials such as newsletters, web-stories, articles, brochures, factsheets etc. related to technology for nature;
• Explore national and international events to showcase and communicate about the project;
• Support outreach and potentially training events, both virtual and in-person, including speaker liaison, logistics, onsite support and reporting;
• Contribute to organisation of partner meetings, including logistics, minutes and document administration;
• Attend relevant webinars, meetings and conferences and reporting on the outcomes.