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.
The IUCN European Representative Office represents around 360 Members. We provide regional and global services to IUCN, by providing vital linkages to EU institutions and other stakeholders in Brussels. Our primary role is to connect and engage in policy dialogues with European institutions, governments, civil society, NGOs, science and the business communities to improve conservation policy and action. As a science-based organisation, IUCN provides essential knowledge products for a broad range of policy debates.
One of the specific areas of work that will be part of the focus of this internship is the cooperation with cities and local and regional governments, business, practitioners and other key actors for strengthening the awareness and implementation of nature-based solutions across ecosystem types. Nature-based solutions use ecosystems to address global challenges such as climate change, natural hazards, food security, or urban heat production.

The IUCN Brussels team is looking for a highly motivated intern (with student status) for a period of 6 months to provide support to one specific area of the office’s activities: upscaling the implementation of nature-based solutions.
The position is unpaid, with expenses paid for food and transportation.
Under the supervision of the IUCN EU Programme Officer Nature Based Solutions, the intern will support projects focused on implementing and upscaling nature-based solutions, in particular NetworkNature+, a European and global platform for strengthening the use of nature-based solutions. In addition, the intern will provide support to other projects, focusing on urban biodiversity, climate-resilience, climate-smart rewilding and forestry research & innovation. They will support communications, outreach and capacity building events, both online and in person. The intern will also contribute to research tasks, mapping potential partners for nature-based solutions at EU, national and regional level, will follow relevant EU policy developments and will maintain an overview of reports, documents and case studies of nature-based solutions.
This assignment will include the following responsibilities:
• Assist in developing the evidence-base for nature-based solutions via desk-based research, particularly to identify reports, documents, policy developments and analyses at EU and national level;
• Contribute to mapping potential partners for nature-based solutions at EU, national and regional level;
• Monitor news, developments and events on nature-based solutions, including maintaining an up-to-date list of events on nature-based solutions and on relevant sectoral issues;
• Produce communications materials such as web-stories, articles, brochures, factsheets etc. related to nature-based solutions;
• Organise outreach and training events, both virtual and in-person (if circumstances allow), including speaker liaison, logistics, onsite support and reporting;
• Contribute to organisation of partner meetings, including logistics, minutes and document administration;
• Assist in preparing speeches and PowerPoint presentations on a variety of topics related to IUCN’s mission;
• Attend relevant webinars, meetings and conferences and reporting on the outcomes;