Caribbean Fellow

**Caribbean Fellow**

Conservation International protects nature for the benefit of humanity. Through science, policy, fieldwork, and finance, we spotlight and secure the most important places in nature for the climate, biodiversity, and for people. With offices in 30 countries and projects in more than 100 countries, Conservation International partners with governments, companies, civil society, Indigenous peoples, and local communities to help people and nature thrive together.

*** - This position is based in the US, where CI has program offices in the WCR: Mexico, Costa Rica, Colombia, Guyana, or Suriname.**

The Wider Caribbean Region (WCR) comprises 28 countries and 19 territ ories, coastal states and continental countries with a population of 44,081,712. Twenty-four of these countries and territories are classified as small island and low-lying coastal developing states, classified by the UNFCCC as the most vu lnerable to climate change. The Caribbean Sea is one of the largest seas and covers an area of about 2,754,000 km2 (1,063,000 mi2) roughly the size of Argentina, and the total land area is 225,996 km2 (87,258 mi2). The economies of many nations in the region are largely reliant on natural resources with sectors such as tourism and agriculture providing the bulk of revenue and livelihoods. The region is a biodiversity hotspot due to its incredible array of globally threatened species and contains 15 ecologically or biologically significant areas (EBSAs). The WCR is home to 10% of the world’s coral reefs and holds the planet’s second largest barrier reef, the Mesoamerican Reef System. In the past decades, most countries have prioritized coastal zone management, mangrove and coral reef conservation and restoration, and reef to ridge ecosystem protection within their adaptation plans.

The limited capacity within the WCR nations to respond to issues at scale, such as climate change, biodiversity loss, and habitat degradation, offers opportunities for engagement and progress on nature-based solutions to increase the resilience and sustainability of coastal populations and ecosystems. Many of these direct threats are exacerbated by underlying socio-political factors, such as a lack of will by decision-makers in the region to address issues beyond their geographic and/or thematic jurisdiction; a limited capacity for authorities to address large-scale, transboundary threats to the ocean and its biodiversity; few effective regionally-articulated policies; the lack of successful models in nature-based solutions for climate mitigation and adaptation, and poor coordination between actors and activities across the region. Coastal areas in this region are under serious threat from land-based and marine activities. Rising ocean temperatures and acidification, as well as more frequent severe hurricanes and intense rainfall events, are significantly altering the basic environmental fabric of the region, impacting the livelihoods, food security, and health of millions of highly vulnerable communities.

The Caribbean Fellow would directly support and help build the foundation for a strategic, coherent, and impactful engagement by Conservation International (CI) in the WCR and establish CI as a key contributor and conservation partner on nature-based solutions and coastal and marine conservation and management.

This fellowship will undertake a broad stakeholder consultation process involving a cross-section of key stakeholder groups (e.g., representatives from regional technical and policy organizations, national governments, NGOs, private sector, etc.) to identify where CI has a strategic role to play to complement WCR stakeholders. This would involve a stakeholder mapping exercise to identify who are the critical stakeholders where CI can engage, an assessment of the current operating environment (social/cultural, economic, political, environmental, technological, financial), and a well-planned consultation process in the region to identify CI’s niche and value add. The Fellow will also provide technical and program support to CI’s existing portfolio of work in the Americas Field Division and explore opportunities to advance CI’s reach and influence by developing key partnerships with public and private organizations.

***RESPONSIBILITIES**
- Design and conduct a stakeholder analysis and mapping of key groups in the WCR (e.g., representatives from regional technical and policy organizations, national governments, NGOs, private sector, etc.).
- Design and conduct a gap analysis and assessment to identify and inform a role and niche for CI strategic priorities.
- Assist in the development of a vision and strategy for the WCR laying out specific goals for CI and an approach to achieve those goals, in alignment with priorities on climate, oceans and nature positive economies.
- Provide technical and programmatic support to CI’s existing portfolio of work in the Wider Caribbean.
- Introduce CI to partner