EPIC: World Wildlife Fund (WWF) – Nature-Based Solutions (Washington, D.C. / Remote)

Job Title: Nature-based Solutions Intern

Department/Team: Nature-based Solutions Origination Platform Team, and Forest and Climate Goal Teams at the World Wildlife Fund-US

Location: Remote or Hybrid in Washington, DC; Virginia; or Maryland

Duration: 35-40 hours per week for ten weeks over the summer

Reports to: Jeamme Chia (Primary, Senior Program Officer) and Surendra Shrestha (Senior Program Officer)

Areas of Interest: Nature-based solutions, sustainable supply chains, applied forest ecology, data visualization, GIS, monitoring and evaluation

Summer 2023 Fellows:

Summer 2024 Fellows:

Summer 2025 Fellows:

Anika Quon

Office Description

World Wildlife Fund (WWF) is one of the world’s leading conservation organizations. Our mission is to build a future in which people live in harmony with nature. To deliver this mission, we work to conserve and restore biodiversity, the web that supports all life on Earth; to reduce humanity's environmental footprint; and to ensure the sustainable use of natural resources to support current and future generations.

About the Nature-based Solutions Origination Platform & Forest and Climate Goal Teams:

In response to the triple threats of global warming, biodiversity loss, and human health that lead to the unprecedented interest in nature-based solutions (NbS), WWF established the NbS Origination Platform (NbS-OP) in 2022 as a new approach to align, scale, and mobilize public and private investments in high-quality NbS under an integrated landscape finance approach. Through the Platform, WWF aims to use its global reach, deep experience, and diverse partnerships to showcase high-quality interventions that address threats and drivers efficiently, incorporate transparent and equitable governance and benefit-sharing mechanisms, and generate durable impacts for climate, biodiversity, and sustainable development. The team is currently piloting this approach in five tropical forest geographies: Yucatan, Mexico; Madre de Dios, Peru; Atlantic Forest, Brazil; Northern Highlands/Diana, Madagascar; Central Annamites, Vietnam.

Description of the Work

As a relatively new initiative within WWF, the NbS-OP is still in its “start-up” phase and an incoming intern will have the opportunity to contribute to different work streams within the team, depending on the intern’s skills and interests. This position is designed for undergraduate students interested in working with a full-time program manager and support the operationalization of the NbS-OP’s approach across tropical forests geographies around the world.

List of Potential Projects:

Support the development of new and improving existing visual and written materials for internal and external presentations.
Support the management of workplans, facilitate the timely completion of tasks, and maintain project management documentation (e.g. roles and responsibilities, project charters, decision making charts, documentation of key processes)
Support the completion of the global measurement and evaluation (M&E) framework by reviewing methodological documentation from different country offices. This work contributes to the development of a comprehensive M&E framework that's relevant across all priority landscapes.
Conduct research on the distribution of key agricultural commodities across corporate supply chains to identify priority geographies and companies.
Support the acquisition and processing of geospatial and statistical data from global platforms and databases such as Global Forest Watch, NASA Earth Data, U.S. Geological Survey, and Google Earth Engine. The intern will leverage programming skills in R, Python, and GEE (javascript) to automate data retrieval, build reproducible analytics pipeline, and conduct advanced spatial assessments. This work contributes to a more robust understanding of the biophysical conditions within each priority landscape. In addition, the intern will also support the maintenance and regular updating of the NbS-OP dashboard, ensuring that key indicators remain current, accessible, and visually interpretable for decision-makers.
Support the strategic planning of the NbS-OP through planning decision-making workshops and "gameplanning" sessions.
Conduct research on agricultural supply chains and drivers of ecological degradation in additional tropical forest geographies.
Conduct research on carbon policy, NbS financing, and carbon financing in select national and sub-national jurisdictions.

Desired Skills

Experience in performing qualitative or quantitative research.
Basic knowledge of nature-based solutions, tropical forestry, or commodity supply chains. Academic experience will count in-lieu of work experience.
Proficiency in Microsoft Excel, Word, and PowerPoint
Able to conduct themselves professionally and with discretion on sensitive matters
Committed to building and strengthening a culture of inclusion within and across teams.
Identifies and aligns with WWF’s core values:
- COURAGE – We demonstrate courage through our actions, we work for change where it’s needed, and we inspire people and institutions to tackle the greatest threats to nature and the future of the planet, which is our home.
- INTEGRITY – We live the principles we call on others to meet. We act with integrity, accountability, and transparency, and we rely on facts and science to guide us and to ensure that we learn and evolve.
- RESPECT – We honor the voices and knowledge of people and communities that we serve, and we work to secure their rights to a sustainable future.
- COLLABORATION – We deliver impact at the scale of the challenges we face through the power of collective action and innovation.

EPIC fellows are required to work full-time (35-40 hours per week) for 10 weeks over the summer, and will receive a stipend of $8,000 - $9,500, depending on financial need. This stipend is intended to help cover living and transportation expenses during the fellowship, which the student is expected to arrange and coordinate.
Internship dates will be: June 29, 2026 – September 4, 2026
Hybrid (Washington, DC; Virginia; Maryland) preferred. Fully remote possible with manager’s discretion.