Wildlife Monitoring Officer

The purpose of the position is to oversee and provide leadership towards the programme’s long-term biodiversity monitoring, working closely with ZSL staff based in Cameroon and the UK, as well as protected area staff and other stakeholders, including NGOs across the three countries.  The position is based full-time on-site at the ZSL Cameroon Yaoundé office.

The post-holder will primarily carry out activities under the programme’s ‘Human-Wildlife Conflict and Protected Area Management’ component. Biodiversity monitoring will be carried out under the component at six protected areas, with a focus on camera trap surveys to measure species occupancy. Additionally, the component’s activities to mitigate human-wildlife conflict will be deployed and monitored at 24 hotspots (8 per country).

The post-holder will draw on expertise in spatial data and quantitative and qualitative research and analysis to produce a series of maps and reports that provide an understanding of wildlife species distribution, land use and vegetation trends, component activities, outputs, and outcomes, as well as the policy and regulatory environment in selected sites in the western Congo Basin. They will work closely with field conservation teams, researchers, and other subject matter experts in protected areas department teams to achieve their objectives.

The Zoological Society of London (ZSL) is an international conservation charity, driven by science, working to restore wildlife in the UK and around the world. Our vision is a world where wildlife thrives and every role, every person in every corner of ZSL has one thing in common – we are all conservationists, and passionate about restoring wildlife.

ZSL's Western Congo Basin (WCB) programme aims to tackle biodiversity loss across a transboundary area spanning Gabon, Cameroon, and the Republic of Congo over the next 7 years. The programme is primarily funded through the UK Government’s Biodiverse Landscape Fund (BLF) and will deliver activities against three main objectives: 1) to develop economic opportunities through investment in nature in support of climate adaptation and resilience and poverty reduction; 2) to slow, halt or reverse biodiversity loss; and 3) to reduce greenhouse gas emissions and safeguard natural carbon sinks.