All posts by Jake Merten

January 22 - June 1: Assist the IUCN Asia ROAM Implementation Project, analyzing the effects of forest landscape restoration on the SE Asia subregion. This involved generating reports and relevant media in addition to running validation and training workshops to affirm results or educate interested agencies in upcoming pilot countries. Through this project, I was based in Thailand (3 months) and Vietnam (1 month), travelling to India, Cambodia, Laos, and the Philippines for more accurately assess location initiatives and provide advice and assistance on national ROAM/FLR projects. June 7 - Aug X: Assist the WCS North America (Rocky Mountain West) office with stakeholder surveys, documenting urban versus rural perception on wildlife threats and potential human-wildlife conflict events (in hopes to assuage or mitigate future human-wildlife conflicts). Additionally, I will be producing a stakeholder analysis report, usable infographic, run possible public perception meetings, and generate a detailed report paired with a short synthesis as a potential reference tool to inform future projects in the greater Rocky Mountain area going forwards.

Reflection #2: Analyzing Public Perception on Conservation Initiatives

For the past 5 weeks, I have been working for the Rocky Mountain West branch of the Wildlife Conservation Society. It has been an incredible learning experience, involving office, field, and community work. I truly appreciated the multi-faceted opportunity that this summer work has provided, as it helps me to better understand how community development and relationship building works in the US (or a more developed country than I am used to working in). Kris, my supervisor, is incredibly proficient with communication and any work involving the local community. Every single contact or person I met, be it an NGO worker, government employee, or rancher all respect and appreciate her genuine and well-rounded approach to conservation. I cannot imagine a better person to learn from in terms of inclusive community development in this political and environmental climate. 

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Introductory Present/Future Projects (IUCN & WCS)

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I have been in a sort of “project mode” since mid-January when I moved to Bangkok, Thailand to work for IUCN. I was trained on various methods of stakeholder and project-level conservation to help them assess ROAM, the Restoration Opportunities Assessment Methodology. I learned to apply these methods while developing analytical results to support Forest Landscape Restoration (FLR) strategies for 6 concerned countries (India, Cambodia, Myanmar, Vietnam, Indonesia, China). Additionally, I assisted with communications, including conceptualizing and developing knowledge products based upon project outputs.

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