Director, Agriculture Development

Conservation International (CI) is a non-profit institution headquartered outside of Washington DC, working in over 43 countries to conserve biodiversity, manage ecosystems, and ensure the delivery of related goods and services to people.

CI's mission requires the integration of conservation into development strategies. Ensuring that natural capital and ecosystem services are appropriately valued and incorporated into key economic and land use decisions is a key response to this challenge. Implementing Green Economy Initiatives (GEI) requires multidisciplinary, long-term engagements spanning economics, spatial planning, private sector involvement, markets for ecosystem services, policy reform, and a practical understanding of economic and political drivers in the countries where CI works.
We are seeking international expertise in Agricultural Economics to fill an Agriculture and Development Director position within our Science + Knowledge Division. He/she will report directly to Economics and Planning Program’s Senior Director and will work closely with CI staff and partners in the development of GEI. The Agriculture Development Specialist will work to ensure that natural capital and ecosystem services are appropriately valued and incorporated into economic and land use decisions. Assessing the relationships between conservation, cultivated landscapes, and the economy, the Agriculture Development Director will assess the economic costs of environmental activities in his/her area of specific expertise and evaluate them against the associated benefits to further GEI. The Agricultural Development Director will play a critical role in providing technical support and policy guidance to ensure that the GEI is appropriately integrating agriculture land-use issues into a range of programming, from on the ground projects to policy recommendations. Accordingly, he/she will balance practical collaborations with analytical rigor and production of high quality publications. In addition, he/she will be a part of a team which engages private sector, civil society and public sector stakeholders in the GEI and therefore will play a critical role in cultivating partnerships and ensuring stakeholders are well integrated into the Green Economy Initiatives.