[APES Jobs] Postdoc on Okavango bushmeat problem

[Bursaries, Employment and Career Opportunities in Environmental Fields]

Post doc opportunity - illegal hunting and the illegal bushmeat trade in the Okavango Delta of Botswana

Panthera and the Botswana Predator Conservation Trust are looking for a post doc student to undertake an assessment of the scale, impacts and drivers of the illegal bushmeat trade in the Okavango Delta, Botswana.

The illegal bushmeat trade is emerging as a severe threat to wildlife populations in the savanna biome of Africa, including in southern Africa. Wildlife populations in northern Botswana have declined steeply in recent years. While the causes of the decline are not clear, indications are that illegal hunting and the bushmeat trade are potentially important contributing factors. However, little is known about the scale and impacts of the threat, and as a result, insufficient effort is made to control illegal hunting for meat, and when illegal hunters are caught they are rarely prosecuted.

A key first step to addressing this problem is to assess the scale and impacts of the problem, and to understand how the bushmeat trade works. This will provide a much stronger basis with which to lobby key stakeholders to intervene, and act as a basis from which to design conservation interventions. We propose a post doc study into illegal hunting and the bushmeat trade in the Okavango Delta and adjacent regions of northern Botswana.

The illegal bushmeat trade is emerging as a severe threat to wildlife populations in the savanna biome of Africa, including in southern Africa. Survey results indicate several wildlife species' populations in northern Botswana have declined steeply in recent years. While the causes of declines are not clear, indications are that illegal hunting and the bushmeat trade are potentially important contributing factors. However, little is known about the scale and impacts of illegal hunting for meat and little effort is made to control it.

We seek a strong candidate (PhD qualified and having published in peer reviewed journals) with academic and field experience with wildlife or natural resource management, ideally in Africa. The project will require working with people from broadly diverse environments, from rural villages to urban commercial centers. Strong people skills are essential. The successful candidate will be able to work under challenging conditions in remote areas with people from diverse cultural and socioeconomic backgrounds.  Attributes of the successful candidate include an ability to assemble and manage a small team of local field assistants to acquire the information necessary to quantify this important but hidden activity. Experience with questionnaire survey work (quantitative social sciences) would be considered a bonus.

We are able to offer a salary of USD2,500 per month for a period of one year (though ideally the post doc would also apply for a post doc position at a university which would then free up those funds to add to those for field work). There would be scope for expanding the study into a second year, though the student would need to apply for a post doc bursary from a university to do so (we would be able to assist with this process and establish linkages with local institutions).

Interested candidates should send an email of enquiry to Dr Peter Lindsey (plindsey at panthera.org<mailto:plindsey at panthera.org>) and Dr Tico McNutt (predatorconservation at gmail.com<mailto:predatorconservation at gmail.com>).
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