Conservation is a discipline best learned at a young age.

Much bigger than you might imagine, it has become a professional industry offering a dizzying array of conservation work types for job seekers.

Working in conservation means dedicating yourself to the preservation and protection of the environment. While conservation jobs are diverse, they all have a common end goal – saving resources for future generations.

Unlike other careers, not one average day applies to all environmentalists. Instead, conservationists’ days will depend on the needs of the environment that they work in.

Conservationists are lucky enough to work in a number of really diverse areas, so it’s difficult to pin down typical job duties unless you’re focusing on a specific role. You don’t have to be a scientist in order to work as a conservationist, anyone who makes a contribution to conservation can be called a Conservationist. There are four main areas of conservation – Environmental, Animal, Marine and Human Conservation, all of which have a wide range of education, research and fieldwork roles available.

Broadly speaking, it is all about learning and understanding the diversity of life around us, the threats our environments are facing and finding solutions to help address those issues. 

As a conservationist, a key focus is educating others and spreading awareness of current issues. At Te Ipukarea Society, one of our primary focuses involves the health and protection of our ocean through awareness-raising campaigns and education opportunities at schools across all of the islands in the Cook Islands.

You may find yourself travelling to meet with partners from different communities to raise awareness on the importance of surrounding environments and working together to find solutions to areas of concern.

If you enjoy working with people, work well in different cultural settings and enjoy finding solutions for people and the planet then community-based conservation might be for you.

Te Ipukarea Society is an environmental organisation in the Cook Islands formed to help look after our Ipukarea, ‘our heritage’.

Te Ipukarea Society project officer Terena Koteka-Wiki says, “The best thing about my job is the diversity of my work. No day is like the other. I’ve found myself sailing on the traditional Vaka Marumaru Atua to four out of the five Southern Group islands in the Cook Islands to raise awareness about ocean health. I have also had the opportunity to work with local partners in leading environmental school holiday programmes, conducting crab surveys in the Aroko Salt Marsh, meeting with government officials to collaborate on work that requires attention, and supporting partners to analyse data and write reports. Who knows what tomorrow will bring!”

The conservation industry is a large, expanding and diversifying sector, the opportunities really are endless because you can build them for yourself!

If you are interested in learning more about the work that we do at Te Ipukarea Society, check out our stall at the Ministry of Education Careers Day event that will be taking place Wednesday, June 16 at the National Auditorium or pop into our office for a chat, we are located between Bamboo Jacks and Raro Printing.