Biodiversity Monitoring Field Assistant

Highlights

• Volunteer with Terra Sylvestris and be surrounded by lush forests and crystal clear waters in a picturesque traditional village working with locals to protect their environment
• Gain practical experience in data recording, wildlife observation and plant population monitoring under the training and guidance of international experts in the field
• Contribute to data collection that will be used to protect the ecosystem and local livelihoods from the destructive effects of unsustainable industries and ilegall activities
• Contribute in one of the few trully grasroots conservation project in Greece and get to be involved in community based conservation efforts
• Visit the many other islands such as Lefkada which are popular holiday destinations during your free time

Background Information / Objectives of the Kalamos and Kastos sustainable development project

The objectives of this project long term are as follows

1. Secure all relevant historical rights of use extraction and existence within the geographical area that the people of these islands define as theirs within the shortest possible amount of time. We plan to follow methods from other parts of the world to start legal action at a national and international level if necessary. This is a common tactic to rapidly gain more time and rapidly freeze our case while it is examined by the relevant body either Greek government, EU or United Nations.
2. Legal actions for the immediate removal of the single fish farming unit in our waters put there by central government
   
3. With an emphasis on the marine environment a series of scientific and social studies with the ultimate aim of building a sustainable model of development and ecosystem management for the next 30 years. Local societies without the participation of local governments will be responsible for this under our help and supervision
   
4. Extensive habitat restoration on both sea and land with an emphasis on marine habitats. The goal for marine habitats is to be brought back to the state they where in the 1950s using traditional fisheries productivity as a direct measure of this and other appropriate ones. On land we aim to protect and restore as much of the native forest as possible. The use of experts from around the world under the supervision of our organisation and subject to the approval of the local communities directly. The ultimate goal is to produce a functional web of interconnected habitats on both sea and land that will be as close to the pristine state as possible without the presence of humans and that will maximise ecosystem services at a local, national and international level.
   
5. Creation of a voluntary movement of inhabitants for the supervision of and sustainable management of our ecosystems with the assistance of our organisation
   
6. Training of local inhabitants on environmental awareness and sustainable ecosystem management and restoration and educating about the long term values of it
   
7. Creation ,administration, management and coordination of a field volunteer program where people from Greece and all over the world can come and help with the activities of the organisation as part of the program
   
8. Creation of income generating alternatives to current environmentally destructive practices in the region.

Goal of the biodiversity monitoring field volunteer program

The goal of our Biodiversity monitoring field volunteer program is to contribute to sustainable development in the area, and is part of our field volunteer program which itself is a part of the kalamos and Kastos sustainable development program.An important goal of the latter, is to help educate and inspire people from around the world with respect to sustainability and nature conservation. It is based in the Kalamos Island biological field station. Volunteers work on a pre-agreed plan with us based on the structure of our program.

How the Volunteer program works

There are two ways you can participate in our work. The first is by participating in one of our pre-arrange activities for the field season. The second is to organize an activity for each volunteer individually in one of our thematic areas of work . We work out a pre-agreed plan on an individual volunteer basis which can include a mixture of activities both pre-arranged and an individual basis one in one of our thematic areas . 

We work on recording biodiversity on sea and land for the purposes of nature conservation. 

Activities

The activities are as follows

• Feral cat monitoring program for Kalamos ,Kastos and their satellite islands
• Marine ecosystems monitoring program
• Ornithological habitat Surveys

The volunteer coordinator is Ted Karfakis that along with other members of the organisation that guide and work with volunteers

The precise nature of the contribution of each volunteer is decided with the volunteer at the stage of the interview . Typical tasks depend on the activity but they are generally composed of maintaining trails, taking measurements of introduced species and endangered species such as monk seals , collecting samples and monitoring vegetation on sea and land.

Volunteers work a minimum of 5 hours a day for 5 hours a week . 

The typical work day includes doing a task that is part of the pre arranged schedule for the individual volunteer and a meeting at both the begging and the end of the task of the day as a minimum with the volunteer coordinator. 

For some tasks it may be the case that more than one meetings will be needed and that meetings with other rellevant people of the organization off course as part of the daily rootine. 

Each volunteer performs their share of basic house work other than what our basic once a week cleaning service provides and also every person is obliged to devote a minimum of 1 hour a week irrespective of the projects they are involved in towards our organic fruit and vegetable farms and gets a share of the production based on their contribution. The tasks for this that are obligatory are only watering in the summer and some weeding in the winter. Volunteers or potential volunteers can request to be excluded if there is a serious reason(e.g. health ,work schedule and so on).

Volunteers can arrive year round and with no time restrictions.

 Several historical and other related landscapes of natural beauty which are within our doorstep are available to explore something that we periodically do with our volunteers as a group activity with members of the organisation and/or other local people as guides.

We also organise visits to places of cultural/historical interest in the immediate area including attendance at local cultural events  periodically such as local celebrations including music events. A local sports facility is available in the island (basketball and soccer) that we sometimes arrange for games with our volunteers under our supervision.