An environment officer is in charge of running environmental issues that range from advocacy, awareness and event organizing to drafting environmental policies. The officer also ensures that environmental policies are well implemented and any environmental campaigns are effective. The general job of an environmental officer entails evaluating, planning and implementing environmental issues.

Education

An environment officer should posses postgraduate qualification from a recognized institution in a related discipline. This includes a master's or postgraduate degree in environmental science. He should have experience working for an environment-oriented organization.

Duties and Responsibilities

The environmental officer is expected to assess environmental projects on the ground. She should evaluate the performance of projects and public awareness levels. She should be able to monitor performance of staff on the ground. She is expected to identify and plan environmental related activities. She should have the ability to analyze environmental matters and write reports. She is responsible for carrying out impact assessment for environment awareness projects. She is in charge of mainstreaming environmental matters. She liaises with the government, donors and other organizations with similar interests. She is responsible for securing funding to sustain environmental projects and activities. She writes the budget and ensures that funds are allocated appropriately to respective projects.

Technical Skills

She should have sufficient knowledge on environmental assessment, monitoring, reporting, policy making, and planning and any other necessary environmental issues. She should posses’ project management skills and know how to write project proposals. She should be conversant with writing reports and doing presentations and have good management skills. In addition, she should be a good community mobilizer and be able to facilitate sessions. Good public speaking skills are a big plus, too.

Working Conditions

An environment officer should be prepared to work long hours. This includes working over the weekends and also during public holidays.She should be flexible as she may be required to travel frequently. She may be posted to work in a non- standard area. She is expected to visit hazardous areas like dump sites.

Desired Skills

She should posses interpersonal skills. She should be an outgoing person. She should have a passion for environment conservation and should have good organizational skills.

Salary

An environmental officer’s salary ranges from $65,824 to $95,125 according to Salary Wizard. Factors like the size of the company, industry, candidate’s credentials and experience can influence the remuneration rates. This is according to information from Salary Wizard as of November 2009.