Researcher, ecology

Environmental protection professionals study and assess the environmental effects of human activity such as air, water and soil pollution, climate change, toxic waste, and the depletion and degradation of natural resources. They develop plans and seek solutions to protect, conserve, restore, minimise and prevent future environmental damage.

• conducting research, carrying out tests, collecting samples and performing laboratory and field analyses to identify sources of environmental problems and recommending ways to prevent, control and reduce environmental impact;
• assessing the likely impacts that potential or proposed activities, projects and developments may have on the environment and recommending whether they should proceed;
• developing and coordinating the implementation of environmental management systems to enable organisations to identify, monitor and control the environmental impacts of their activities, products and services;
• conducting audits to assess the environmental impact of existing activities, processes, waste, noise and substances;
• assessing whether an organisation's activities comply with governmental or internal environmental regulations and rules, identifying violations and determining appropriate corrective actions;
• providing technical advice and support services to organisations on dealing with environmental problems, reducing harmful impacts and minimising financial losses;
• developing environmental protection plans.
• Examples of occupations in this unit group:
• Ecologist
• Research scientist, ecology
• Adviser, ecology
• Auditor, ecology
• Consultant, ecology
• Researcher, ecology
• Expert, environmental conservation
• Analyst, water quality
• Analyst, air pollution