The Unsung Heroes – They Truly are Conservation’s last line of Defense!

   A hero is an ordinary individual who finds the strength to persevere and endure in spite of overwhelming obstacles.” – Christopher Reeve

 An estimated 1,000 rangers have been killed in the line of duty over the past decade, and that figure will likely grow: 82 percent of the 570 rangers the World Wildlife Fund recently surveyed in 12 African range countries said that they have faced life-threatening circumstances. Protecting the world’s endangered species from poachers is a dangerous business. The rangers are themselves, targeted by poachers, armed groups and militias, and many have been killed carrying out their protection duties. 

Game rangers choose a life that is often in the remotest wilderness, where communication is minimal and resources are scarce, and to dedicate themselves to Earth’s natural resources. Family life and luxuries are usually sacrificed in their efforts to protect a natural heritage that is fast depleting world-wide.  

 In South Africa, rangers are targeted by armed rhino poaching syndicates, whereby an average of 12 different poaching groups is active in Kruger Park every day, according to the anti-poaching task team based there.  Rangers working in and around the Kruger National Park are under constant pressure from poaching syndicates to provide intelligence on the whereabouts of rhinos and anti-poaching operations. It is not only young rangers looking for easy money who are ideal targets for syndicates; older rangers are often the most vulnerable to blackmail.

The masterminds of the poaching and human killings in these wildlife parks and jungles are powerful networks of criminals, militias, state armies and corrupt politicians from fragile or failing countries. New players, say security analysts, have expanded into the lucrative, illegal wildlife trade in the last decade. For example, they have turned the savannahs of Central and Southern African region into killing fields and are using the estimated $20bn raised each year from wildlife products,, especially tusks and rhino horn to fund war, terrorism and crime.

 The desert elephants in Mali are unique and currently an unknown gene pool. They have been devastated by war and with approximately 350 remaining; these are the last elephants of the Sahara.  It is also home to the most dangerous UN peace keeping mission in the world.  The trainers, rangers and soldiers helping Malian anti-poaching teams in a desperate race to save the elephants from extinction, not only are threatened by armed poachers but by terrorist groups such as IS and Al Qaeda in the Maghreb, and with it comes the threat of landmines, IED's and terrorists ambushes.

Possibly, the most dangerous country for rangers is the DRC, Democratic Republic of Congo; many rangers are stationed in Virunga National Park, and Garamba National Park to protect the critically endangered Gorillas.  The eastern side of the Virunga National Park is one of the most biologically diverse areas on the planet, and is also the forefront of civil unrest which is endangering the wildlife populations in the parks.       Emmanuel de Mérode, a high-profile conservationist and anthropologist is the director of the Virunga national park and remains dedicated to working within the park, despite an attempt on his life in 2014.  He has been in charge for eight years and has become the public face of the conservation effort in war-torn eastern Congo and a high profile target for his opponents.

Other parks are equally threatened by poachers and armed militias roaming the region.  A conservation officer was recently killed while trying to protect the threatened Grauer’s gorillas in the country’s Kahuzi Biega national park.  Munganga Nzonga Jacques, a 26-year-old ranger, was killed by poachers in the park which was previously suspected to be relatively safe, though one other ranger was killed six months earlier.  Grauer’s gorillas are the largest species of ape on the planet, and also one of the most endangered, threatened by illegal hunting, civil unrest, and habitat destruction, the gorilla populations have declined by 77 percent in only 20 years. The gorillas are now facing imminent extinction within the next five years without adequate protection. Fewer than 4,000 are estimated to remain, all mostly confined to the Eastern forests of the Democratic Republic of Congo.  

Sebinyenzi Bavukirahe Yacinthe, was also killed by poachers in January 2016, he had worked in Virunga for more than 20 years.  Having seen many of his fellow rangers fall, Sebinyenzi fully understood the risks associated with protecting Africa’s oldest park, but it was a risk that he was willing to take. For him, protecting Virunga was more than a job; it was about protecting his national heritage. He left behind a wife, and eight children.  Brigadier Venant Mumbere Muvesevese, a 35-year-old father of four, became the 150th ranger in the last 10 years to be killed protecting lowland gorillas, elephants and other wildlife in Virunga. He and his young Congolese colleague, Fidèle Mulonga Mulegalega, were surrounded by local militia, captured and then summarily executed.

These rangers put their lives on the line every day, and are under real danger in Garamba and the other parks.  If they continue to be targeted, the likelihood is that the attrition rate will be too great to sustain the necessary protection required to protect these endangered species. 

 Carlos Selva, a ranger with Brazil's environmental protection agency, ‘Ibama’ sets in motion the process of levying fines, business embargos and other penalties that have helped to slow the pace of deforestation in Brazil by almost 80% in the past eight years. This represents impressive progress, but it is at risk. Carlos Selva works in the Mato Grosso, the frontline of efforts to find a balance between protecting the climate and finding solutions to illegal soy plantations.  He gets deforestation warnings from space and death threats from his neighbors. He is equipped with a GPS system, a camera, a tablet computer and a gun.                                                                                              He has been held hostage by landowners, corrupt local politicians undermine his work and he received death threats while the world was debating the pros and cons of sustainability at the Rio +20 Earth summit. Other rangers have had their homes shot at, while many campaigners have been killed trying to protect the Amazon. The rangers are caught in the middle, but this is not a simple either or choice. There are alarming signs that the Amazon is caught in a vicious circle and the more this great climate regulator is cleared, the less predictable global weather systems will become.

Whatever the outcome, enforcement here will be left to the country's 1,400 environmental rangers, who must monitor an area that is more than half the size of the United States. They will be reinforced with extra personnel and better equipment, but with market forces and the climate both swinging against them, the risks are also likely to increase.  It is a great deal of responsibility for a ranger with a monthly salary of ￡2,600!

The so-called war on poaching also takes a psychological toll, one that experts are only beginning to recognize. It's a case of guerilla warfare, and the danger is extremely high and as a result, rangers are exposed to a great deal of trauma. Susanna Fincham, a clinical psychologist in Sabie, South Africa, is one of the first to investigate the mental health issues plaguing rangers, and to devise ways of treating them. She is using counseling techniques to try to help rangers avoid becoming victims of PTSD. There has been a strong stigma in South Africa of seeing a psychologist, especially for men, but now she is seeing more senior rangers seeking assistance and breaking that wall of silence.

  Despite the critical role ranger’s play in the poaching crisis, conservation organizations are overlooking the need for everyday resources. Rohit Singh serves as President of the Ranger Federation of Asia, an organization that supports those on the frontlines of conservation in Asia and connects them to the world ranger community at large. He is also the lead author of World Wildlife Fund studies that show 59 percent do not have basic supplies like boots, tents and GPS devices, and that 42 percent had not received adequate training. In terms of insurance, just 60 percent of rangers had health insurance, 50 percent had life insurance and 40 percent had long-term disability insurance!                                                                                                                      

Protection can only be improved if they have good policies in place, and good on-ground support for rangers in place. Reduction of poaching needs to bring all those best practices under six pillars, so you put equal emphasis on each pillar if you want to minimize poaching.  The first pillar is assessments. What’s the status of your protected area? The second is the technology.  Nowadays, you need the best technology to protect animals. Third are communities. If the people living around your protected area are not supporting you, then you cannot achieve zero poaching. Then the fourth, you need to have the right capacity. There’s not one agency that can achieve zero poaching because it’s a multidimensional crime, wildlife crime. So you need to involve all relevant agencies like the police, military and intelligence. The fifth pillar is prosecution. If your rangers are arresting poachers, but poachers are released after two days, then it’s not going to help.  And finally the sixth co-operation, this is the key to success, coordinated work across areas, departments and borders.

  It appears that all the global support for effective wildlife conservation protection is falling on ‘deaf ears’.  International governments, law enforcement, and regulating institutions continue to show lack of effective leadership and play corrupt ‘political games.’ There is an urgent need to provide effective universal action plans to improve protection for the Guardians of wildlife, otherwise they are delivering an eventual ‘death sentence’ to global wildlife and conservation.