World Female Ranger Week starts 23 June 2023
World Female Ranger Week starts on 23rd June.
#WorldWomenRangerDay
This is a wonderful opportunity to recognise the incredible work these very courageous women do and to raise awareness of it and the challenges they face. It is very dangerous work, as women face poachers and wild animals.
Less than 11% of the world's rangers are women, and yet these women are showing what they can do in traditional male roles - and that is changing the attitudes towards women in Africa and further afield. A report from the BBC in 2021 reported that 18 African countries employ female park rangers and that their numbers are growing.
A huge thank you to all rangers worldwide, particularly women during this week, for all you do to face danger, make sacrifices and protect our precious wildlife. You are inspiring, both for what you do for wildlife and for showing women what they can do in the face of the most dangerous challenges.
The event is organised by How Many Elephants a UK registered charity, number 1186238. The charity works to educate people around the world about the terrible impacts of the African elephant ivory trade. It also raises critical funds for the front-line female rangers.
You can also take a look at this video on You Tube - there's an interview with Clera Njobvu, who is shop manager a Mulberry Mongoose. She shares her passion for conservation and her work. Local craftswomen use the snare wire recovered from poaching traps and htey create jewellery designs, inspired by the bush. The video celebrate the work and courage of the rangers in honour of the week. The jewellery Mulberry Mongoose makes gives back into conservation, and supports their increidble team and families. It raises funds for local conservation efforts to protect the incredible wildlife of Zambia.The interviewer notes that the week is about protecting wildlife, empowering women and uplifting communities all at the same time. Visit Mulberry Mongoose's website here.
Take a look at Team Lioness and a video about them. They are a group of women in southern Kenya, and they work to protect wildlife on the Maasai land around the Amboseli National Park. They are the first line of defence against the poaching and retaliatory killing of wildlife such as cheetahs, giraffes, elephants and lions. Created in 2019, the 8 young women were chosen based on leadership, academic achievements and integrity. Find out more about Team Lioness from IFAW
Great Plains Conservation has just launched the Female Rangers of Great Plains initiative to kick off the World Female Ranger Week. They have begun to recruit and train their first intake of rangers, and these rangers will have monitoring roles, do bush patrols and undertake the early detection of poaching activities that get handed on to armed government teams. See their You Tube Video Their Female Ranger Programme trains and deploys female rangers in ecologically significant areas in Botswana (Okavango Delta) and will endeavor to do the same in Zimbabwe. Great Plains and its Foundation currently manage approximately 1,000,000 acres plan to expand to 5,000,000 acres across a variety of fragile landscapes. Find out more from the Great Plains Foundation whose Founders and Chair include Dereck and Beverly Joubert
Women Ranger Environmental Network (WREN). WWF Australia works with WREN to run this network. Its mission is to create a world in which people in nature live in harmony. Indigenous women work in Aboriginal Land Councils, Aboriginal Corporations and other conservation partners. They cover threatened species, fire, feral animals and plants, revegetation, and other projects are vital to conservation and they live in some of the most remote, challenging areas in Australia. Find out more.
Other Resources:
The BBC's The Conversation. This podcast was released in November 2021. Kim Chakanetsa is joined by Tsakane Nxumalo, a junior ranger from The Black Mambas. They are an all female ranger unit in South Africa and they work in the Greater Kruger National Park, protecting rhino herds. Lisa Siamusantu is part of Kufadza, which is Zambia’s first all-female anti-poaching community scout unit. They work with Conservation Lower Zambezi.
Find out more about the Black Mambas in the Great Kruger National Park
Find out more about Conservation Lower Zambezi.