World Ranger Day: 31st July 2023

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The International Ranger Federation (IRF), the ‘world family of rangers’, once again looks forward to celebrations to mark World Ranger Day, on 31st July 2023.

Rangers and conservation allies around the world join together on this day each year to recognise and celebrate all the men and women around the globe who dedicate their lives to the conservation of the world’s natural and cultural resources. It is also a day to honour those who have sadly fallen in the line of duty while protecting that precious heritage.

The International Ranger Federation was formed on 31st July 1992 and World Ranger Day has been commemorated on July 31st each year ever since. As Chris Galliers, President of the International Ranger Federation states, ‘rangers have the unenviable task of needing to tackle the twin global crises of biodiversity loss and climate change, which poses current and future threats to people, the environment and global heritage’.

The Countryside Management Association (CMA) represents rangers and all those working as countryside and urban greenspace professionals, in England, Wales and Northern Ireland. As one of the three founding members of the International Ranger Federation, the CMA encourages members across the land to celebrate the work of rangers through various public activities, events or talks to help raise the profile of ranger’s work both here and further afield. Many actively raise funds for the Thin Green Line, a charity that focuses on assisting the families of those who fall in the line of duty.

Each year, a particular theme is chosen by the IRF to highlight different aspects of rangers work across the planet. This year, the theme surrounds Target 3 of the Global Biodiversity Framework adopted at COP15 in Montreal.

Target 3 states:
Ensure and enable that by 2030 at least 30 per cent of terrestrial, inland water, and of coastal and marine areas, especially areas of particular importance for biodiversity and ecosystem functions and services, are effectively conserved and managed through ecologically representative, well-connected and equitably governed systems of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures, recognizing indigenous and traditional territories, where applicable, and integrated into wider landscapes, seascapes and the ocean, while ensuring that any sustainable use, where appropriate in such areas, is fully consistent with conservation outcomes, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities including over their traditional territories.

It is pretty obvious to professionals working in the sector, that there certainly needs to be a massive increase in ranger numbers both here and worldwide, to have any chance of achieving the 30x30 targets. Words, targets, plans and ambitions are necessary of course but there need to be many more trained, knowledgeable, skilled professionals working on the ground to collaborate with partner communities, landowners, businesses and indeed governments, to implement and deliver practical action.

‘Effective conservation and management’ can only be achieved by having enough people on the ground. During 2022, collaborative research by several partners determined that the ‘ranger and protected area workforce worldwide must increase five-fold to effectively safeguard 30% of the planet’s wild lands by 2030’.

The study was led by a collaboration between Re:wild, the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, the Leibniz Institute of Zoo and Wildlife, WWF, Game Rangers Association of Africa, International Ranger Federation, and the Ranger Federation of Asia*.

To quote from their detailed study, it used data from 176 countries and territories and estimated that there are only 555,000 protected area personnel** worldwide responsible for 17% of the world’s land surface (over 20 million square kilometers or 7.7 million square miles). Only 286,000 of them are rangers, who directly manage protected areas, uphold laws, work with visitors and local communities, and monitor wildlife. Rangers act as tour guides, firefighters, environmental defenders, and play many other roles. Examples of protected areas include national parks, nature reserves, landscape reserves, natural monuments, state parks, and certain areas under sustainable Indigenous and traditional management.

Yet the effective protection and management of 30% of the planet’s land surface by 2030 will require a workforce of at least 2.9 million people, including 1.53 million more rangers.

The full study can be accessed at: Link to Nature Sustainability paper

Just to put the numbers into context, more people work as hairdressers and beauticians in the UK (288,000), than there are rangers in the world - see here.

Also, more than 20 million private security guards are employed worldwide or 80 times more people are employed to protect private property than rangers to protect the world’s life support system. Really?

Celebrating the work of rangers on World Ranger Day is not just about highlighting the lack of numbers though. Despite their critical roles in protecting natural and cultural heritage sites and the people who rely on them around the world, rangers frequently continue to work in challenging conditions and lack critical resources and support.

“Rangers are planetary health workers, striving to conserve and protect the world’s resources, habitats, wildlife and communities; surely basic necessities and fundamental day-to-day requirements, taken for granted in any other profession, are the least they deserve,” said Linda Nunn, Vice President of the International Ranger Federation.

Rangers would benefit from increased training, safety and well-being measures, improved welfare, remuneration, employment conditions and better equipment, communications and at the very least basic supplies (food, water, accommodation), whilst at work.

The numbers of fallen ranger colleagues around the world from 1st June 2022 – 31st May 2023 have been released, after meticulous verification but the IRF is well aware the number is likely to be much higher; the names seen here in this year’s Roll of Honour are only those that the IRF has been made aware of or has found through painstaking internet searches.

However, whilst we will all remember those lost this year, there is always plenty to celebrate. Innumerable examples of conservation successes abound around the UK with rangers closely involved in nature recovery work through Local Authorities, the National Trust, Wildlife Trusts, the RSPB and of course the many landowners and farmers, many of whom are actively ensuring biodiversity gains on their land, working on climate change mitigation measures and collaborating on natural resource management such as soil regeneration and riparian improvements.

Post Covid there is a continuing desire by many thousands of people to visit, walk, cycle or just thoroughly relax, enjoy and learn about the countryside, canals, coastline, urban parks and greenspace. The work of a ranger continues to be varied, multi-disciplinary, sometimes challenging but always the best job in the world. There really is so much to celebrate - even if much more to achieve.

As we celebrate the amazing work of rangers here at home and abroad this 31st July, we’ll all have an eye on the challenges ahead. Rangers are critical to achieving 30x30 targets; let’s celebrate the skills, dedication and commitment of the professionals in the field. The CMA Annual Conference theme this October is ‘Achieving Nature Recovery’ and it is already a struggle to decide which field trips to choose for delegates, with so many being offered to look at tremendous projects already well underway.

Join the CMA and the IRF in celebrating, and commemorating, rangers across the world this 31st July. A toolkit of resources has been released to help you do just that and can be found, along with other information on the work of rangers, either at:

www.countrysidemanagement.org.uk or www.internationalrangers.org

‘Happy World Ranger Day!’

A Very Special Man – Gordon Miller, August 1941-May 2023

No mention of World Ranger Day, the CMA or IRF can be made at this time without paying tribute to Gordon Miller, who recently passed away. Gordon was a ranger at the Peak District National Park for many decades. He also had a vision that rangers across the world should be able to network, exchange ideas and examples from wherever they worked, and learn from each other.

As a member of the CMA (the Association of Countryside Rangers (ACR) as it was then), alongside the Association of National Park Rangers (ANPR) of the USA and the Scottish Countryside Ranger Association (SCRA), Gordon worked tirelessly to develop the idea for a global body for rangers. On 31st July, 1992, an Accord was signed at Losehill Hall in the Peak District NP by the three ranger associations, that provided the foundation of the International Ranger Federation.

The rest, as they say, is history. Indeed the IRF is his legacy that will continue on into the future, with rangers from disparate and diverse countries, continents and cultures making lifelong friends and learning from each other.

On July 10th, the funeral of this visionary, committed, deeply revered and much loved man took place in Edale, his beloved home turf. Over 250 people were either there in person or watched remotely around the world.

Gordon was the first ‘global ranger,’ travelling extensively, making numerous ranger friends and forever encouraging collaboration, mutual respect and cross-fertilisation of ideas.

RIP Gordon: never forgotten
Beloved father, brother, uncle and committed friend within the Edale community
Founder and first President of the International Ranger Federation
Honorary President of the Countryside Management Association
Alfred Toepfer award winner from Europarc

* The paper’s additional authors are: Alexandre Courtiol, Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research; Lucy Emerton, Environment Management Group; James L. Slade, Lauren Warr, Nina Hadley, Chris Jordan and Barney Long, Re:wild; Andrew Tilker, Re:wild and Leibniz Institute for Zoo and Wildlife Research; Mónica Álvarez Malvido, International Ranger Federation; James R. Barborak, Center for Protected Area Management at Colorado State University; Louise de Bruin, Game Rangers Association of Africa; Rosalie Chapple, Blue Mountains World Heritage Institute & Protected Areas Collaboration; Jennifer C. Daltry, Re:wild and Fauna & Flora International; François Rousset, University of Montpellier, CNRS, EPHE, IRD, France; Rohit Singh, World Wildlife Fund; Eleanor J. Sterling, University of Hawaii; Erin G. Wessling, Harvard University.

**The paper defines ‘protected area personnel’ as individuals who spend at least 50% of their time on the management of protected areas. Rangers are a subset of protected area personnel and defined as individuals who are “involved in the practical protection and preservation of all aspects of wild areas, historical and cultural sites.”

Linda Nunn
Chairman, Countryside Management Association
chairman@countrysidemanagement.org.uk

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