World Female Ranger Week starts 23 June 2023
World Female Ranger Week runs from 23rd to 30th June 2024.
#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. They protect wildlife, empower women and uplift communities, and this is a great chance to support them around the world and protect its wildlife, biodiveristy and wild spaces.
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.
The site for World Female Ranger Week has tool kits for supporters, rangers, journalists and teachers. And they want to hear the story of female rangers - you can share your stories here.
There are plenty of things you can do to get involved: donate, fundraise, volunteer, get creative, get social to spread the word and buy artwork!
There are also the World Female Ranger Awards to give international recognition to female rangers globally who have shown dedication and commitment to protecting wildlife species and wild spaces.
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 are empowering women working on the front line in conservation. Female rangers can help foster the community buy-in that's needed to preserve Africa's most precious biodiversity. Training began in Botswana and more teams will be trained and put to work both there and Zimbabwe in the future. 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 Read the female rangers' updates here. and 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.