RANGER EVENTS

WORLD RANGER CONGRESS 2019

The International Ranger Federation World Ranger Congress brings together rangers from all over the world and provides them with the opportunity to learn new skills, share knowledge and create partnerships. The Congress is also a forum for the creation of recommendations on issues that affect rangers.

The 9th World Ranger Congress was hosted by Nepal in 2019 – the first time this triennial event was held in Asia. The Congress provided Nepal with the opportunity to showcase the incredible work they have been doing to achieve zero poaching. In 2011, for the first time in 29 years, not a single rhino or tiger was killed for black market trade in Nepal. The frontline rangers played a huge role in this landmark achievement and this record has now been achieved in 2014 (elephants, rhinos and tigers), 2015 (rhinos) and 2016 (elephants, rhinos and tigers).

The ranger community of Asia needs significant support if it is to continue to build on these successes. The Congress was a landmark event to enhance support for rangers, to encourage and build capacity to ensure effective management of the outstanding and highly threatened natural assets under their care.

Recognising the necessity to address the needs of rangers, the Nepalese Ranger Association hosted the World Ranger Congress. The Congress provided a great platform for capacity building, not only for Nepalese and Asian Rangers, but also for other attendees through a cross pollination of ideas, techniques and best practice conservation/management initiatives from around the globe which will be provided in the conference workshops, concurrent sessions and keynote speeches.

A landmark output of the 9th World Ranger Congress was the Chitwan Declaration. The Declaration has served as a roadmap for enhancing the ranger profession and is actively being implemented by the International Ranger Federation and URSA Partners:

THE 1ST ASIAN RANGER FORUM, 2023

The first ever Asian Ranger Forum was hosted in Guwahati, India, in 2024. The Forum brought together 168 participants from 21 countrie. More than 61% of participants were active rangers, 23% of participants were women and 31% identified as Indigenous people. The forum addressed different aspects of ranger work ranging from marine rangers, indigenous rangers, community trust, human rights and many more. We heard from many different rangers on their experiences and gathered their thoughts and inputs on how to take the ranger cause forward.

The event was a success and culminated in the development and the release of the Guwahati Declaration (attached) which will provide us with a platform to take the ranger cause to the next level, as will be required to achieve the aims of 30×30. The Declaration will feed into the World Ranger Congress Declaration next year.

The Guwahati Declaration:

ARF-The-Guwahati-Declaration

Website: https://asianrangerforum.org

THE WORLD RANGER CONGRESS, 2024

Mark your calendars! The date and venue for the 10th IRF World Ranger Congress have been set: The International Ranger Federation is happy to announce that the international ranger community will be hosted on Giens Peninsula, Hyères, in south-eastern France in October 2024.