It is a great honour to join the 10th International Ranger Congress (the Congress) on 9 October and to have the opportunity to recognise the exceptional work being done by the world’s rangers and to talk about how critical their work is to achieving globally agreed goals and targets, including those captured in the Kunming-Montreal Global Biodiversity Framework.

The ranger profession is diverse – the roles and responsibilities of rangers are diverse – and the conditions, cultures and landscapes within which rangers work are diverse.

Yet rangers are bound by a common cause – to conserve, sustainably use, and equitably share the benefits of the rich diversity of life on Earth.

And there are common issues that cut across all of this diversity and have been collectively tackled through the International Rangers Federation (IRC), including on questions of rangers conditions, conduct and competence.

The IRC has adopted the Chitwan Declaration of 2019, established the Universal Ranger Support Alliance, developed a Ranger Code of Conduct, and held workshops on what’s needed for a workforce that is sufficient in numbers, diverse and recognised. 

It’s impressive to read about the advances that have been made. 

But it’s not what I have read that has impacted me the most; it’s the dedicated people I have met in the field, and the extraordinary landscapes and the wildlife I’ve had the privilege to experience across every continent that has left a lasting impression. 

Rangers know the ecosystems of their parks extremely well. There is another type of ecosystem outside of their parks that they may not be as familiar with, but it impacts all of us, and that is the international system of conventions, policies and institutions.

The world’s governments have signed up to a wide and diverse range of international agreements, including on the environment, human rights and sustainable development, as well as transnational organised crime and corruption.  

Environmental agreements include those found in global conventions on biodiversity, climate change, trade in endangered species, migratory species, international wetlands of significance, and World heritage to name just a few.

Modern park management also embraces sustainable development and human rights, and governments have signed onto the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) and to multiple human rights conventions. 

Implementing all of these many and varied agreements converges on-the-ground in the parks managed by rangers. It may not be at the front of ranger’s minds, but their daily work is essential to governments’ ability to implement this vast array of international agreements. 

Over the past decades, I’ve devoted much of my time to engaging a global audience and donor base to garner political, financial and technical support for environment protection, nature conservation, and sustainability, including on the critical role played by rangers.

The international community has made good progress in agreeing upon what needs to be done to address some of our most pressing environmental issues. Where we are falling short is in implementing what we have collectively agreed to; let’s just take biodiversity as an example.

The two most recent Living Planet reports show a sharp decline in wildlife over the past 50 years. The IPBES Global Assessment Report on Biodiversity and Ecosystems Services says one million species will go extinct within the coming decades. 

This decline in wildlife has happened notwithstanding the adoption of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD) in 1992 and its 2010, 2020 and, most recently, its 2030, global goals and targets, not to mention all of the other biodiversity-related agreements. 

The reality is this; what has been agreed to internationally does not amount to much if it is not effectively implemented on-the-ground. It is in the field, through the hard work of rangers, who dedicate themselves to working on the front-lines of conservation and sustainable development, that we make real, tangible, and measurable progress in delivering on these agreements.  

As such, it’s rather surprising these agreements and goals and targets don’t capture the central role of rangers in implementation. A notable exception is the 2019 UNGA Resolution on tackling illicit trafficking in wildlife, which included specific recognition to the crucial role played by rangers and guards in the fight against wildlife trafficking under adverse conditions. 

Unfortunately, we failed to meet the global biodiversity targets set for 2010 and 2020; we are hoping that it will be a case of third time lucky with the adoption of the Kunming-Montréal Global Biodiversity Framework in 2022. 

The Framework includes 23 Targets, which collectively seek to bend the curve in biodiversity loss. At this Congress, we are especially focussed on Target 3. While Target 3 is our focus, I think we need to expand this conversation to include a wider range of Targets; as well as a broader suite of conventions, as I will explain.

We are all generally familiar with Target 3, which says:

TARGET 3: Conserve 30% of Land, Waters and Seas

Past experience tells us that the designation or recognition of protected areas and other effective area-based conservation measures is the easy part. It is effectively managing them that presents the greatest challenges. 

As we know, without effective management these areas will be nothing more than ‘paper parks’. Target 3 acknowledges that these areas need to be effectively conserved and managed and equitably governed, recognizing and respecting the rights of indigenous peoples and local communities. This cannot be achieved without an adequate area-based workforce. At the forefront of this workforce are the world’s rangers and this is gaining increasing attention. 

The focus on Target 3 is well founded, but it should not be the only focus of attention. Rangers are indispensable in delivering on multiple other Targets.

I’ll now briefly explore some of the other Targets. And to make it feel more real, in doing so I’ll share some of my personal observations from a few of the parks I have visited, which should help make the point:

TARGET 1: Plan and Manage all Areas To Reduce Biodiversity Loss and TARGET 2: Restore 30% of all Degraded Ecosystems – not all parks are pristine; many require restoration. I saw in a number of parks in South Australian that fell under my departments management, which were seriously impacted by introduced species. Restoring these landscapes requires well-managed and on-going interventions at scale; and this work is led by the park’s rangers. 

TARGET 4: Halt Species Extinction, Protect Genetic Diversity, and Manage Human-Wildlife Conflicts – this is all relevant to rangers work, but human-wildlife conflict is one that stands out. It was a strong focus of the several parks I visited in Malawi, which tend to be surrounded by farms. 

The EPI Foundation estimates 142,650 human-elephant conflict incidents each year, with 1,800 people losing their lives.  This has a devastating impact on people and erodes popular support for conservation. Park rangers are essential in avoiding and managing this conflict as it relates to animals within, or that traverse, their parks. 

TARGET 5: Ensure Sustainable, Safe and Legal Harvesting and Trade of Wild Species – there are many aspects to this Target, including stopping illegal exploitation. Wildlife crime is highly destructive, and certain animals that are trafficked also carry a risk to human health. Tackling poaching is something that was a focus of several parks I visited across Africa, including the Garamba National Park in DRC, which had suffered from industrial scale poaching by organised crime and rebel militia groups. Preventing these crimes is also linked to climate change, as I’ll discuss under Target 8. 

TARGET 6: Reduce the Introduction of Invasive Alien Species by 50% and Minimize Their Impact – alien invasive species impact many parks. I saw the impact invasive species had on parks in the Flinders Ranges in Australia, which required targeted interventions to remove feral cats, pigs, donkeys, goats and rabbits, using the recovery of the yellow footed rock wallaby as the indicator species for measuring success. Rangers led this work. 

In some parks irreversible damage has been caused. In these cases, it is about maintaining ecosystem function and keeping as much indigenous diversity as possible, while balancing cultural and social demands.

TARGET 7: Reduce Pollution to Levels That Are Not Harmful to Biodiversity – parks, especially parks with tourism generate waste, and parks are impacted by pollution. At Bazarouto in Mozambique rangers were working to deal with the waste generated by the park, especially plastic wastes, and the wastes coming from shipping.

TARGET 8: Minimize the Impacts of Climate Change on Biodiversity and Build Resilience – marine and terrestrial ecosystems take up around 56 percent of anthropogenic carbon dioxide. It is stated that nature-based solutions to climate change could contribute around one-third of the global mitigation required by 2030 to achieve the goals under the Paris Agreement. 

Parks can on occasion have too many animals, such as elephants, and on other occasions species have been poached out. This can require translocation of animals to ensure healthy ecosystems.  Wildlife crime degrades ecosystems. Managing these translocations and preventing wildlife crime ensures the ongoing health of ecosystems and their ability to sequester carbon.

Effectively managed parks are an indispensable part of efforts to tackle climate change.

TARGET 9: Manage Wild Species Sustainably To Benefit People and TARGET 11: Restore, Maintain and Enhance Nature’s Contributions to People – these targets are critically important to generating local support for conservation; and we see it manifest itself in the ability to benefit directly from the park, which can take many forms. For example, on occasion it may be through direct exploitation, but more often it is through nature tourism, and local enterprises, such as local communities being a supplier to parks, such as for food for rangers and tourists, as I saw in Akagera National Park in Rwanda. 

TARGET 21: Ensure That Knowledge Is Available and Accessible To Guide Biodiversity Action  - rangers monitor and measure the health of vital ecosystems. The technology I’ve seen used in parks across Africa, and in the Giant Panda National Park in China, is breathtaking. The opportunities for north-south, and south-south cooperation are enormous. 

TARGET 22: Ensure Participation in Decision-Making and Access to Justice and Information Related to Biodiversity for all  - the best rangers have relationship skills and the aptitude to work with people, including Indigenous peoples and local communities, who are themselves often rangers. During my time as CEO in South Australia the government established Australia’s first Indigenous Protected Area in the northern Flinders Ranges, which is today widespread. 

In some instances engagement may include getting neighbours, friends and volunteers to work on park management. For example parks under my management in South Australia included a Friends of National Parks volunteer network of over 5,000 people.

TARGET 23: Ensure Gender Equality and a Gender-Responsive Approach for Biodiversity Action – in Garamba National Park in the DRC they bring the entire local community, as well as local and national leaders, together for Garamba Ranger Day and have expanded the number of female rangers.

I’m not going to go through all of the Targets all in detail, but I think you can see where I am getting at. Rangers are directly contributing towards achieving not just Target 3, but a whole host of other Targets. Rangers shouldn’t sell themselves short!

And I can go further; rangers are conserving biodiversity, mitigating climate change, stopping illegal wildlife trade, preventing land degradation, protecting wetlands, and the outstanding universal values of remarkable World heritage sites. 

They are not only contributing towards achieving the Global Biodiversity Framework and its Targets, they are contributing towards implementing CITES; the Convention on Migratory Species; the Ramsar Convention on International Wetlands, the UN Conventions on Climate Change and to Combat Desertification, the World Heritage Convention and more.  

And I can go further still, rangers are also supporting achieving the UN Sustainable Development Goals and realising human rights obligations; such as the human right to a clean, healthy and sustainable environment.

As you can glean from my earlier comments, I don’t say this from a theoretical perspective; I have seen it for myself across multiple continents. It’s been inspiring to engage with exceptional rangers, who have a feel for the land and water, who understand the complexity of the interface they are managing, and are nimble and agile in making continual progress.

We don’t see the direct connection being made between international agreements and commitments and what is being done on-the-ground in parks across the globe to deliver on a countries commitments.  We need to map this out more often and in simple terms and for many reasons, including to make a powerful case for further funding for rangers. 

Through their hard work and commitment, often under extreme conditions, rangers are helping countries deliver on the multiple commitments they have made through a wide range of international agreements. Where rangers work is where ‘the rubber hits the road’ and it was my great honour to highlight this critical nexus at the Congress.