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Kigali, Rwanda, 20 July 2022 (IUCN) – At the IUCN Congress on Protected Areas in Africa, twelve rangers and ranger groups from around the world today won an International Ranger Award for their ordinary commitment to nature protection and assistance to local communities.
Nyaradzo Auxillia Hoto of the all-female akashinka Ranger (Zimbabwe), winner of the International Ranger Award 2022.
Popote Ole Sapulai (Kenya), winner of the International Ranger Award 2022
The Ecoguards of the Yyondji Community (Democratic Republic of the Congo), winners of the International Ranger Award 2022
Jorge Banegas Franco (Bolivia), winner of the 2022 Ranger International Award
The winners of the International Ranger Awards, presented through the International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the World Commission on Protected Areas (WCPA), were announced today in a rite at the IUCN African Congress of Protected Areas in Kigali, Rwanda. . In total, seven individual rangers and 3 groups of rangers from ten countries in Latin America, Africa, Asia and Australasia were identified as going above and beyond the duty to protect the world’s wild places and wildlife and local communities. Two laureates won special prizes for rangers who run in spaces where there are tigers.
The African winners of the International Ranger Award of the moment are Nyaradzo Auxillia Hoto of the Lower Zambezi Wildlife Management Areas and the K9 anti-poaching tracking unit of the Savé Valley Conservancy, either in Zimbabwe; Ali Hassan Ali of Bura East Community Conservancy and Ole Sapulai Pot of Kimana Shrine, Kenya; and the Yyondji Community Ecoguards of the Bonobo Reserve of the Yyondji Community in the Democratic Republic of the Congo.
The International Ranger Awards were created in collaboration with the International Ranger Federation, Conservation Allies, Re:wild and Global Tiger Initiative.
“The world’s rangers are the unsung heroes and heroines of conservation,” said Dr Madhu Rao, Chair of IUCN’s World Commission on Protected Areas. “We count on your perseverance and determination to maintain a healthy planet for wildlife and humans. “Paintings of those women and men is professional and diverse: they are protectors, educators, netpainting leaders and wildlife monitors, running in areas, personal reserves, indigenous territories and netpainting conservatories. important paintings.
“In addition to their ordinary stories of bravery and commitment, what stands out about this year’s winners is their diversity,” said Chris Galliers, president of the International Ranger Federation. “They come with women, men and other young people and a very high proportion of them are members of the local communities where they work. This diversity is what the International Ranger Federation aspires to in the sector, as it is the key to addressing the complex demanding situations of climate replacement and biodiversity loss.
Each winner or winning team receives $10,000 for the protected and preserved spaces where they work, and a personalized badge on the uniform to represent their success.
Contacts:
Rehema Kahurananga, IUCN Regional Office for Eastern and Southern Africa, Rehema. kahurananga@iucn. org,
Matthias Fiechter, IUCN Global Communications, Matthias. fiechter@iucn. org,
Photos are available here.
You can follow the rite in the main auditorium of the Kigali Convention Center or online on the APAC Youtube channel.
Editor’s Notes:
The winners of the IUCN-WCPA International Ranger Awards 2022 are:
Nine other rangers have already earned special mentions.
International Ranger Award Quotes
Orang Tiger National Park and Reserve Ranger Team (Orang Tiger National Park and Reserve, India):
The team of guards from Orang Tiger National Park and Reserve is deployed for long periods of time in remote locations that are complicated and dangerous. Their efforts have led to a significant reduction in tiger and rhino poaching.
The team has shown abundant skill, courage and perseverance in dealing with the effects of tigers moving away from the reserve into local communities, endangering other people and their livestock. They have controlled the capture and movement of the stray tigers and to obtain cooperation and accept them as true with the communities concerned.
Masungi-Bayog Ranger Team (Protected Landscape of the Upper Marikina River Basin, Philippines):
This young team of rangers protects the upper Marikina basin from illegal invasion and destruction, helping to secure essential ecosystem facilities for some 20 million people. The team endured harsh operating conditions, private discrimination, intimidation and violence. Combating the resurgence of illicit activities during the COVID-19 pandemic, team members were seriously injured by armed attacks and arbitrarily detained. Despite this, they have resumed their purposes and have prolonged the rule under surveillance and protection.
The team’s courage and determination attracted national popularity and spurred the most officially active criminals in the region.
Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit (Kerinci Seblat National Park, Indonesia):
In 20 years, the Kerinci Seblat Tiger Protection and Conservation Unit has set an exemplary record in covering Sumatran tigers and other endangered animals.
Working in dangerous conditions, the skills, determination and private sacrifices of team members have led to successful prosecutions of poachers and traders, a considerable reduction in poaching and a significant increase in tiger sightings. His fate led the Ministry of Environment and Forests to claim the Kerinci Seblat National Park as a “model” for tiger conservation.
Jorge Banegas Franco (National Park and Natural Area of Integrated Management Pantanal de Otuquis, Bolivia):
Throughout his career, Jorge Banegas Franco has acquired and passed on hands-on experience in a wide diversity of diversity operations, adding protection, firefighting, ecosystem and wildlife monitoring, and guest control. As a member of an indigenous community, he has prioritized the integration of the culture, longings and longings of local and indigenous communities to the control of the spaces where he works.
As a guard leader, he demonstrated competence, commitment and innovative thinking in solving challenges, making plans for guard operations and supporting guard groups operating in remote and challenging areas.
Héctor Luis Espinoza Acevedo (Paso del Istmo Wildlife Corridor, La Flor Wildlife Refuge, Nicaragua):
Héctor Espinosa is an indigenous park ranger who has been committed for ten years to the conservation of the critically endangered yellow-naped parrot at La Flor Wildlife Refuge, becoming an identified expert in parrot research, monitoring and breeding. his circle of relatives from Hurricane Nate in 2017, his commitment to the restoration of nesting sites has been instrumental to the recovery of the parrot population. Thanks to his paintings and those of his team, the parrot population has stabilized, their forest habitat is recovering, and Hector has an inspiration for conservation efforts throughout the landscape.
Felipe Otoniel León Ángel (Sierra de San Pedro Mártir National Park, Mexico):
Despite difficult and deteriorating operating conditions, Felipe Otoniel León Ángel persisted in his determination to lead, equip and educate his ranger team to fight the damaging wildfires in the remote and fragile pine forests of Baja California. The equipment has resulted in medical devices and devices essential for their effectiveness and well-being.
As a committed communicator, educator and photographer, he has encouraged adults and youth from local communities to participate in the coverage of the national park.
Ben ‘Yuddiy’ Brown (Pila Nature Reserve, Australia):
The classic owner of the Martu land, Ben “Yuddiy” Brown, plays a pivotal role in maintaining joint control of the Pila Nature Reserve through Warnpuru Aboriginal Corporation Rangers and DBCA. From home, he plans, organizes and directs ranger operations in the remote reserve, a task that involves long and harmful common excursions.
You face many demanding situations when balancing employment in government with being a member of a traditional organization of other people with deep cultural ties to the country. He faced these demanding situations with selflessness and dignity, which required many private sacrifices.
K9 Specialist Anti-Poaching Monitoring Unit (Savé Valley Conservancy, Zimbabwe):
Working with limited resources and in harmful conditions, ATS K9 was the first to use highly trained dogs to aid in coordinated operations against poaching, and evolved and tested popular strategies for monitoring rhino populations and conservation efforts. it attracted important and developing aid from the communities in which maximum guards are recruited. His paintings have been lucky and have especially reduced poaching in the Savé Valley Reserve, which has led to exceptional luck in the recovery of black and white rhino populations and other species.
Ali Hassan Ali (Bura East Community Conservancy, Kenya):
Ali Hassan is a pioneer in conservation and ranger paintings in southeastern Kenya. After 15 years as a ranger in the Arawale National Preserve, he was instrumental in the creation of the Bura East Community Conservancy and the Critically Endangered Hirola Antelope Conservation Program. he overcame continued threats to safety, injuries at the hands of poachers and tensions with his own community, to a respectable and highly effective guard leader, surveyor, educator and communicator, committed to ensuring the long-term hirola and other endangered species and the well-being of local people.
Yyondji Ecoguards (Yyondji Bonobo Reserve, Democratic Republic of the Congo):
This team of netpaintings ecoguards bravely protects their netpaintings reserve from poaching, monitors populations of endangered species, and paints within their communities to provide education and livelihood support. Although exposed to danger and lacking official apparatus and recognition, the team has helped reduce poaching, ensure the arrest of a persistent and harmful poacher, and make forests safer for communities to collect the products they have.
Poot Ole Sapulai (Kimana Shrine, Kenya):
A member of the local network, Popote Sapulai has been a ranger for 19 years, running without pay and, if necessary, supporting his ranger team with his own resources. His leadership and bravery in the fight against poaching in the region has been exceptional. , and has demonstrated courage and international relations in the non-violent resolution of conflicts between communities and wildlife. As a reliable and highly reputable senior ranger; his unwavering determination to safeguard the region has earned him the respect of his network and encouraged many other young people to follow his path.
Nyaradzo Auxillia Hoto (Lower Zambezi Wildlife Management Areas, Zimbabwe):
Nyaradzo Auxillia Hoto, a member of the local community, has been a member of the Akashinka Ranger women’s team since 2017, helping to expand more inclusive and less conflicting coverage approaches than positive social effects and conservation.
Her courage, perseverance, diligence and honesty helped her triumph over private and professional obstacles to become a respectable and reliable guard sergeant. Operating with her team in harmful environments, her avant-garde paintings have proven to be very effective in reducing poaching, building local aid and empowering local women, earning the admiration of her colleagues and the help of her community.
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