The vital role of rangers in conservation

Singh, Rohit; Galliers, Chris; Appleton, Michael; Hoffmann, Michael; Long, Barney; Cary-Elwes, Joanna; Fritze, Camilla; McCallum, Jamie K.; Jones, Rob Parry

doi:10.5070/p537151745

Cited by 13 publications

(19 citation statements)

References 12 publications

Supporting

Mentioning

Contrasting

Order By: Relevance

“…Our results link to the broader literature on rangers, which emphasizes both the importance of community-ranger relationships and the diverse roles that rangers inhabit in their work. The development of mutual trust between communities and rangers is essential to establishing the social relevance of protected areas (Singh et al, 2021). Relationships with community members are an essential component of ranger capacity .…”

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protected Area Rangers as Cultural Brokers? Implications for Wildlife Crime Prevention in Viet Nam

Rizzolo¹,

Gore²,

Long³

et al. 2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

The scope, scale, and socio-environmental impacts of wildlife crime pose diverse risks to people, animals, and environments. With direct knowledge of the persistence and dynamics of wildlife crime, protected area rangers can be both an essential source of information on, and front-line authority for, preventing wildlife crime. Beyond patrol and crime scene data collected by rangers, solutions to wildlife crime could be better built off the knowledge and situational awareness of rangers, in particular rangers' relationships with local communities and their unique ability to engage them. Rangers are often embedded in the communities surrounding the conserved areas which they are charged with protecting, which presents both challenges and opportunities for their work on wildlife crime prevention. Cultural brokerage refers to the process by which intermediaries, like rangers, facilitate interactions between other relevant stakeholders that are separate yet proximate to one another, or that lack access to, or trust in, one another. Cultural brokers can function as gatekeepers, representatives, liaisons, coordinators, or iterant brokers; these forms vary by how information flows and how closely aligned the broker is to particular stakeholders. The objectives of this paper are to use the example of protected area rangers in Viet Nam to (a) characterize rangers' cultural brokerage of resources, information, and relationships and (b) discuss ranger-identified obstacles to the prevention of wildlife crime as an example of brokered knowledge. Using in-depth face-to-face interviews with rangers and other protected area staff (N = 31, 71% rangers) in Pu Mat National Park, 2018, we found that rangers regularly shift between forms of cultural brokerage. We offer a typology of the diverse forms of cultural brokerage that characterize rangers' relationships with communities and other stakeholders. We then discuss ranger-identified obstacles to wildlife protection as an example of brokered knowledge. These results have implications for designing interventions to address wildlife crime that both improve community-ranger interactions and increase the efficiency of wildlife crime prevention.

show abstract

Section: Discussionmentioning

confidence: 99%

Protected Area Rangers as Cultural Brokers? Implications for Wildlife Crime Prevention in Viet Nam

Rizzolo¹,

Gore²,

Long³

et al. 2021

Front. Conserv. Sci.

Self Cite

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

show abstract

“…This place is different because we focus not only on guarding the border so that no one enters without permission, and that no one hunts there, rather instead of turning our backs to communities, we sit down with them to forge partnerships and define shared responsibilities." Indeed, with only eight employees today (see Singh et al 2021 on vital roles of rangers), the park in 2007 began a process of community empowerment, eventually issuing one concession and three use permits to communities. With perhaps more community collaboration experi ence than any other park (see on community relationships), communities offer all tourism services including housing, food, parking, backpack porters, guides, maintenance of the 60person mountaintop lodge, and the trails to get there.…”

Section: Laura Díaz Director Chirripó National Parkmentioning

confidence: 99%

“…In 1987 guerrillas assassinated its director after which the government abandoned it. Since then, two other staff related to El Cocuy also died in service (see Singh et al 2021 on dangers to rangers).…”

Section: On Employment Conditions)mentioning

confidence: 99%

“…Even with the help of armed assistance, Ovalle at times finds himself face to face with people committing crimes-his greatest challenge as a ranger. Despite that he wields no power of arrest, hunters and cutters have threatened his life on multiple occasions (see Singh et al 2021 on dangers to rangers). "If I am going to die," declares Ovalle, "it will be defending the natural resources.…”

Section: On Employment Conditions)mentioning

confidence: 99%

See 1 more Smart Citation

Challenges that rangers must face: Four rangers from Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Colombia tell their stories of diverse realities across Latin America

Köhl¹

2021

Parks Stewardship Forum

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Challenges that rangers must face: Four rangers from Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Colombia tell their stories of diverse realities across Latin America American countries also split management jurisdiction of natural and cultural heritage among different ministries operating in the same spaces. Cultural heritage guards then may not identify themselves as rangers, though they often serve the same functions.

show abstract

“…Rangers are at the frontline of efforts to conserve biodiversity around the world (Singh et al 2021a ). The estimated 1.5 million rangers who are currently active (McPherson 2021 ) can have a variety of diverse roles and responsibilities, yet all of them work towards ensuring that wildlife and other natural resources are being protected.…”

Section: Introductionmentioning

confidence: 99%

An international scoping review of rangers’ precarious employment conditions

et al. 2022

View full text Add to dashboard Cite

Protecting wildlife and other natural resources requires engaging and empowering local communities, ensuring compliance with rules, and ongoing monitoring and research. At the frontline of these efforts are rangers. Despite their critical role in maintaining the integrity of parks and protected areas, rangers across the world are exposed to precarious employment conditions and hazardous work environments. We conducted an international scoping review to understand which employment and working conditions are examined in the context of the ranger occupation and to assess whether the concept of precarious employment is used in the conservation, criminological, and environmental sustainability literature on rangers. We reviewed publications from Web of Knowledge, Scopus, ProQuest, and Medline, and grey literature for relevant English language articles published between 2000 and 2021. Our findings are based on the analysis of 98 included studies. We found that the most commonly discussed aspect of rangers’ employment and working conditions was the hazardous social and physical work environment, although this was often accompanied by severe income inadequacy, employment insecurity, and a lack of social security, regulatory support, and workplace rights. Such employment and working conditions can cause adverse impacts on rangers’ mental and physical health, well-being, and safety, and are also detrimental to their ability to adequately protect biodiversity. We conclude by outlining the need for sustainable solutions and additional research based on established conceptualizations of the precarious employment concept and other related concepts. Lastly, we suggest that governments should acknowledge the importance of rangers through their recognition as essential workers and provide greater support to improve their employment conditions. Supplementary Information The online version contains supplementary material available at 10.1007/s10669-022-09845-3.

show abstract

The vital role of rangers in conservation

Cited by 13 publications

References 12 publications

Protected Area Rangers as Cultural Brokers? Implications for Wildlife Crime Prevention in Viet Nam

Protected Area Rangers as Cultural Brokers? Implications for Wildlife Crime Prevention in Viet Nam

Challenges that rangers must face: Four rangers from Mexico, Costa Rica, Honduras, and Colombia tell their stories of diverse realities across Latin America

An international scoping review of rangers’ precarious employment conditions

Contact Info

Product

Resources

About