Frankfurt Zoological Society - Wildlife Ranger Challenge 2023
Frankfurt Zoological Society is taking on the Wildlife Ranger Challenge to raise awareness of the vital role our 350 rangers play in protecting Zambia's North Luangwa Ecosystem, and supporting an estimated 50600 livelihoods.
My story
Rangers are Africa’s unsung heroes. They hold diverse roles as conservationists, teachers, community support workers, leaders and much more.
The Wildlife Ranger Challenge, organised by Tusk, is a celebration of solidarity, connection and camaraderie for the ranger profession. Culminating on 16th September 2023, the campaign raises vital funds for Africa's biodiversity guardians.
The 22,000km2 North Luangwa Ecosystem (NLE) encompasses the North Luangwa National Park (NLNP) and four Game Management Areas (GMA). The NLE is home to Zambia’s largest and fastest growing elephant population, as well as the only black rhino population. Due to highly effective, adaptive and strategic law enforcement efforts by Frankfurt Zoological Society - North Luangwa Ecosystem and the Department of National Parks and Wildlife (DNPW) 36-year partnership, elephant poaching decreased significantly from the major crisis years 2012-2016, with 2018-2021 recording the lowest number of poached elephant carcasses detected across the NLCP operational area since 2008. Additionally, the black rhino population has not been subjected to any poaching since its re-introduction in 2003 and has one of the highest growth rates in Africa.
NLCP scouts are hired almost exclusively from the surrounding communities and the project therefore forms by far the biggest employer in this ecosystem. In addition, a comprehensive outreach program in the surrounding GMAs successfully links livelihoods and the landscape, creating an effective buffer against poaching syndicates.
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Support a unique conservation initiative empowering and uniting wildlife rangers across Africa.
Apr 27, 2023, 2:08:58 PMWildlife rangers operate on the very frontline of conservation across Africa, routinely making personal sacrifices to put their lives on the line to protect the continent’s magnificent wildlife and habitats. Yet they are so much more than just law enforcement officers: rangers are teachers, community support workers, mediators, researchers and so much more. Unfortunately, resources are not keeping pace with the scale of the challenges they are trying to tackle. For the fourth year running, the Wildlife Ranger Challenge sets out to redress this, by raising critical funding to cover operating costs, including salaries and equipment, for over 10,000 rangers. This will help them protect threatened wildlife and some of the continent's most vulnerable areas, while also protecting communities and securing coexistence with wildlife, as well as providing for their own families.
Wildlife preservers