Wild Chimpanzee Foundation - Wildlife Ranger Challenge 2023
Wild Chimpanzee Foundation is taking on the Wildlife Ranger Challenge to raise awareness of the vital role our 22 rangers play in protecting Côte d'Ivoire's Taï National Park, and supporting an estimated 4 livelihoods.
My story
Rangers are Africa’s unsung heroes. They hold diverse roles as conservationists, teachers, community support workers, leaders and much more.
Wild Chimpanzee Foundation - Taï National Park has developed conservation programs in Côte d'Ivoire to preserve biodiversity and particularly the chimpanzee population in the Taï National Park and the Cavally Classified Forest.
In Taï National Park, community rangers guide tourists in a community-based ecotourism program. In the Cavally Classified Forest, community-rangers are trained to preserve the forest, which is highly threatened by hunting, illegal agriculture and gold mining.
The permanent presence of rangers is scientifically recognized as favourable to wildlife preservation. Our work has confirmed this on several occasions. Between 2017 and 2020, ranger patrols have allowed the reduction of deforestation by 95% in the Cavally Classified Forest. Similarly, regular patrols in the Taï National Park by OIPR rangers and in the ecotourism and research area by eco guides and field assistants has also led to a 91% decrease in poaching. The permanent presence of WCF rangers has always been maintained and supported on several occasions by WRC.
WRC has supported rangers' salaries working in these two sites. We still need this support to ensure the long term preservation of the chimpanzees and their habitat.
Give today and the Scheinberg Relief Fund will match every dollar donated, amplifying your impact. Join us in speaking up #ForWildlifeRangers
Support a unique conservation initiative empowering and uniting wildlife rangers across Africa.
May 2, 2023, 9:57:01 AMWildlife 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.
