Global Conservation Sponsors 1st World Ranger Congress Held in Asia

World Ranger Congress is being held at Chitwan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site, from November 12 to 16th.

Chitwan World Heritage is one of the planet's only national parks which has seen an increases in both Rhino and Tiger populations, providing a model for Intensive Conservation.

The ranger community of Asia protects some of the most biodiverse landscapes in the world.  South East Asia in particular, is a global diversity hotspot, but with over 600 million people living in the region, the pressures on species survival are immense. The two main drivers of biodiversity loss in the Asian tropics are trade motivated hunting and habitat loss. Hundreds of species are on the edge of extinction.

Global Conservation is sponsoring three (3) lead rangers running SMART Patrols in DaMaI Rainforest Complex, Borneo, Malaysia and Sabah Environmental Trust (SET) to attend the 9th World Ranger Congress - the first held in Asia.  Global Conservation is particularly interested in how to duplicate the success at Chitwan into Bardiya and Banke National Parks in the Western Lowlands of Nepal.

Bengal Tiger numbers in Chitwan, home to the country's largest number of wild tigers, have increased from 91 (80-100 estimated) in 2009 to over 120 (104-136 estimated) by 2019.

Today, no more than 2,000 rhinos remain in the wild, with only two national parks in the world containing more than 100 rhinos: Kaziranga National Park in Assam, India (1,200) and Chitwan National Park (CNP) in Nepal with 600 rhino. As recently as 1972, Nepal reported only 100 rhinos, but due to the successful protection of Chitwan National Park and other parks in Nepal, there are now 650 rhinos across the country.

In just ten years, Chitwan National Park became a ‘zero poaching’ park due to the great efforts of Nepal's Department of Parks and Wildlife. Today,  more rhinos are dying every year because of natural causes (40+ in the past year). DoWCNP Deputy Director General Ram Chandra Kandel said "we’ll soon conduct a study on carrying capacity of Chitwan National Park to find out reasons for high number of rhino deaths,” Kandel said. The study will be carried out in partnership with IUCN Asian Rhino Specialist Group, a group of rhino experts in Asia.

Global Conservation Global Park Defense projects protect the most critical wildlife habitats for Asian Elephants, Tigers, Orangutans and the last Sumatran Rhinos in Leuser ecosytem. Through Global Park Defense - SMART patrolling and next-generation systems for Park and Wildlife Protection, six world heritage and national parks in Asia are now better protected with park authorities trained, equipped and ready, with greater government commitments for long term protection.

Global Conservation is represented by Jeff Morgan, Executive Director, who has worked in Asia for the past 35 years. Jeff will be meeting with GC Project leaders and assessing new potential national parks for investment in Global Park Defense.  Out of many parks in the world, there are few which have the right leadership, co-funding, government commitment and UNESCO World Heritage designation to achieve ‘No Cut, No Kill’ protection like Chitwan National Park.

About World Ranger Congress - Chitwan National Park, Nepal - November 12-16, 2019

World Ranger Congress provides a platform for rangers to share knowledge, create partnerships and build capacity through a cross pollination of ideas, techniques and best practice conservation/management initiatives that have been tried and tested in conservation areas around the World. It will be the first time the Congress is held on the Asian continent.

Around the world, rangers in protected areas are at the frontlines of wildlife conservation, yet they receive little recognition for putting their lives at risk. That is set to change with a major international conference of rangers in Nepal’s Chitwan National Park next week.  Some 550 rangers from 70 countries will participate.

World Ranger Congress will be a landmark event to enhance support for rangers in Asia; to encourage and build capacity and to ensure effective management of the outstanding and highly threatened natural assets under their care.

More than 1,000 rangers have been killed in the line of duty in the past 10 years, with 149 killed by poachers in the past year alone.

“This time it was Asia’s turn to host the Congress, and Nepal was the most serious proposal received,” said Sean Wilmore, President of the International Ranger Federation. “Nepal has proven itself as an example to follow having achieved Zero Poaching of rhinos.” 

For the complete program for the 9th World Ranger Congress, see here.

The Nepal Success Story - Chitwan National Park, a UNESCO World Heritage site

Nepal has been celebrating mostly zero-poaching years since 2010.  Rhino in Africa are being decimated and in India, the illegal wildlife trade claimed as many as 48 tigers as recently as 2013 (the country has also experienced an alarming surge in rhino killings in recent years).

The Nepalese government has made conservation a priority, strengthening legal protections for wildlife, imposing stiff penalties for crimes and forging strong partnerships with conservation organisations like WWF who have worked for two decades in Nepal. Early work was previously led by Dr. Eric Dinerstein, former WWF Chief Scientist, and now on Global Conservation's Senior Advisory Board.

23 percent of the country is national parks today and o0ver 28 percent of the country's forests are managed by local communities. Community Based Anti-Poaching Units (CBAPUs) are active all across the country – and they have good reason to be motivated. Crucially, communities that border Nepal's wildlife reserves receive 50 cents of every tourism dollar earned, so protecting the animals that attract the tourists makes economic sense.  

As well, Nepal has streamlined cooperation between its police force, army and park officials, a move that's significantly boosted the effectiveness of enforcement and monitoring efforts across the country. Nepal's iconic Chitwan National Park, once a poaching hotspot, had more than 1,000 soldiers patrolling within its boundaries, according to a BBC report. The country has also established a Wildlife Crime Control Bureau to root out networks of wildlife traffickers. 

This intensive protection strategy has been highly successful, but is not without its detractors. WWF lost major funding from Germany and is under investigation by the United Kingdom for reports that rangers and army supported by WWF killed villagers near Chitwan National Park nearly a decade ago. For more on this controversial topic see MongaBay: Nepal reckons with the dark side of its rhino conservation success.