World Ranger Day: AWF Honors the Dedicated Guardians of Africa’s Wildlife and Wild Lands

WASHINGTON, D.C., LONDON, U.K. AND NAIROBI, KENYA — On World Ranger Day 2020, increased illegal activity and violence threaten the lives of men and women working on the front lines to preserve endangered species and diverse ecosystems. Rangers face enormous risk to their personal safety in the midst of the ongoing global pandemic. In Africa, travel bans, government lockdowns, and stay-at-home orders to prevent the spread of Coronavirus have cut revenue streams and decreased the funding of ranger operations. On Friday, July 31, African Wildlife Foundation (AWF) will host a moderated virtual event with full Q&A, featuring three leading rangers and scouts working on the African continent.

“World Rangers’ Day Webinar: Stories from the frontline: Protecting Africa’s wildlife during COVID-19,” will feature a four-person expert panel, including rangers and conservation experts from Kenya, Uganda, and Zimbabwe. Topics of discussion will focus on the challenges and risks facing those on the frontline of conservation, and examine the impact of COVID-19 on conservation, livelihoods, and families, and how to pass on indigenous knowledge and management of natural resources to the next generation. Sustaining livelihood in conservation community areas is a chief concern to maintain a safe working environment with less human-wildlife conflict.

World Ranger Day webinar speakers will include:

• Didi Wamukoya, Senior Manager, Wildlife Law Enforcement Species Protection, Kenya, will moderate the panel. Wamukoya is an advocate of the High Court of Kenya and a trained Wildlife Crime Investigator; (moderator)
• Simon Muchatibaya, Technical Advisor, Mana Pools, AWF Zimbabwe. Simon has 21 years of experience in conservation, 17 as a ranger with Zimbabwe Parks and Wildlife Management Authority, where he was Zimparks’ most awarded ranger;
• Dontillah Saru, Corporal, LUMO Conservancy in the Tsavo-Mkomazi landscape; and
• Diana Lakica, Community Scout, Murchison Community Conservancy, near Uganda’s famed Murchison Falls National Park.

TO PARTICIPATE: “World Rangers’ Day Webinar: Stories from the frontline: Protecting Africa’s wildlife during COVID-19” is open to the public.  Click on this link to register: awf.org/ranger-webinar-2020

About African Wildlife Foundation

The African Wildlife Foundation is the primary advocate for the protection of wildlife and wild lands as an essential part of a modern and prosperous Africa. Founded in 1961 to focus on Africa’s conservation needs, we articulate a uniquely African vision, bridge science, and public policy, and demonstrate the benefits of conservation to ensure the survival of the continent’s wildlife and wild lands.

MEDIA CONTACT: For interviews, contact Patrick Mitchell of AWF in Washington, D.C. at pmitchell@awf.org or (202) 991-7508 or Wambui Odhiambo of AWF in Nairobi, Kenya at wodhiambo@awf.org or +254 728 886 987.