Each morning at dawn the whistle blasts out through the fog, initiating a flurry of activity as the Ndoki rangers emerge from their tents and start their warm-up laps of the training camp. The forest towers above them, the camp and its inhabitants dwarfed by the expansive Nouabale-Ndoki National Park. These brave men and women are the Park’s on-the-ground defence against a wave of poaching that threatens northern Congo’s wildlife, they battle through thick forest, snatched at by thorny vegetation and pummelled by torrential rains. Today on World Ranger Day we thank them for their tireless efforts, the work they do every day to conserve our planet’s wild places.

The Nouabalé-Ndoki National Park (NNNP) covers over 4,000 square kilometres of contiguous lowland rainforest in northern Republic of Congo. It is arguably the best example of an intact forest ecosystem remaining in the Congo Basin. The Park has never been logged, contains no settlements or roads within its borders and still protects wildlife populations deep within its interior that have had little or no contact with humans. Today this wildlife haven, like many others, is fragile. Where remoteness has long provided a blanket of protection, rapid encroachment of roads outside the Park limits has made its wildlife much more accessible to illegal hunters.

In order to tackle the expanding threats to the area’s wildlife the park’s protection force has been professionalised and increased six-fold in the past five-years; anti-poaching operations have been restructured and are re-enforced by the addition of a Cessna 206 aircraft carrying out surveillance flights. The Park is investing in this expanded ranger-force to ensure that they carry out their mission in a professional manner, that they have the skills and confidence to protect themselves from the attacks of those who want to destroy biodiversity, and that they respect the Law and respect Human Rights.

A key step to achieving this is in looking after the people who we ask so much of. Communications have been improved, rangers properly equipped and patrolling restructured to shorten and direct missions. A support team in the Park headquarters tracks the patrol units, ensuring that alerts are quickly responded to, a huge boost to the morale of rangers in the field.

Rangers who feel valued are much more likely to take pride in the work they are doing. The ranger force has been restructured to allow for individuals to grow professionally and advance in the ranks to leadership positions. The Park wardens of several Congolese protected areas have also collaborated to create the Congolese Ranger Association, working with The Thin Green Line to ensure that the families of rangers who have fallen in the line of duty are properly cared for.

All these changes are starting to bear fruit. At the beginning of 2018, a successful anti-poaching operation built on strong collaboration between the park’s anti-poaching force and local authorities led to the arrest of three poachers and a swift sentence of five-years jail time for the gang. Poacher arrests are starting to happen on patrols, at ambushes, at roadblocks – once a rarity. In the first half of 2018 the Ndoki ranger force seized over 100 kilograms of ivory, a dozen illegal weapons, and over 3000 munitions, with the potential to massacre hundreds of animals, have been taken out of circulation.

Tonight in the Ndoki forest rangers will be setting up camp, maybe today in the pouring rain, tomorrow in sweltering heat under the attack of biting insects. It is tough work, these women and men face hardships, discomfort and sometimes find themselves in life-threatening situations. Their work is often only celebrated when an arrest is made or an operation succeeds, but today is a reminder that every day that a ranger walks through the forest, and wildlife is protected for future generations because of their presence, is a valiant day’s work that deserves to be acknowledged. Rangers of Nouabale-Ndoki, and Congo, we salute you.