About the Wildlife Ranger Challenge: 

COVID-19 has brought tourism revenue to a halt across Africa, threatening the important work and livelihoods of the rangers who protect iconic African wildlife such as elephants, pangolins, rhinos, lions, and more. Ranger teams are now uniting around the Wildlife Ranger Challenge, a running race with one goal: to raise money to support thousands of their fellow rangers. Now is the time to go the extra mile—it’s time to race to support our rangers. Every dollar donated will be matched by the Scheinberg Relief Fund, doubling your generous contribution.

Your contribution will help support 270 rangers and an estimated 2,000 livelihoods in and around the North Luangwa Ecosystem in Zambia.

The role of rangers:

The North Luangwa Ecosystem’s anti-poaching units are composed of government-employed Wildlife Police Officers, and Community Resource Board-employed Community Scouts who are paid through safari tourism revenue derived by the Community Resource Boards. Managed through a central control room at the centre of the park, four-person patrol teams are deployed to conduct foot patrols throughout the North Luangwa Ecosystem, making them critical to the NLE law enforcement strategy. 

The ranger force further comprises the specialised Rhino and Elephant Protection Unit, including the Rhino Monitoring Unit, which are specifically tasked to protect Zambia's only black rhino population and its largest and fastest growing elephant population found in the NLE. These forces are complemented by a highly specialised North Luangwa Canine Unit, which works closely with ten local and regional DNPW Investigations and Intelligence Units to combat illegal wildlife trade

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How your donation will help:

Job security, through the continuation of basic salaries for community scouts, is expected to minimise the negative effects of the loss of all tourism revenue through COVID-19 travel restrictions. Critically, by maintaining monthly income to the scouts, it sends a strong message to their immediate and extended families and wider communities that wildlife and its protection are the bedrock of rural livelihoods. It is estimated that for every employed officer, he orshe supports at least 10 family and community members; maintaining an income will help support rural economies where other cash income has all but disappeared. Additional funding will help pay community scout salaries following the loss of income to the CRB.

Effects of the pandemic:

The current COVID-19 pandemic and the associated suspension of all international travel has had a deep impact on tourism activities and poses an immediate and immense challenge to already marginalised communities. Without tourism income the CRBs cannot pay CS salaries, resulting in a potentially toxic combination of unpaid, disgruntled and frustrated staff who are trained, equipped, and armed. This could negatively impact the security of the NLE, resulting in a reduced enforcement effort, exacerbated further as the cash income of local communities declines. An anticipated COVID-19-related rise of poaching levels in the NLE will have significant negative impacts not only on local wildlife population sizes but also disruption of landscape-scale connectivity, which is key to long-term conservation of wide-roaming species, such as African elephants, wild dogs, and lions.

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Tusk is registered with JustGiving in the UK (or GoFundMe.com in the USA). Our online fundraising sites allow you to create a sponsorship form with easy access for your supporters, knowing their money is going directly to Tusk. UK tax-paying donors can enhance their contribution by agreeing to Gift Aid their sponsorship (for every £10 you raise, Tusk will receive another £2.50 from the Government provided you are a UK taxpayer). US supporters wishing to make a tax deductible donation can do so via GoFundMe.com.