Forest rangers, the unsung foot-soldiers, are the guardians of our planet’s most precious natural assets. Without them, our efforts to protect wildlife are a lost cause. A survey carried out by World Wildlife Fund regarding ranger perceptions (Singh & Lee, 2016; Singh, 2016) found that many of the wildlife rangers across the world in Africa, Asia and Latin America faced life-threatening situations while on duty, threats by community members related to their work, a poor work/life balance, and face insufficient support and poor recognition of their work from their governments. Hence, as a key preliminary step, improvement in the conditions of employment and offering greater recognition of their work must be implemented, especially in the developing world.
© Sanjay Gubbi
Karnataka, the southern Indian state, today hosts of over 15 percent of its land cover protected under multiple-use forest called reserved forests, and protected areas comprising of conservation reserves, wildlife sanctuaries, national parks and tiger reserves. Of this, over five percent is designated as protected areas. Over 2,500 personnel are employed by the Karnataka Forest Department in these protected areas as forest watchers, guards, deputy range forest officers and range forest officers, together called as the frontline staff or wildlife rangers. This is in addition to the several hundred staffs who are employed on a need basis for short periods.
These frontline staff employed by the state forest department, during their daily duty face several hardships including and not restricted to - living in remote areas, harsh weather and difficult terrain, bear the brunt of antagonism from local people during wildlife conflict situations, face threats from smugglers and poachers, a risk to life from wildlife encounters and other similar quarters. They also stay away from their families for several weeks at a stretch. Though they are the cornerstones of conservation of tiger, elephant and other charismatic wildlife species, they are still a neglected lot.
Sanjay Gubbi as Member of the State Board for Wildlife had proposed to the state government of Karnataka that an additional financial benefit should be paid to the frontline staff working in the protected areas in the state due to the various hardships they face while on duty. An additional pay as recognition of their gruelling working conditions and their commitment towards protecting and conserving wildlife can serve as positive re-enforcement in their line of work and boost their morale considerably.
After a follow-up of over seven years spanning over six state wildlife board meetings, convincing four Chief Ministers of the state, political leaders and government officials; a proposal initiated in March 2009 has finally been approved by the government. A government order passed in June 2016 has mandated that all permanent frontline line staff working in the protected areas of the state, in addition to their regular salaries, must be provided with a hardship allowance. An amount varying from USD ~53 to ~30 is now to be paid to all the frontline staff as ‘wildlife allowance’ on a monthly basis and comes into effect from June 2016. Though the amount may look small, it is very useful for the frontline staff.
This is a first of its kind initiative in the country and is a sustainable initiative as it is built into the governmental system rather than support from outside agencies that could vary as per availability of resources. A previous allowance by the federal government through the National Tiger Conservation Authority had allocated an additional allowance of USD ~12, but only to the staff working in tiger reserves.
Similar initiatives could be taken up in other states within India, and in the developing world that has similar working conditions and benefits like India for frontline staff of protected areas.
