South Sudan on Tuesday graduated 50 newly trained wildlife rangers at Badingilo National Park, bolstering efforts to protect one of Africa’s major wildlife landscapes from commercial hunting and trafficking.
The rangers underwent two months of training in tactical skills, weapons handling, law enforcement, discipline and operational readiness, officials said at the graduation ceremony.
The training also focused on professionalism, judgement and restraint in carrying out law enforcement duties.
The graduation comes weeks after the Boma-Badingilo Migratory Landscape was designated South Sudan’s first UNESCO World Heritage Site, giving the area greater international conservation significance.
The landscape hosts one of Africa’s largest wildlife migrations, with millions of antelope moving across its grasslands and wetlands.
Khamise Adiang, director general of South Sudan’s wildlife service, said commercial bushmeat hunting posed a growing threat to wildlife.
“Some will talk about bushmeat in the market. They are killed in thousands … not for their subsistence use, but for commercial,” Adiang said.
“If we want to make it for commercial, they will not survive. They will finish,” he said, warning that population growth could put further pressure on wildlife numbers.
Adiang said conservation should encompass both wildlife and the ecosystems that sustain it.
“When we manage a park like this park, it is a package,” he said. “We don’t manage only animals. We manage animals plus the environment.”
He also stressed the need to involve communities living around protected areas, saying conservation would be difficult to sustain without tangible benefits for local people.
The government should explain to surrounding communities how community conservancies work and how they could benefit from conservation, Adiang said.
“A hungry person doesn’t listen with his ears. He listens with his mouth,” he said.
Tourism could provide one such benefit, he said, pointing to countries where wildlife conservation has helped attract visitors seeking to see animals in their natural habitats.
John Vogel, park manager of Badingilo National Park at African Parks, also warned that the landscape faced threats from the commercial bushmeat trade and wildlife trafficking.
“The uniform does give you authority, but it also gives you a really big responsibility,” Vogel told the graduates, urging them to exercise their authority responsibly and respect communities and human rights.
The 50 rangers were selected from Badingilo park headquarters and surrounding communities and trained by local and international instructors, Chief Park Warden Brigadier General Gadi Jerry Angelo said.
At the ceremony, the rangers were formally sworn in and pledged to carry out their duties under South Sudanese law and the National Wildlife Act.
and then