Community-based rangers – an effective approach to tackling illegal wildlife trade?
This webinar on 30 March 2021 showcased examples of community-based rangers in anti-poaching initiatives and discuss successes and challenges of this approach to tackling illegal wildlife trade.

Local scout looks out over Lake Natron, Tanzania (Photo: Olivia Wilson-Holt/IIED)
The webinar was part of the IIED and the IUCN SULi Learning and Action Platform on Communities and Illegal Wildlife Trade (LeAP) project funded by the UK Illegal Wildlife Trade Challenge Fund.
LeAP, which includes the People not Poaching web portal, aims to build a global evidence base and awareness, and promote knowledge-sharing about community approaches to reducing illegal wildlife trade.
The webinar discussed examples where community-based rangers are employed by or volunteer for anti-poaching efforts, highlighting successes, challenges and opportunities to this approach to tackling illegal wildlife trade.
Programme
Introductions
People not Poaching case study examples of community-based rangers, including:
- Community-led patrols to protect forests in Cambodia
- All-women canine handler units in Zambia, and
- Community rangers working in partnership with formal law enforcement agencies in Indonesia
Panel discussion on challenges and opportunities to supporting community-based rangers. This section included representatives from Tusk Trust, WWF and Save the Rhino Trust Namibia
Question-and-answer session with participants.
IIED events newsletter
Sign up to our mailing list for updates and invitations to events throughout the year, including webinars, critical themes and debriefs.
Contact
Olivia Wilson-Holt (olivia.wilsonholt@iied.org), consultant researcher, IIED’s Natural Resources research group