The IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas International Ranger Award recognise and celebrate Protected Area rangers and their vital and often challenging work, and advocate for support and improvement of working conditions in order to accelerate nature conservation. Since 2021, 59 awards have been presented to teams and individuals from 32 countries, totalling a value of $480,000 in the last three cycles.
Nominations for the 2025 awards, which will be presented at the IUCN World Conservation Congress in October 2025, are open until January 31, 2025. Find out more about the awards and how to nominate an inspiring ranger or ranger teams deserving recognition from your organisation or area or to support the awards in other ways.
The awards are hosted by the IUCN and the IUCN World Commission on Protected Areas, in collaboration with the International Ranger Federation, Conservation Allies, Universal Ranger Support Alliance, and IUCN-US.
Meet some past awardees to learn about their work and accomplishments.
Anety Milimo, a ranger at Mosi Oa Tunya National Park in Zambia, was awarded an International Ranger Award for her work in 2021.
For more than 15 years, Anety has shown exceptional courage and leadership in the face of physical danger on patrols to prevent poaching and wildlife crime.
Anety has also dedicated herself to helping local people secure rights to use natural resources, to develop sustainable livelihoods, and to reduce conflicts with wildlife. She is respected among both her fellow rangers and the communities she works with and has become a role model for young female rangers.
Learn about Anety’s work starting at the 25-minute mark of this video.
Her achievements and leadership have made a major contribution to increasing wildlife numbers, reducing illegal fires, attracting support for local community development, helping former poachers become game scouts, and building good relations between the National Park authority and local people.
“The sacrifice of rangers cannot be [equated] to anything, because very few people understand how much these people sacrifice their lives to protect natural resources,” Milimo told journalist Katie Dancey-Downs for an article in IUCN’s Unite for Nature magazine. She noted that a lack of training in new technology also hinders her work “Rangers’ lives are always at risk, but no proper care is put towards them,” she adds.
As part of the award, Anety received US$10,000, which she used to support to orphans of deceased Rangers, remove invasive species and purchase some research office equipment.
“First and foremost, the award was my dream come true because in my journey as a ranger, I have buried a lot of my fellow rangers who have died on duty,” she noted in a follow up report after receiving the award.
“All the rangers that died were bread winners and their passing meant that their family affairs came to a standstill. Children dropped out school and lost direction. It was my dream that one day those children will smile again because they will be able to get back in school and also have food on the table.”