Without rangers, conservation areas can be destroyed by illegal activities like poaching or logging. What are these neglected areas called?

Rangers play many roles in protecting nature. They're ecosystem managers, community stewards, and law enforcement. Their work helps mitigate climate change and disease, reduce human–wildlife conflict, advance conservation research, and prevent the loss of biodiversity, species, and ecosystems.

Without rangers, conservation areas can be destroyed by illegal activities like poaching or logging. Such neglected areas are known as “paper parks”: legally designated protected areas that lack the funding, management, and enforcement needed to protect their wildlife and the ecosystems that millions of people depend on.

Conservation areas are critical to wildlife and people—but they are only as effective as the professionals who help manage them.

Learn about why rangers are sometimes overlooked.