Let us celebrate together with the Park rangers on this World Rangers Day July 31^st 2024

The Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration (GVTC) we see today is a testament to the unwavering dedication and perseverance of the valiant rangers in the Virunga Massif. Their hard and laborious work, which started informally in the 90s, has borne fruit in the form of this remarkable collaboration.

A story behind this great achievement, no matter who contributed or who took it forward, but the initiative started from the grassroots, with the park rangers who were in charge of monitoring Mountain gorillas ( the emblematic species only found in the Virunga massif and Bwindi in the entire world.

The courageous park rangers, despite being limited by international regulations and boundaries within a troubled environment of insecurity, continued their mission. The mountain gorillas, on the other hand, considered the entire landscape as one and unique home, crossing freely from one country to another. The rangers, however, could not cross these boundaries, unlike the gorillas who did so without any passport requirements.

It is in that perspective that informally they started informal collaboration in the forest, where rangers from the three countries in the Virunga massif, would communicate between themselves to locate the whereabouts of mountain groups from their jurisdiction.

That initiative was reported to their superiors, who recognised the importance of that collaboration and decided to take it to the next level.

The Protected Areas authorities decided then to sign the MoU of collaboration, the MoU on sharing revenue from the Transboundary Mountain gorillas. This was a significant step, but they didn't stop there. They continued to push the initiative forward until the Treaty was signed in 2015, a momentous event in the history of transboundary conservation. This achievement is a source of pride for all involved in the GVTC.

Below are key dates in the development of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration within the Greater Virunga Landscape:

1. The transboundary collaboration (TC) started in 1991 from the bottom as an informal collaboration process between the rangers, wardens, and was later taken one step up, to the level of the Protected Areas Authorities (PAAs) : ICCN, ORTPN, UWA through an MoU on the Collaborative Conservation of the transboundary Protected A reas Network  within the Central Arbertine Rift,  signed in Goma, DRC on 9th January 2004;
2. Ministerial Tripartite Declaration on the TC for the management of natural resources of the PA Network of the Central Albertine Region on 14 October 2005 in Goma, DRC;
3. Protocol on the tourism revenue sharing for the transboundary gorilla groups, signed in 2006 in Kigali, Rwanda;
4.  Endorsement of the 1st Ten-Year Transboundary Strategic Plan in 2007, in Kampala, Uganda
5. Rubavu Ministerial Declaration for the TC for Greater Virunga on 15 July 2008;
6. Establishment of the GVTC Executive Secretariate in Kigali in 2008;
7. Interministerial meeting on the formal recognition of GVTC as an institution for the transboundary collaboration within the GVL, on 6 February 2009 in Kigali;
8. First consultation on the Draft GVTC Treaty  by experts from the three countries held in Kigali in 2010;
9. GVTC Head Quarters Agreement signed in Kigali in December 2013: acquisition of the GVTC – ES status of an Intergovernmental Organisation;
10. Endorsement of Reviewed Transboundary Strategic Plan 2013-2018 on 27 March 2014, in Kigali;
11. Tripartite Collaboration Protocol signed between GVTC, CIRGL, and CEPGL signed in April 2014 in Rubavu, Rwanda;
12. GVTC as a member of CBFP, under the US facilitation, in September 2014 in Brazzaville, Congo;
13. Establish a collaboration mechanism with CITES / International Consortium on Combating Wildlife Crime (ICCWC), October 2014.
14. Partnership Protocol signed between GVTC and Clemson University (US) October 2014
15. Second and third consultations on the Draft  GVTC Treaty by the experts from the three countries, held in Kigali, respectively on 19-21 March 2015  and 13-14 May 2015 for the harmonisation of the text of the Treaty.
16. GVTC has the observer status to the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), and  to the UN Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC).
17. Funding agreement  2015-2018 between GVTC and the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the Netherlands Embassy of Kigali
18. GVTC Treaty signing in Kinshasa on September 22, 2015. Two Partner States ( Rwanda and DRC have signed)
19. The last signatory of the Treaty, signed in Kampala on 30 October 2015 and the Treaty was now fully signed reason why 30^th October 2015 is considered as the date of the signature of this GVTC Treaty.
20. The Council of Ministers of GVTC took place in Kigali on 5^th April 2018. This meeting decided that the provision of the GVTC Treaty as signed on 30^th October 2015 will shall guide the operations of the Greater Virunga Transboundary Collaboration until the Treaty is fully ratified
21. The Extraordinary meeting of the GVTC Council of Ministers has taken place in Kigali on 27 November 2018. This meeting has decided the financial contribution of the GVTC Partner States to the running cost of GVTC Secretariat effective January 2019.
22. On 24^th November 2020,  between GVTC and the Kingdom of the Netherlands through the Netherlands Embassy of Kigali, a 4-year program called Conserving Greater Virunga was signed. This program is running from Dec 2020 till Dec 2024.

On this world Rangers day, as we celebrate the role of rangers in Greater Virunga Landscape conservation, Get involved, to uphold their legacy.

Juvenal Mukeshimana

GVTC Program Assistant