Dear European rangers,
Another year is coming to an end, hopefully with a relaxing break for the vast majority of you. Recharging the batteries – that's probably especially necessary this year for those of us who don't even know whether the situation in their region will allow it. Like the family of Ohad Yahalomi, ranger of our member Israel Nature and Parks Authority, that continues to experience the worst: Since October 7, Ohad has been held captive by Hamas, his family knows nothing about his condition. We wish his family every strength and hope with all our hearts with them.
In recent weeks, we have also been thinking particularly of the children, who are most helpless in the face of war. This gave rise to the idea of calling on children of rangers and junior rangers to write letters to these children. More than 40 letters and pictures came in! From entire school classes contacted by rangers from Portugal and Germany, but also from children of ranger families in Spain. We are very sure that this is a beautiful ray of light and have sent all the beautiful pictures and letters to the two regions we are in contact with: Ukraine and Israel. Huge thanks to the children and and their adult helpers!
And there were even more bright spots in December: the closing ceremony of our "Volunteering is in my Nature" photo competition kicked off the month with the celebration of volunteering in conservation, exciting presentations by wildlife photographers and filmmakers and a lively discussion about the drive to volunteer.
We took a look at the rangers in Macedonia, who will soon have their own ranger association – and we hopefully a new member! –, and joined Kate and Charlie, two British rangers travelling the world as volunteers, on their journey in Europe working and exchanging with rangers.
Speaking of exchange: another twinning pair, the Rangers from Denmark and Finland, is presenting its twinning partnership. And our Project Officer Adam continues our series of Ranger Stories. Join us with your ranger story to show the whole picture of how rangers work for planetary health!
For now, we wish you all a wonderful end to the year with time to take a break, a wonderful Christmas for all who celebrate it, and a happy new year!
Urs Reif, President of the ERF
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