Nations across the world are working to expand their protected areas to include 30% of Earth's land and water by 2030. In Africa, this would encompass an additional 1 million square miles.

Mongabay's Ashoka Mukpo recently traveled to three nations to assess the current state of conservation practices in key protected areas, to get a better picture of what an expansion might look like, and how the crucial role of rangers in enforcing their protection is evolving. While there, he traveled with passionate and dedicated rangers, but also documented allegations of ranger involvement in violent incidents in Queen Elizabeth National Park in Uganda.

He joins the podcast to describe the situation, which he says is commonplace in national parks across the continent.

"The amount [of] violence and aggressive enforcement that is, I think, generally associated with wildlife rangers has led to a lot of mistrust, a lot of alienation, and a real sense that 'the purpose of these people is to kind of harass and impose a system that doesn't include us, on us,'" Mukpo says.

Read more here:

'Killed while poaching': When wildlife enforcement blurs into violence

'Like you, I fear the demise of the elephants'

Image Credit: Lion inside Queen Elizabeth National Park. Photo by Ashoka Mukpo for Mongabay.

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Timestamps

(00:00) Introduction

(01:27) National parks, human rights and 30x30

(04:15) Allegations of violence in Queen Elizabeth Park\

(09:48) How did we get here?

(13:26) Tension between communities and rangers

(18:05) Signs of collaboration

(21:27) The economics of Queen Elizabeth Park

(24:16) Local people cut out from revenue

(26:31) The bigger picture

(30:28) Credits