“We Are Now the Rangers”, Declare Women to Save Trees

Half a dozen women in the Solomon Islands have become self-appointed forest rangers near the village of Igwa, taking it upon themselves to tackle the prevalent logging issues that have aggressively cleared large stretches of land to date.

The nation’s logging industry is loosely regulated, so, determined to save their land from suffering from irreparable water contamination and deforestation, the Igwa women built a hut near a major logging encampment to monitor and limit loggers’ movements.

“This was our ancestors’ land,” says Florence Arukwai, a member of the group. “If we weren’t here, the loggers would destroy it all.”

The group of women plan to stay in the area, machetes in hand, as long as the logging company called Ngu Brothers does, while working on urging the government to declare the land a formal conservation area.