Spending every day in contact with nature sounds perfect, but this profession also has its dangers. “The illegal extraction of heart of palm is a type of organized crime. Employees have already been killed by these people”, says forest ranger Eduardo Lourenço da Silva, responsible for the Xixová-Japui State Park, on the coast of São Paulo. It is good not to confuse this work with that of the forestry police – a branch of the military police. Forest guards are civil servants, linked to state or municipal secretariats for the environment.
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TRAINING
Undergraduate and postgraduate: a university degree is not mandatory, but it is recommended that you take specific courses in the area
Other courses: to be a forest ranger, you just need to have completed elementary school and pass a public tender. But those who want to go deeper can take technical courses offered by entities such as Senac (www.senac.br/guiadeprofissoes)
What is learned: these specialized courses teach first aid, environmental legislation, police and rescue techniques, explanations about ecosystems…
WORK
Occupation area: forest rangers are civil servants who work in the division of forests and state parks, overseeing these areas
Day to day: there is no fixed routine. One day you can serve as a monitor for groups visiting the park. In the other, it may be curbing hunting, predatory fishing and deforestation in the area, even having to face environmental criminals. The bureaucratic part of the thing is the need to make reports about all the daily activities that you perform.
Market situation: there is a lack of professionals in some states, such as São Paulo. The problem is that public tenders to fill these vacancies are not carried out frequently.
What else is worth: the opportunity to work outdoors, in contact with nature, and know that your activity helps to preserve the environment
Why think twice: it is not always very easy to make people aware of the role of each one in environmental conservation
REMUNERATION
Initial salary: around 500 reais
Possible salary after ten years:
it can reach 3,000 reais if you change jobs, such as forest safety technician