. A golden rule to protect yourself from

Sumini, a leader of a female ranger group, uses a machete to clear the way during a forest patrol in Damaran Baru, Aceh province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)Sumini began working with the Forest, Nature and Environment Aceh Foundation to help legally register the patrol group with a social forestry permit — formalized, government-supported permission that allows local communities to manage their forests.

After the permit was processed, the foundation began teaching the rangers-to-be standardized methods of forest conservation, said Farwiza Farhan, chairperson of the foundation. The first training, she said, was learning how to read a map and teaching other standardized methods of forestry, such as recognizing wildlife markings and using GPS.“The way outsiders navigate around the forest is very different than how the local communities do. They know it, but it’s not necessarily translated into a standardized language that we use, like maps and GPS,” said Farhan. “Finding and creating that space where we speak the same language when talking about the forest was key.”Rangers leave for a forest patrol at Damaran Baru, Aceh province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)

Rangers leave for a forest patrol at Damaran Baru, Aceh province, Indonesia, Tuesday, May 7, 2024. (AP Photo/Dita Alangkara)In January 2020, the group had their first official patrol. Since then, their monthly treks through the jungle have include mapping and monitoring tree coverage, cataloguing endemic plants and working with farmers to replant trees. They periodically measure individual trees and mark their locations, tagging them with ribbons warning against cutting them. When they spot someone in the forest, they remind them of the jungle’s importance for their village and give them seeds to plant.

Sumini says the low-key tactics the women use, rather than brusque confrontation, have been effective in getting people to change their habits. They carry no weapons, apart from large blades they use to cut their way through the forest when needed, but expressed little fear for their own safety. Violence in the jungle is almost unheard of, and the rangers typically outnumber those they meet. The women don’t have the power to arrest people, but can report them to authorities.

Even before the forest patrols started, some women in the group were already trying their gentle diplomacy at home.Dorjey now lives with his wife, two daughters and a son in Kharnakling, where scores of other nomadic families from his native village have also settled in the last two decades.

“It was a tough decision,” Dorjey said recently, sitting on the veranda at his home. “But I did not have much choice.”EDITOR’S NOTE: This story is part of an ongoing series exploring the lives of people around the world who have been forced to move because of rising seas, drought, searing temperatures and other things caused or exacerbated by climate change.

Konchok Dorjey walks toward a room in his home where his daughter Rigzen Angmo reads in Kharnakling near Leh town in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)Konchok Dorjey walks toward a room in his home where his daughter Rigzen Angmo reads in Kharnakling near Leh town in the cold desert region of Ladakh, India, Friday, Sept. 16, 2022. (AP Photo/Mukhtar Khan)