A Conversation with Jane Goodall
One of the planet's most celebrated conservationists talks about the challenges, rewards and passions that propel her life.
Jane Goodall is one of the planet’s treasures. Her landmark work at the Gombe Stream Chimpanzee Reserve has redefined the relationship between humans and animals. Through the Jane Goodall Institute, established in 1977, she has been a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats and, more broadly, to establish innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa and around the world. She has written numerous books, been the subject of many TV documentaries and large-screen films, and won scores of prestigious honors, including the Kyoto Prize, UNESCO’s Gold Medal Award, Dame of the British Empire, the French Legion of Honor, the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence, and the UN Messenger of Peace. In short, she is a legendary figure who has had an enormous -- and enormously positive -- impact on the world. We are honored and exhilarated to present this in-depth interview with her.
DG: Why did you found the Jane Goodall Institute and what are the biggest challenges facing you and your organization today?
JG: I founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to continue and expand the chimpanzee behavioral research that I began in 1960 under famed anthropologist Dr. Louis Leakey. Today, I’m proud to tell you that the Institute is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. It also is widely recognized for establishing an innovative community-centered conservation and development program (TACARE – Take Care) in Africa, and the Roots & Shoots global environmental and humanitarian youth program, which has groups in more than 100 countries.
As for challenges, we are continually faced with misunderstandings about the state of the chimpanzees. I travel approximately 300 days a year and am constantly amazed by how many people are still unaware of the extent to which all great apes – including chimpanzees – are endangered. Because many people see chimpanzees and other great apes in entertainment, there is a misperception about their well-being. In fact, the remaining populations are very fragile. For example, an outbreak of Ebola in the Congo Basin resulted in the loss of an estimated 90 percent of one gorilla population. With the combined threats of habitat loss, commercial-scale bushmeat hunting, disease and lack of protection, the future for great apes in this generation is in jeopardy — and too few resources are currently available for governments and conservation organizations like ours to overcome these challenges.
Over the period that you have been working with chimpanzees, how has the state of chimpanzees—both in the areas where you were working and in other areas—evolved?
Around the turn of the last century, there were an estimated one to two million chimpanzees living in the African forests. Today, there are fewer than 300,000 worldwide. The largest threats to chimpanzees are the loss of habitat and the commercial bushmeat trade — that is the large-scale hunting of wild animals for sale as meat. Right now, the chimpanzees of Gombe National Park in Tanzania are isolated on a narrow stretch of intact forest. Outside this island, the forests have been nearly eliminated and the land is being used in unsustainable ways for agriculture and as living space for an exploding human population.
But this is changing.
The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which I founded in 1977, has several programs in Africa that address this loss of habitat. These include TACARE — our community-centered conservation and development program — which began in 1994. TACARE seeks to address the rapid degradation of natural resources in the area by focusing on community socio-economic development and offering training and education in sustainable natural resource management. Working in 24 villages, TACARE offers information on sustainable farming methods and hybrid higher-yield crops. Through its forestry initiative, TACARE has created more than 100 tree nurseries, provided more than 750,000 trees and restored habitats around the park. In addition, TACARE has helped villages establish their own small loan (microfinance) programs and provides scholarships for girls, and family planning and HIV/AIDS education. These are Tanzanian programs run by local people and they work! In fact, we have been able to expand the program to the entire greater Gombe ecosystem and to a much larger ecosystem to the south of Gombe. We have engaged these communities in broad-scale land-use planning, sharing with them information we have developed using cutting-edge satellite technology. The people living around Gombe need the forest — to protect the watershed among other things — and regenerating the forest is beneficial to addressing climate change. And while the programs aimed at education, clean water, sanitation and so forth enable villagers to regenerate the forest, they also create more stable and healthy communities on a continent that has seen too much civil unrest and the transmission of infectious diseases. Needless to say, we’re really proud of our comprehensive approach to conservation and are replicating the TACARE model in other parts of Africa.
In 1999, we also created an 18,000-acre reserve alongside Tchimpounga, our 65-acre sanctuary site in the Republic of Congo. In addition to setting aside crucial land for habitat, our program includes an educational component to raise residents’ environmental awareness. We also employ local eco-guards to protect the area against poachers. We have found that if we address poverty and improve the lives of people residing in and around chimpanzee habitats in an environmentally sustainable way, we can better protect and preserve the remaining forests and their inhabitants, including humans and chimpanzees.
Over the course of your career, you have shifted your attention and efforts from an original focus intensely on chimpanzees to a focus on larger issues of which chimpanzees are a part. What precipitated that change?
In 1986, my life changed when I attended a conference in Chicago that brought together the community of field researchers who were studying chimpanzees. One session was devoted to conservation. Habitat destruction and hunting had increased everywhere and chimpanzees were threatened with extinction in many parts of their range. Another session discussed the often cruel treatment of chimpanzees used in entertainment and medical research laboratories. I arrived at the conference as a scientist. I left as an activist. I felt that the chimpanzees of Gombe had given me so much, and it was time to pay something back. I had a new mission, which has led to my spending approximately 300 days a year on the road advocating the way to a healthier future for the Earth. I talk about the social and environmental problems that face our planet including its great ape populations. In particular, I reach out to young people, trying to capture their hearts and minds, devoting much time and energy to developing Roots & Shoots, the global humanitarian and environmental youth program I founded in 1991. Roots & Shoots involves young people in 100 countries in projects that show care and concern for people, animals and the environment.
“Environmental sustainability” implies a complicated balancing of forces. What do you see as the main issues around environmental sustainability in Africa and in the world as a whole today?
There are many disturbing things in the world today that affect our ability to achieve environmental sustainability. Our passion for unlimited economic development is causing sometimes catastrophic harm to the environment; the way in which we treat animals — both those living in the wild and in captivity — is often cruel; and while millions and millions of people around the world live in crippling poverty, the lifestyle of so many of us is unsustainable, placing unrealistic demands on non-renewable natural resources. Collectively, for example, our reckless use of fossil fuels has led to huge concentrations of the greenhouse gases that, in turn, have led to global climate change. Competition for this finite supply of oil has led to war. Our utterly irresponsible use of agricultural and industrial chemicals has poisoned huge areas of land, water and air and is making more and more people and animals around the world sick. Unrealistic demands on water have resulted in a looming water crisis worldwide.
What role does and can tourism play in this larger picture?
One of the Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI) primary strategies for community-centered conservation is to support the development of alternative livelihood activities for populations around threatened areas. These groups are typically engaged in subsistence agriculture using traditional techniques that, coupled with increasing numbers of people, lead to erosion, deforestation and the general degradation of the landscape. Given the natural beauty of these landscapes, and the presence of endangered and fascinating species like great apes, the promotion of ecotourism has enormous potential to create new income-generating opportunities for rural populations while supporting JGI’s conservation goals. Ecotourism has been defined as “responsible travel to natural areas that conserves the environment and improves the well-being of local people.” While JGI has implemented some promising initiatives in this area, it will require significantly more resources and effort in order to achieve the maximum benefit for the people, wildlife and habitats where we work.
JGI’s flagship community-centered conservation initiative, the Greater Gombe Ecosystem Program, has supported the creation of a regional community-based organization involving village representatives and local and regional government officials acting as an umbrella for coordinating ecotourism activities. In Uganda, JGI has been deeply involved in fostering the development of a number of successful ecotourism initiatives, including the Ngamba Island Chimpanzee Sanctuary, habituated chimpanzee viewing sites at Kibale and Kaniyo-Pabidi, and education centers, visitor lodges and cafes in key forest locations. These initiatives have been supported by the U.S. Agency for International Development, the Disney Wildlife Conservation Fund, global JGI affiliates, and other donors, and have significantly increased local incomes due to tourism, while educating both local residents and visitors about vital conservation issues
Are you optimistic or pessimistic about the planet at this point?
We have to be optimistic if we want a better place for future generations. Past generations have wasted the Earth’s resources, stealing from today’s youth. But as humans, we have the ability to right past wrongs and accomplish so much. Our amazing brain has created modern technology, much of which has greatly benefited millions of people all over the world. Using the right amounts of head and heart, I have absolute faith that working together we can save threatened species, the planet and, ultimately, ourselves—but only if we each become involved and each play our part in making this a better world. And we must act now, before it is too late.
I have hope in people. In particular, I have hope in the tremendous energy, enthusiasm and commitment of young people around the world. With the Roots & Shoots program, we have already inspired more than 100,000 young people in more than 100 countries to effect positive change in their communities. I also have hope in the resilience of nature, when given a chance and, finally, in the indomitable human spirit.
What are you especially passionate about now?
My main passion right now is developing the program I just mentioned, Roots & Shoots, which I founded in 1991 with a group of 16 students from nine local high schools in Dar es Salaam, Tanzania. I had been giving talks at their schools and I found out that there was no environmental education at that time and that most of them had never seen the animals of Tanzania in the wild. We talked about the environment, about animal suffering—such as the conditions that animals endured in the local markets—and about whether we could change things. This led to the formation of the very first Roots & Shoots group!
Then, as I began to travel to more and more parts of the world, I met so many young people who seemed to have lost hope. They felt that we had compromised their future and that there was nothing that they could do about it. It is indeed true that we have stolen from their future—but there is a great deal we can do to start putting things right. If our young people lose hope, we may as well give up. This is why I feel that growing Roots & Shoots around the world is so important. Once young people roll up their sleeves and become actively involved in service projects, they begin to feel less hopeless.
Today, Roots & Shoots is a global environmental and humanitarian youth program. Roots & Shoots is about making positive change happen—for our communities, for animals and for the environment. With tens of thousands of young people in 100 countries, the Roots & Shoots network connects youth of all ages — preschool through university and beyond — who share a desire to create a better world. Young people identify problems in their communities and take action. Through service projects, youth-led campaigns and an interactive website, Roots & Shoots members are making a difference across the globe.
Roots & Shoots is a symbolic name. When seeds begin to grow, small roots appear. To find water they can reach down through boulders. To reach the sunlight, the little shoots can break through the crevices of a brick wall. If we imagine that the boulders and walls are all the problems that we humans have inflicted on the planet, then the program is about hope. Hundreds and thousands of young people, the roots and shoots, can break through and can make this a better world for all life.
And R&S is about breaking down the barriers we erect between people of different cultures and countries, as well as between ourselves and the natural world. It promotes peace and harmony around the globe.
As long as there are young people who care, I am confident that the Roots & Shoots program will continue to expand and empower youth to make positive change all over the world.
What would you like your legacy to be?
I believe that through writing and lecturing about chimpanzees, I have helped many people now think about all animals in a different, better way than before. I know this because so many people have told me. I feel very strongly about the way we use and abuse so many animals, often unthinkingly. A legacy of greater compassion for animals would make me happy.
But I care about people too, especially youth. We have compromised their future—stolen so much—and we must help them.
I hope my legacy can be measured in the number of young people to whom I have given hope and empowered to take action to make a better world. That’s why I started Roots & Shoots. Roots & Shoots members are already making a positive difference and know that—every day—they are creating a better world for generations to come.
But it is not only young people who feel hopeless and helpless – many adults do as well. And it is desperately important to inspire them also. Giving people hope is an important part of what I do. People have said after a lecture that “you have made me realize that my life is more important than I thought it was. You have inspired me to do my bit.” This is the best thing anyone could say.
To learn more about the Jane Goodall Institute, please visit www.janegoodall.org.. For information on Roots & Shoots, please go to www.rootsandshoots.org.
