Community Centered Conservation
Inclusion of human land uses is essential to effective conservation planning. Human land use not only triggers environmental impacts that must be taken into account but also drives an understanding of the important local needs met by the surrounding ecosystems. The resulting insights uncover the value of conservation to sustain and enhance livelihoods in local communities.
Local communities are the stewards of their environment and their participation is essential to mapping and monitoring the natural resources on their village lands. The Jane Goodall Institute's (JGI) community-based conservation approach is designed to empower local stewards in ways that benefit communities, as well as the environment that surrounds them. JGI has become a pioneer and leader in this emerging field as a result of our rapid adoption of new technologies to support community forest monitoring.
Dr. Lilian Pintea, the Jane Goodall Institute’s (JGI) vice president of Conservation Science, recently reported from Goma, the Democratic Republic of the Congo (DRC), where JGI is leading a workshop. The Conservation Action Plan (CAP) workshop is the first in a series of meetings planned to identify strategies and actions to reduce the threats to great apes and their habitat in a critical landscape of the eastern DRC. The CAP will target more than 66 million acres, which contain more than 15,000 chimpanzees and possibly 2,000 gorillas.
A new, 4-year grant from the U.S. Agency for International Development (USAID) will allow JGI and its partners to expand community-centered conservation programs in western Tanzania, a region rich in biodiversity, including critical populations of chimpanzees. Our partners include the Tanzanian district councils of Kigoma and Mpanda, The Nature Conservancy and the Frankfurt Zoological Society.
Shortly before Thanksgiving, Jane was in Spain for several days to promote the work of the Jane Goodall Institute - Spain and Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots program. In between speeches and events, Jane made time to visit the Universidad Pablo de Olavide in Seville (named after the Spanish-Peruvian politician) to receive an honorary degree.
If you are noticing Jane everywhere these days it is not only because she travels over 300 days a year around the world. Even though she is on a perpetual world tour, Jane is in places where you might least expect her - including on a special poster featured in bus stops and billboards around the United States!
Last Friday Jane made a quick stop in Washington, DC to visit the U.S. Department of the Interior and give a lecture to department employees and other invited guests. Secretary Ken Salazar was a gracious host to Jane as she spoke to a packed auditorium of 700 people. In her remarks Jane said, "I am pleased to be speaking to so many people who have an impact on policy not just in Washington but around the world."
Jane traveled to Seattle, Washington on September 12th to visit Theo Chocolate company, maker of chocolate bars that have Jane's "Good for All" seal of approval. While there, Jane not only spoke about her new book, Hope for Animals and Their World, but also got a behind-the-scenes view of Theo's chocolate-making process. (You can pick up a bar of the delicious Theo Jane Goodall chocolate in our online store in time for Halloween!)
Learn about JGI's work in Africa and around the world: chimpanzee behavioral research at Gombe National Park in Tanzania, our Tchimpounga sanctuary for chimp orphans, our work with communities to promote sustainable livelihoods, and our global youth program, Jane Goodall's Roots & Shoots.