During her earlier fieldwork, Goodall recognized that lifting people out of poverty was integral to preserving the national park’s biodiversity. So she initiated the Tacare program, which offers microloans to start sustainable businesses, scholarships for girls who previously couldn’t finish high school, and family planning counseling. In addition, farmers receive advice on chemical-free, sustainable farming practices like permaculture.
“I understood that the reason people were cutting down trees was because people were struggling to survive,” the scientist recalls. “Their families were growing and they couldn’t afford to buy food elsewhere. Their own farmlands were infertile because of overuse. So they cut down trees, either to get land, to grow food, or to make money from charcoal or wood.”
Only when individuals secure their own livelihoods are they willing to face the repercussions of their actions and address their impact on the environment. This change in behavior is apparent in villages surrounding the national park, where up-to-date technologies are helping locals. Using a straightforward mobile phone app, villagers can report illegal logging by taking photos of fallen trunks. The initiative, initially launched in 12 Gombe villages, now operates in 104 villages in Tanzania and six other African countries.
By halting deforestation, chimpanzees are no longer forced to live in a restricted territory cut off from the outside world. They have created corridors through which they can move freely and interact with other groups, promoting genetic exchange. Today, the chimpanzees of Gombe are connected to their counterparts in neighboring Burundi and have a better chance of survival.
A little further north, in Uganda, Goodall tells us, there is a farmer involved in Jane Goodall’s program. His main source of income is growing sugar cane. But his farming activities have attracted the attention of chimpanzees, whose habitats and food sources are being reduced by agriculture. In response, he has decided to set aside some of his land near the rainforest surrounding his farm to grow crops that chimpanzees prefer. That way, the chimpanzees would have less incentive to raid his sugar cane fields.
“Local people now understand that conservation benefits both wildlife and their own future,” says the primatologist. Goodall is a staunch advocate for the transformative power of grassroots efforts to protect the planet’s biodiversity and ensure a sustainable future for all.
She shares a cascade of uplifting examples of environmental concern that paint a picture of humanity’s progress in protecting nature. But Goodall tempers that optimism with a sobering reality check. “Take the United States. Biden has reinstated a lot of regulations to protect wildlife. Trump has bragged that if he comes back, he’ll open up national parks to logging and mining. I mean, he really brags about that,” she says.
In Africa, China is becoming increasingly busy, investing in the rapid construction of roads, dams and mineral extraction at the expense of the environment and space for wildlife.
“Funnily enough, China is the leader in solar energy. They’re very passionate about protecting their own environment now,” Goodall says. “We can always blame China, but what they’re doing is protecting their own environment and getting all the materials they need by damaging other environments. But that’s what colonial powers did, and that’s what big business still does. America gets its raw materials by mining other countries, developing countries.”