Africa Programs
Community-Centered Conservation
Our success in protecting habitat for Great Apes in Africa depends on creating programs that are controlled and embraced by the local people. The Jane Goodall Institute's community-centred conservation (CCC) programs in Africa empower villagers to build sustainable livelihoods while promoting regional conservation goals such as reforestation and ending the illegal commercial bushmeat trade. Started around Gombe in 1994, these programs are rapidly expanding to cover many of the areas where JGI is working in Africa, including the Republic of Congo and Uganda.
TACARE
When Dr. Goodall began her famous study of wild chimpanzees at Gombe National Park in 1960, the Park was surrounded by forest on all sides, and the chimps in the study moved freely in and out of the Park boundaries. Today, almost all the surrounding forest is gone, threatening the survival of the chimpanzees and many other species.
In 1994 Dr. Goodall launched the TACARE ("Take Care") program as a direct response to this challenge. The program is designed to address poverty and support sustainable livelihoods in villages around Lake Tanganyika while preventing further loss of forest habitat. The project focuses on community socio-economic development and offers training and education in sustainable natural resource management, agriculture and forestry, as well as addressing community health and education needs. TACARE offers an innovative model of a community-centered conservation approach, which effectively addresses human needs while promoting conservation values.
Gefruda Damian and her family are active participants in the TACARE program, and are working in cooperation with other villagers in a micro credit program that is changing lives. Read Gefruda's story here.
Greater Gombe Ecosystem Project
The TACARE project has now been expanded to a much larger conservation initiative focused around Gombe. The goal of the program is to identify and protect additional chimpanzee habitat in areas outside of the Park by establishing an inter-connected network of forests in the 13 villages adjacent to Gombe.
