Author; Filmmaker; Primatologist; Ethologist; Anthropologist; UN Messenger Of Peace; Founder, Jane Goodall Institute
Hailed as the world’s most important conservationist and animal welfare activist, Jane Goodall continues to amaze and educate audiences across the globe with her triumphant and touching story. As the foremost expert on chimpanzees, Goodall is most famous for her 45-year study of the social and familial interactions of wild chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, Tanzania. She was the first and only human to ever be accepted into chimpanzee society.
What separates us from chimpanzees?
Jane Goodall, UN Messenger of Peace on International Day of Peace
Helping humans and animals live together
More than 50 years ago, a young Jane Goodall first set foot in what is today Tanzania’s Gombe National Park. Little did she know at the time that she was about to embark on a groundbreaking chimpanzee behavioral study that would rock the scientific community and redefine our understanding of animals and, ultimately, ourselves. Likewise, she probably never imaged that she would one day leave Gombe and begin a quest to empower others to make the world a better place for people, animals, and the environment we all share.
In her speech, Sowing the Seeds of Hope, Dr. Goodall will first bring her audience into the world of the Gombe chimpanzees – from her early observations and experiences to the latest news and stories from the field.
Dr. Goodall will also share information about the work of the Jane Goodall Institute, which continues her pioneering research and celebrates its 41st anniversary this year. Today, the Institute is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. It also is widely recognized for establishing innovative community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots, the Institute’s global environmental and humanitarian youth program.
In Sowing the Seeds of Hope, Dr. Goodall will provide insight into the person behind the globetrotting international icon: a UN Messenger of Peace, Dame of the British Empire, and the subject of countless articles and television programs around the world. She will also discuss the current threats facing the planet and her reasons for hope in these complex times, encouraging everyone in the audience to do their part to make a positive difference each and every day.
In July 1960, at the age of 26, Jane Goodall traveled from England to what is now Tanzania and ventured into the little-known world of wild chimpanzees. Equipped with little more than a notebook, binoculars, and her fascination with wildlife, Jane Goodall braved a realm of unknowns to give the world a remarkable window into humankind’s closest living relatives. She took an unorthodox approach in her field research, immersing herself in their habitat and their lives to experience their complex society as a neighbor rather than a distant observer and coming to understand them not only as a species, but also as individuals with emotions and long-term bonds. Dr. Jane Goodall’s discovery in 1960 that chimpanzees make and use tools is considered one of the greatest achievements of twentieth-century scholarship. Her field research at Gombe transformed our understanding of chimpanzees and redefined the relationship between humans and animals in ways that continue to emanate around the world.
On the path to becoming the world’s leading primatologist, Dr. Jane Goodall redefined traditional conservation. In 1977, she founded the Jane Goodall Institute to support the research in Gombe and scale up the protection of chimpanzees in their habitats. In the late 1980s, it became clear that Gombe was only part of the solution to a much bigger, rapidly growing problem of deforestation and declining chimpanzee populations across Africa. Knowing that local communities are key to protecting chimpanzees, she redefined traditional conservation with an approach that recognizes the central role people play in the well-being of animals and habitat. In 1991, when a group of young people confided their own deep concerns, she invited them to co-found Roots & Shoots, a program at work with young people in 100 countries to foster the informed generation of conservation leaders our world so urgently needs.
Today, Dr. Jane Goodall travels around the world, writing, speaking and spreading hope through action, encouraging each of us to “use the gift of our life to make the world a better place. “As a conservationist, humanitarian and crusader for the ethical treatment of animals, she is a global force for compassion and a UN Messenger of Peace.
Every day, Dr. Jane Goodall exemplifies the difference one person can make. Over the years, her groundbreaking research at Gombe has attracted many women, who were nearly absent from the field of primatology when she began. Today, women lead the field of long-term primate behavioral studies around the world. She also inspires hundreds of thousands of young people to take action in their own lives and communities through the Roots & Shoots youth program. Now 100 countries strong and growing, Roots & Shoots is an unprecedented multiplying force in conservation, giving young people the knowledge and confidence to act on their beliefs and make a difference by being part of something bigger than themselves.
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