Preserving, Restoring the Environment
The Jane Goodall Institute TACARE (Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education) community-centered conservation projects preserve and restore the environment while giving hope to thousands of families through initiatives that improve health care, promote economic growth and support sustainable livelihoods. TACARE’s participatory approach makes local involvement and control integral.
The Greater Gombe Ecosystem Program, launched in 2005, is an outgrowth of TACARE’s success. In this ambitious undertaking, JGI and partners use sophisticated GIS mapping to plan land use with local communities, including earmarking for regeneration forest that has been destroyed by human activity.
Also in 2005, JGI expanded the TACARE model to underserved areas of eastern Congo, working with the Dian Fossey Gorilla Fund International. JGI has also branched out to Western Africa. In critical parts of Guinea and Sierra Leone, the Institute is undertaking an awareness campaign about the plight of chimpanzees and working to strengthen the capacity of local and regional governments to conserve chimpanzees and habitat.
TACARE: Women tend tree seedlings at a TACARE tree nursery in Kigoma, Tanzania. © Kristin Mosher