ENGAGE – LISTEN – UNDERSTAND – ACT

The Jane Goodall Institute’s ‘Tacare’ Approach Puts People at the Heart of Conservation

Photo: Norman Jean Roy


In 1960, Jane Goodall – a 26-year-old British woman with no prior experience – began her groundbreaking studies of wild chimpanzees. Her discovery that chimpanzees make and use tools rocked the scientific world and forever redefined the relationship between humans and the rest of the animal kingdom.  

Photo courtesy of The Jane Goodall Institute

Beyond being a keystone species in their ecosystems, Dr. Goodall showed the world how remarkable and inherently important chimpanzees are. They are our closest living relatives sharing 98.6% of our DNA and many of our behaviors such as compassion and altruism.

For Goodall, her research sparked a lifelong commitment to understand and protect chimpanzees. However, a blissful life in Tanzania's Gombe National Park changed in the early 1990s, as the urgency and importance of conserving chimpanzees became crystal clear in an instant.

She was in a small airplane flying over Gombe. When she looked down, she was shocked by what she saw. Hill after hill had been stripped of its dense blanket of trees; they were completely bare. The home of the precious chimpanzees was disappearing before her eyes.

Aerial oblique photo of deforestation in early 2000’s north of Gombe , courtesy of The Jane Goodall Institute

The land was over farmed and infertile. Local communities had cut down the trees for charcoal or to sell to feed their families. People were struggling to survive. She saw only one solution: efforts to conserve chimpanzees and their habitats must happen through working with and empowering local people - not just as participants, but as leaders and stewards of their lands to achieve a sustainable future. 

"There's no way we can even attempt to save these precious Gombe chimpanzees unless we could improve the lives of the people living in that last little oasis of forest." - Dr. Jane Goodall, DBE, founder of the Jane Goodall Institute & UN Messenger of Peace


91% of chimpanzee range in Tanzania is outside of National Parks

Threats to Chimpanzees in Tanzania

Chimpanzees in Tanzania are threatened by habitat loss, degradation and fragmentation because of human activities like conversion of forests and woodlands to agriculture, settlements, charcoal production and logging. 

Deforestation and human land uses on the village lands outside Gombe National Park  Photo courtesy of: NASA/MAXAR/the Jane Goodall Institute 


Tacare: Blazing the Trail for Community-Centered Conservation

The Lake Tanganyika Catchment Reforestation and Education (TACARE) program was designed as a pilot project to protect chimpanzees outside National Parks by addressing poverty and supporting sustainable livelihoods in villages around Lake Tanganyika. 

Now known as Tacare, it represents  the Jane Goodall Institute ’s (JGI) community-centered conservation approach. The Tacare philosophy is based on the principle that local people are the most connected to and dependent on healthy landscapes and ecosystem services. Tacare also acknowledges that though local people are the most impacted and vulnerable when ecosystem services disappear, they are also the best stewards of their own environment, and that every community member can make a difference every day. Beyond just collaboration, Tacare is about local ownership of the process of human development and managing local environments.


From Paper Plans to Real Landscapes: Local People Monitor Their Forests

Map showing threats reported by JGI trained forest monitors

By combining insights from local people with mobile technology and the Esri Survey-123 app, communities in western Tanzania can turn land-use plans into a reality. 

Village forest monitors are selected by their own village governments and trained by JGI to use Esri technologies to patrol forests and identify wildlife as well as illegal activities and/or threats, which helps enforce land-use and conservation .  

Photo: JGI/Lilian Pintea

Leveraging these tools enables JGI to build local capacity to manage natural resources and protect chimpanzees from threats like disease, illegal logging, climate change, and more.


Kigalye Village: A Tacare Story of Hope

A Network of Protected Areas Supported by JGI

Through the work of JGI and the Tacare approach funded by the USAID, 519,456 hectares of new protected areas were designated at the village and district levels, increasing the overall protection of chimpanzee range in Tanzania from 9% to 40%.

By putting people at the center, local communities can grow sustainable livelihoods as well as manage natural resources and forests to reduce threats to chimpanzees and other biodiversity. When this is paired with family planning and environmental education including JGI’s  Roots & Shoots  program, conservation success can reach new heights.  

When technology and relevant data is in the hands of local people, it allows for transparent and community-driven processes to connect human needs with conservation goals, designing landscapes that are good for all.

Chimpanzees in Crisis

In 1900, an estimated 1-2 million chimpanzees lived in the wild across 24 African countries. Today, there are as few as 340,000 in only 21 countries. 

Across Africa, Most Chimpanzees Live Outside of National Parks

Chimpanzees give a vital window into the health of the natural world; when they thrive, it is a sign that the forest and other species are healthy. When they are in trouble, we know that the problems are larger than theirs alone. 

The main threats to chimpanzees across their range are habitat loss, habitat degradation, and fragmentation, illegal bushmeat hunting, disease and the illegal pet trade/trafficking. The severity of these threats varies from region to region. Therefore, it is essential to understand, map and prioritize threats in order to develop cost-effective conservation strategies and actions that eliminate or minimize the most pressing threats to chimpanzees.  

Expanding Across the Chimpanzee Range

JGI’s philosophy is one of innovation and evolution. JGI’s Tacare efforts now exist across Tanzania, Uganda, DRC, Republic of Congo and Senegal. But as threats to chimpanzees increase in Africa, JGI is creating solutions to increase the pace and scale of conservation impact.

To do this, JGI, in partnership with University of Maryland, Esri and NASA, has been developing a Decision Support System (DSS) that uses AI and over 30,000 Landsat satellite images to annually monitor and map habitat health of all great apes in Africa at very high 30-meter resolution. When combined with the Tacare and Open Standards for the Practice of Conservation approaches, JGI can convert big satellite data into actionable information for decision-makers at the village, district, national and Africa scale. This means local communities and governments can use more accurate and transparent information to act to protect chimpanzee habitat and foster sustainable solutions.

Photo courtesy of Blue Raster

Looking toward the future

Spreading Tacare represents a “package” of best practices in community-centered conservation which have been adapted and improved over the last 25 years in sites across Africa. Over the next several years, JGI will increase capacity of existing work or support developing conservation actions across the chimpanzee range including in Mali, Burundi, Cameroon, Gabon, Guinea and Liberia.


Dr. Jane Goodall discovered that when we put local communities at the heart of conservation, we improve the lives of people, other animals and the environment. JGI advances Dr. Goodall’s holistic approach and brings the power of community-centered conservation to life. Through the integration of sound science, geospatial technologies and collaboration there is hope for chimpanzees. 

❝Every individual has a role to play. Every individual makes a difference.❞ - Jane Goodall

Photos: JGI/ Bill Wallauer, Shawn Sweeney 

About the Jane Goodall Institute: The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global, community-centered conservation organization founded in 1977 that advances the vision and work of Dr. Jane Goodall in over 30 countries around the world. We aim to understand and protect chimpanzees, other apes and their habitats, and empower people to be compassionate citizens in order to inspire conservation of the natural world we all share. JGI uses research, collaboration with local communities, best-in-class animal welfare standards, and the innovative use of science and technology to inspire hope and transform it into action for the common good. Through our Roots & Shoots program for young people of all ages, now active in over 50 countries around the world, JGI is creating an informed and compassionate critical mass of people who will help to create a better world for people, other animals and our shared environment.

Photo courtesy of The Jane Goodall Institute

Aerial oblique photo of deforestation in early 2000’s north of Gombe , courtesy of The Jane Goodall Institute

Deforestation and human land uses on the village lands outside Gombe National Park  Photo courtesy of: NASA/MAXAR/the Jane Goodall Institute 

Map showing threats reported by JGI trained forest monitors

Photo: JGI/Lilian Pintea

Photo courtesy of Blue Raster

Photos: JGI/ Bill Wallauer, Shawn Sweeney 

About the Jane Goodall Institute: The Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) is a global, community-centered conservation organization founded in 1977 that advances the vision and work of Dr. Jane Goodall in over 30 countries around the world. We aim to understand and protect chimpanzees, other apes and their habitats, and empower people to be compassionate citizens in order to inspire conservation of the natural world we all share. JGI uses research, collaboration with local communities, best-in-class animal welfare standards, and the innovative use of science and technology to inspire hope and transform it into action for the common good. Through our Roots & Shoots program for young people of all ages, now active in over 50 countries around the world, JGI is creating an informed and compassionate critical mass of people who will help to create a better world for people, other animals and our shared environment.