Preserving a Legacy
It's been nearly a half century since Jane Goodall began her research in what would become Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania, where she made groundbreaking discoveries about chimpanzee society and their use of simple tools. Since then, the once fledgling environmental movement has gained international prominence, even as her chimpanzees have become increasingly scarce. The 73-year-old scientist now leaves the fieldwork to others but still travels more than 300 days a year, spreading her warning about the threats to wildlife. She was on Capitol Hill last week pushing lawmakers to fund species conservation efforts and sat down there with U.S. News to discuss the state of environmental policy and her legacy.
What's the most important thing Congress could do to make progress on species conservation?
One of the key issues that is really impinging on so many other issues is global warming, and if Congress would just move ahead and try to play a leading role instead of tagging along behind many other countries, that would be a very important thing. And then, from our perspective particularly, to make stronger rather than weaker the Endangered Species Act.
In Congress, there is significant debate over whether global warming is going on at all. Is that legitimate?
That is honestly ridiculous. The Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change, they were looking at every single aspect of society and nature that could be affected, and in some cases it's happening even quicker than we predicted.
In the species you study, have you seen an impact already due to climate change?
Absolutely, let's talk about what's happened in England in the last few years. I'm not studying those species, but birds are appearing who never were there, birds who were there are disappearing.
Are Americans engaged enough in the cause of conservation?
People here say, "Why should I care about the rain forests in Africa?" and you say, "It's the lungs of the world." Well, they don't care about that. But I think as environmental damage spreads, as people get more and more desperate, as water levels drop, you're increasing the risk of major health epidemics, you are causing unrest that can lead to instability, and instability in other countries, as we have proof, can lead to problems in the U.S.
What strategies for protecting wildlife are most effective?
You can't build walls around the forest, so the only way to conserve the animals in the forest is to have the actual support of the people living within it. The program I think I'm proudest of to help save the remnants of the Gombe chimpanzee population, we call it TACARE. It's very holistic, everything from tree nurseries to delivering information about family planning. I think the reason this program's been so successful is that it hasn't been a bunch of white people going in and saying to these poor people, "We're really sorry for you. This is what we're going to do." Right from the start, it was Tanzanians going into the villages, speaking with the elders.
You've recently expressed some reservation about renewable biofuels. Why?
The part that's really of concern is that in the tropics, because of biofuels, forests are being cut. The real danger is the environment being exploited even more than it is now. Now, they're talking about the grasses of the prairies being more efficient to use for biofuels, but there's not that much of the prairies left.
Where are you focusing your efforts now?
I've got fantastic teams doing the chimpanzee research both at Gombe and where the data's analyzed in Minnesota. And of course Roots & Shoots [a youth conservation program] has very strong people. But to keep it going, it's still Dr. Jane that people want. So I'm working to make this sustainable after Jane.
Do you worry that without your celebrity driving your programs, they will lose momentum?
It would have, but I think the Jane Goodall Institute now is strong enough, and Roots & Shoots is in nearly 100 countries. I'm not at all worried. Even if I died today, it wouldn't go away.
Do you miss fieldwork?
Yes, I do. I only get back to Gombe twice a year for short days, and I get back and I think, oh, it would be so wonderful just to be out there in the forest, collecting information. There's a limit to what one person can do. I'm trying to write books while I'm traveling around, and that's tough.
What book are you working on now?
It's a wonderful book. I love it, because it's about animals rescued from the brink of extinction. Sunday morning, I was out where they're breeding the whooping crane in [Maryland], and they'd just gotten the first baby of the season hatched, and the second one had made a hole in his egg and was very vocally protesting that he wanted to get out. I'm meeting these people all over the world-indomitable people who won't give up.
This story appears in the May 14, 2007 print edition of U.S. News & World Report.