Goodall makes chimps conservation challenge

Renowned world ethologist and anthropologist, Dr Jane Goodall, has called for concerted effort from all stakeholders in Uganda to protect the environment while also saving chimpanzees and other wildlife from extinction.

Dr Goodall, an emboldened voice for a planet and various species, which cannot speak for years on end, made the call as she delivered the keynote address at the Jane Goodall Public Lecture Conference.

Held in Kampala under the theme “Partnerships for co-existence”, the conference comes hot on the heels of profoundly high levels of deforestation in major chimpanzee habitats. This is occasioned by the extensive commercial development.

 In 1900, an estimated one million chimpanzees lived in the wild across the world. That number has been whittled down to 340,000 today. Uganda is reported to have an estimated population of about 5,000.

For Dr Goodall, who has dedicated 60 of her 89 years putting her finger on the pulse of wild chimpanzees, this is unacceptable.

“Protecting the environment is not just for wildlife” Dr Goodall, who is also founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and a United Nations messenger of peace, said.

The continued destruction of wildlife habitats has triggered zoonoses or diseases transmitted to humans from animals. Dr Goodall said not all is lost despite some scientists predicting that the world has reached a tipping point due to the continued destruction of the environment.

“I believe we have this window of time and if we get together and take action together, we can make a real difference,” she said at the public lecture this week, adding, “If hundreds and then millions of people make little ethical choices everyday, cumulatively they will make a big difference.”

While it has not been exhaustively proved that the coronavirus pandemic was a classic example of a zoonosis, Dr Goodall takes on an apocalyptic tone when she sizes up the impacts of encroaching animal habitats. She also sketches a doomsday scenario when considering the effects of climate change and biodiversity loss.

“Our health depends on the health of the environment,” she said, adding, “If you protect the forest for chimps, you are protecting it for all other species.”

The vision
Dr Goodall believes that by protecting chimpanzees and inspiring people to conserve the shared natural world, the environment and lives of people and animals will be improved.  She is confident that young people will carry the torch for environmental and animal activism after her. But there is a lot of work to be done as admitted by state actors.

“The expanding footprint of commercial development casts a shadow of uncertainty over the future of these remarkable creatures,” Col Tom Butime, Uganda’s Tourism minister, said.

Dr Sam Nampindo, the country director for Wildlife Conservation Society, believes a multi-sectoral approach to conserve the endangered species and investing in improving the livelihoods of communities will have rich rewards.