Jane Goodall Institute

JGI continues Goodall’s research on primates in Africa, but it has also advocated a range of environmentalist policy actions, including programs to combat climate change, campaigns against industrial agriculture, and economic development initiatives that are directly tied to climate stabilization. JGI has also taken left-of-center political stances unrelated to environmental policy, including anti-firearm positions. ²

People and Funding

Primatologist and environmentalist Jane Goodall founded Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 and continues to sit as its president. Famous for her research on chimpanzees, Goodall has become a left-wing political activist in the latter half of her career, advocating for population control to prevent global warming, alleging that human mistreatment of the environment is responsible for the COVID-19 pandemic, and working with the Nonhuman Rights Project to grant legal rights to animals. ^{3 4}

JGI is funded primarily by donations, but the organization also receives some funding from brand partnerships.  In 2018, JGI partnered with Schmidt’s Naturals to produce a special edition deodorant, with 5% of all sales donated to JGI. ⁵ In 2020, Goodall herself entered a partnership with Neptune Wellness Solutions to develop plant-based wellness products, under the condition that 5% of all sales be donated to JGI in addition to an initial $25,000 donation by Neptune Wellness. ⁶

Research

Jane Goodall Institute continues Jane Goodall’s primate research in Tanzania, Uganda, and other African nations, studying primates and engaging in habitat conservation projects. JGI also works on animal protection projects, collaborating with local African governments to stop wildlife trafficking, preserve primate habitats, and prevent local community development from interfering with the environment. ⁷

Advocacy

Environmentalist Activism

Jane Goodall Institute promotes an environmentalist agenda, arguing that climate change is a threat to human survival and campaigning against industrial developments that use conventional fuels. One of JGI’s current projects focuses on condemning American “industrial agriculture.” The project includes both activism and legislative lobbying to limit agricultural production. ⁸

JGI promotes environmentalism across Africa, launching a remote sensing program to observe changes in land use and using its results to argue that human activity has destroyed chimpanzee habitats and created an increased risk of disease transmission. ⁹ A similar JGI program has created “Village Forest Monitors” hired by local governments to patrol forests for deforestation, discouraging logging and other industries in Western Africa. ¹⁰ In addition to discouraging logging activities, JGI has started several “reforestation” programs, planting millions of trees in Africa to forests for animal habitats. JGI has also partnered with the United Nations Environment Programme in its effort to plant one trillion trees in 10 years, committing to planting 5 million in a single year. ^{11 12}

Aside from direct environmentalist advocacy, JGI runs public education campaigns to promote a left-of-center environmental agenda. JGI has invested in “environmental education” across Africa, providing students with the chance to receive an education by improving school infrastructure on the condition that school curriculum will involve includes environmentalist education. ¹³

Roots & Shoots is one of JGI’s largest environmentalist education programs, recruiting over 700,000 young adults in nearly 100 different countries to become environmental activists. ¹⁴ Roots & Shoots participants start their own environmental projects and engage in environmentalist activism, promoting a left-of-center policy agenda. ¹⁵ JGI has also celebrated Roots & Shoots activists for participating in left-of-center initiatives unrelated to the environment. Most notably, Roots & Shoots members attended the left-of-center, anti-gun-rights March For Our Lives protest in Washington D.C. in 2018, and JGI highlighted their participation in the JGI newsletter. ¹⁶

Grassroots Advocacy

JGI is active in African communities, taking on a range of initiatives to improve quality of life in African villages while promoting an environmental agenda. JGI recently began an initiative to install more than 15,000 fuel-efficient rocket stoves in Tanzania and Uganda to prevent deforestation and reduce air pollution. ¹⁷

JGI has also started programs that encourage economic development, so long as that development does not impact the environment, discouraging highly impoverished African communities from taking advantage of fossil fuels and even lumber technologies. JGI provides microfinancing for environmentally focused businesses, supports coffee-farmers to adopt sustainable technologies and minimize land development, and promotes agroforestry to prevent communities from making use of natural forests for food and lumber. ¹⁸

JGI provides scholarships for young women in Tanzania on the condition that they join the Roots & Shoots environmentalist program and recruit their families for JGI projects in sustainable farming and forest preservation. ¹⁹