Forestry

Background / Issues:

The project, which involves a variety of leading public and private partners, received a three-year, $2.7 million (USD) grant from the Royal Norwegian Embassy in Tanzania.
 

In the West African country of Guinea, the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) supports sustainable income generating activities that improve the local economy and environment.

The overarching goal of the Gombe-Masito-Ugalla (GMU) Program is to conserve biodiversity and protect and restore wildlife habitat in critical ecosystems in western Tanzania.

Through the hard work and determination of the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI) staff, and thanks to United States Fish and Wildlife Services (USFWS), the Congolese government and supporters like you, the expansion of the Tchimpounga Nature Reserve is a reality.

Background:

In the spring of 2011, the Congolese government ratified a decree to expand the Tchimpounga Nature Reserve (TNR) by 750 percent.  JGI's Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center, the largest chimpanzee sanctuary in Africa, lies within the current boundaries of the TNR.

Building on its experience working in Uganda since 1996, JGI, in partnership with the Ugandan National Forest Authority (NFA), launched the Budongo ecotourism project in 2006 with funding from the American people through the United States Agency for International Development. The goal of the project was to provide sustainable revenue generating opportunities from ecotourism to support the protection and maintenance of Budongo.

JGI’s Applied Conservation Science Program provides the detailed census data that is essential to conservation planning and assessment. To be effective, the conservation community needs to know the distribution, status and trends of great ape populations. Identification of human threats in specific landscapes is also critical.

Clearing of forests and woodlands has one of the most devastating impacts on great apes, leaving them in isolated, small populations that face edge effects and elevated risk of extinction. Satellite imagery and GIS are powerful tools to monitor chimpanzee habitats and threats even in the most remote, difficult to access areas. JGI has been a leader in applying multi-temporal, multi-resolution satellite imagery to map and detect change in the distribution of chimpanzee habitats in Africa from local to regional scales.

Local communities are the stewards of their environment and their participation is essential to mapping and monitoring the natural resources on their village lands. The Jane Goodall Institute's (JGI) community-based conservation approach is designed to empower local stewards in ways that benefit communities, as well as the environment that surrounds them. JGI has become a pioneer and leader in this emerging field as a result of our rapid adoption of new technologies to support community forest monitoring.