Photo credit: JGI/Bill Wallauer
Jane Goodall
A United Nations Messenger of Peace since 2002, Jane Goodall is an ethologist and conservationist driving holistic action driven by hope for people, other animals, and the environment. A groundbreaking scientist, Jane changed the world with her research into the lives of wild chimpanzees – our closest living relatives – in Gombe, Tanzania which began in 1960. This insightful research continues to this day as the longest running wild chimpanzee study in the world through JGI’s Gombe Stream Research Center.
For the last three decades, Jane Goodall has grown from a scientist to international activist, focusing her pioneering efforts on creating community-led conservation approaches and a grassroots global movement of hope to protect biodiversity, ecosystems, and improve human well-being. As a result, Jane founded the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977, an organization focused on addressing the drivers of threats facing our world through advancing applied science, innovative conservation, animal welfare and advocacy, One Health, and youth empowerment through Jane Goodall’s Roots & Shoots program, now in over 65 countries worldwide.
Today, as a global phenomenon and thought leader, Jane Goodall is a leading actor for SDG 15 which aims to protect, restore and promote the sustainable use of terrestrial ecosystems in harmony with human communities, to build a better future for all.