Brand-New Book ‘Local Voices, Local Choices’ Partnership Between Esri & JGI

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It’s HERE! A brand-new book titled ‘Local Voices, Local Choices: The Tacare Approach to Community-Led Conservation‘ chronicles the stories behind Dr. Jane Goodall’s holistic approach to conservation. For nearly 30 years, JGI’s innovative community-led conservation approach known as ‘Tacare’ – developed by pioneering scientist and activist Dr. Jane Goodall – has been developing holistic solutions to the complex problems driving conservation challenges by putting local people and institutions at the center.

Chimpanzees, other great apes, and their habitats are endangered – at a population of millions just 100 years ago, their numbers could be less than 300,000 in the wild. Without proactive, holistic solutions, they could disappear within the next century. Tacare focuses on collaboration with local communities, integrating community knowledge, key partnerships, conservation action planning, and cutting-edge science, along with geospatial technologies and spatial planning, to advance better decision-making for all. 

As the drivers of primary conservation threats like deforestation, disease, and illegal wildlife trade are often social and economic inequities, Tacare programs invest in alternative sustainable livelihood trainings, land-use planning, habitat restoration, water management, health care, education, micro-credit opportunities, and more. Through this approach, JGI is minimizing the threats to individuals and populations of chimpanzees and other great apes, along with their habitats, by empowering people to steward their own lands and natural resources growing peaceful coexistence and improved well-being. 

Summer 2022, ‘Local Voices, Local Choices,’ created in partnership between Esri – a global leader in GIS – and the Jane Goodall Institute, will explore the story, impact, and future of the Tacare community-led approach, as well as the narratives of the people who make it possible. Together, Esri and JGI are providing a new way forward to improve conservation fueled by science and technology to deepen and expand impact –providing new hope for people, other animals, and the planet we share.

The book will include:

  • The origins of the Tacare approach, originally designed as a 1994 reforestation project with an abbreviation pronounced “ta-CAR-reh” around Gombe, Tanzania – where Dr. Goodall first began her research and where it contineus today as the longest running wild chimpanzee study in the world;
  • A retired community member keeping the knowledge of medicinal plants alive;
  • Spiritual and cultural story-holders who are vital to the recording and preservation of their traditional ecological knowledge’
  • Local people participating as forest monitors, community health workers, beekeepers, small-business owners, and educators of the next generation;
  • Former participants in the illegal wildlife trade turned advocates for sustainable land management and more.

Story by story, Local Voices, Local Choices brings readers into the diverse perspectives, science, and technology behind this approach to community-led conservation—not only those of JGI staff and program partners but also, and equally, those of the local people who lead these initiatives.

Listen to and share Dr. Goodall’s episode with Dr. Lilian Pintea, vice president of conservation science at JGI and a driving force behind Tacare below:

Listen to the Jane Goodall Hopecast everywhere podcasts are available:

iTunes | Google Podcasts | Spotify | Stitcher | Castbox

About Author

Ashley Sullivan is the Director of Storytelling & Marketing for Communications & Partnerships at the Jane Goodall Institute USA, where she works to connect individuals with Dr. Jane Goodall's vision, and the JGI mission to create a better world for all by protecting the interconnections between people, other animals, and the environment. Ashley graduated Stony Brook University with a Bachelor's Degree in Anthropology and a minor in Biology, and is pursuing a Master's of Science in Environmental Science & Policy at Johns Hopkins University with a focus on Environmental Justice. Originally from Brooklyn, New York, now a D.C. resident, she has a varied background including 10+ years of expert communications and digital marketing in the social and environmental non-profit sector. Her intersectional approach to this work has been shaped by a holistic world-view, having traveled to Madagascar and Ecuador for conservation research projects, leading communications for youth social justice filmmaking organizations, and as a part of several professional groups advancing Diversity, Equity, and Inclusion in environmental spaces including Greens REALIGN. With skills ranging from conservation fieldwork, policy and advocacy campaigns, strategic communications, art, digital media, and design, Ashley believes in sharing information to empower and in the magic of storytelling to transform hearts and minds. Through growing understanding, empathy, and justice, she is igniting positive change to create that better, more equitable world, every day.