Programs
Jane Goodall
Founder of Jane Goodall Institute and U.N. Messenger of Peace
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"Reason for Hope"April 17, 2008"The most important message: Every one of us |
Jane Goodall, Ph.D., DBE, began her landmark study of chimpanzees in Tanzania in June 1960, under the mentorship of anthropologist and paleontologist Louis Leakey. Her work at Gombe Stream would become the foundation of future primatological research and redefine the relationship between humans and animals.
In 1977, Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute (JGI), which continues the Gombe research and is a global leader in the effort to protect chimpanzees and their habitats. The institute is widely recognized for establishing innovative, community-centered conservation and development programs in Africa, and the Roots & Shoots education program, which has more than 8,000 groups in nearly 100 countries.
Goodall travels an average of 300 days per year, speaking about the threats facing chimpanzees, other environmental crises and her reasons for hope that humankind will solve the problems it has imposed on our planet. She continually urges her audiences to recognize their personal responsibility and ability to effect change through consumer action, lifestyle change and activism.
Goodall's scores of honors include the Medal of Tanzania, the National Geographic Society's Hubbard Medal, Japan's prestigious Kyoto Prize, Spain’s Prince of Asturias Award for Technical and Scientific Research, the Benjamin Franklin Medal in Life Science and the Gandhi/King Award for Nonviolence. In April 2002, Secretary-General Kofi Annan named Goodall a U.N. “Messenger of Peace,” and she was reappointed in June 2007 by Secretary-General Ban Ki-moon. In 2004, in a ceremony at Buckingham Palace, Goodall was invested as a Dame of the British Empire, the female equivalent of knighthood. In 2006, she received the French Legion of Honor, presented by Prime Minister Dominique de Villepin, as well as the UNESCO Gold Medal Award.
Updated on 4/17/2008
