Our Shared World The Jane Goodall Institute2013 Review The Jane Goodall Institute of Canada supports wildlife research, education and conservation. The Institute promotes informed and compassionate action to improve the environment shared by all Earth’s living creatures. WE NEED EACH OTHER, NOW MORE THAN EVER Photo credit: JGI Tchimpounga Sanctuary, F. Turmo Photo credit: JGI Canada, DRC Photo credit: JGI Canada, S. Hsiao Just a few years ago, the Jane Goodall Institute of Canada and environmental understanding among 10 villages in the did not have its own programs in Africa. Now we do. And Walikale and Lubutu territories. the success stories highlighted in this review emphasize our 2013 also brought a major change to our organization. We growing role in community-centred conservation projects hired a new CEO, Andria Teather, and we said goodbye to that connect people, animals and the environment. Jane Lawton who left after seven years as Executive Director This emphasis on connections is the Jane Goodall Institute’s and CEO. Our organization grew exponentially under Jane’s signature approach to conservation and development, and leadership, and we thank her. we are proud of our founder for her trailblazing work to While the statistics about dwindling wildlife, endangered develop real, workable and local solutions to our global species and threatened habitats are alarming, we at JGI problems. Canada are optimistic and hopeful for the future. Through I am very excited about what we have done and where we your support, we can make a difference together. are going. 2014 offers a special opportunity to make a difference. Jane Thanks to our generous supporters, hard-working staff and Goodall turns 80, and her birthday wish is for Canadians to tireless volunteers, we were able to accomplish so much in support the work of the Institute she founded. Our goal is 2013. to raise a minimum of $150,000 for JGI Canada’s programs, including the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Sanctuary. We hope Our support for chimpanzee sanctuaries in Congo and that you will help us with this birthday gift. Uganda gave safe havens to hundreds of chimps who have been orphaned as a result of the bush meat trade and the Thank you! loss of their habitat to deforestation. Our Sustainable Livelihoods Project in western Uganda helped improve the health, wellbeing and livelihoods of 700 households in seven villages. Our work in the Democratic Republic of Congo is increasing John Wall education opportunities, improving healthcare, livelihoods Chair, Board of Directors page 2 JGI CANADA’S NEW CEO MAKES THE CONNECTIONS Like many of us, Andria Teather grew up with those iconic images of Dr. Jane Goodall in Africa, reaching out to touch the outstretched hand of the baby chimp, sitting comfortably among a chimp family, face to face with a large, curious ape. Andria knew Dr. Goodall as a scientist, an environmentalist, a dreamer of a better world. Her new position with the Jane Goodall Institute is a chance to further the work of a woman she has admired for many years. But what really excited her about the opportunity to work with the Institute was its unique approach to development work. “The Jane Goodall Institute is making the connections between people, animals and the environment in ways that provide real hope for real change,” says Andria. “This is what speaks to my passion for making a difference.” Making a difference is a theme that runs throughout Andria’s career. She has a solid background in business management, and many years’ experience in non-profit fundraising, grant-making, program development and marketing. She has deep roots in Wight Photo credit: NJ community work including years of volunteering with a number of non-profit organisations. Andria is most proud of JGI Canada’s work in the Democratic Republic of Congo. Yes, it all started with chimpanzees but she says it is about so much more. It engages the people who live there in determining what they need—health care, education, sustainable livelihoods—to work with JGI to protect the environment and the creatures that depend upon it. “There is such a complex series of threats in the DRC,” says Andria. “Unsustainable timber and mineral extraction, the bush meat trade, land clearing for agriculture and of course, the current potential for rebel incursion in the region,” she says. “The work isn’t easy. There are many challenges for the field staff. But they manage them and JGI is making a difference – improving lives and fostering hope.” It’s all about the connections. “We recognize that connecting with one another is critical if we are to have an impact on any single issue,” says Andria. ”The simple fact is that we need each other, now more than ever.” page 3 WOUNDA’S STORY The name says it all. Wounda means “close to dying.” The chimp was extremely ill and emaciated when she was brought to JGI’s Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Rehabilitation Center. The Congo sanctuary provides care and a safe haven for orphaned or abandoned chimps; often victims of the illegal bush meat trade. In July 2013, after being nursed back to health, Wounda became the 15th chimp to be transferred to Tchindzoulou Island in the nearby Kouilou River. This new sanctuary is a wild place, composed of hundreds of hectares of pristine and tropical forest surrounded by river water. The chimps roam freely, can climb and explore, and still have access to health care and a dormitory at night. Wounda’s trip up the river with Jane Goodall and her caregivers resulted in a moment that Dr. Goodall has described as “the most moving thing that ever happened in my life.” In a spontaneous and unexpected moment, Wounda embraced Dr. Goodall before slowly making her way into her new forest home. Wounda’s story has a happy ending but her predicament is not unique. In the Congo, chimpanzees continue to be threatened by bush meat hunting. Over 90 percent of the people eat bush meat regularly, and over 50 per cent eat great ape bush meat. The bush meat trade, poaching, unsustainable timber and mineral extraction, land clearing for agriculture — they are all threats to these animals. JGI estimates that 10 per cent of the wild population of chimps has been lost. Dr. Goodall hopes to have the funding in 2014 to place 60 of the rescued chimps on Tchindzoulou Island. The expanded sanctuary of three islands will eventually be home to 120 chimps, who are, as Dr. Goodall says, “waiting, waiting, waiting.” Watch the Wounda video at www.youtube.com/JaneGoodallCAN page 4 SHARING OUR WORLD PEOPLE The Better Beginnings, Stronger Families project in 10 communities in the Democratic Republic of Congo began at the end of 2012 and is JGI Canada’s largest to date, totaling $2.4 million over three years. We are very grateful for the support of the Department of Foreign Affairs, Trade and Development, which is contributing $1.8 million to this project. To receive this funding, JGI Canada needs to raise $600,000 over three years – a great opportunity for Canadian donors to increase the value of their donation when paired with the government support. Our goals for the program are to help increase access to: • schools for children by building/rehabilitating and equipping seven schools, and training teachers • health care by rehabilitating/building and equipping eight health centres, and training health workers and community members • reliable clean water sources by protecting 10 springs, and increasing local management of water sources by training local communities ANIMALS We continued to work in 2013 on the expansion of the Tchimpounga Chimpanzee Sanctuary in the Congo to three islands in the nearby Kouilou River; home to 160 orphaned chimpanzees, mostly victims of the bush meat trade. The sanctuary is not a solution to the threats the chimps face, but it is important because it helps reinforce regulations that prohibit ownership and trade in chimps. Work continued in 2013 to expand the sanctuary to: • Tchindzoulou Island which now has 12 chimpanzees, including Wounda who was moved there in 2013 • Tchibebe Island, which will soon be home to 30 chimpanzees • Ngombe Island, which will eventually have 30 chimpanzees ENVIRONMENT Our work in Uganda in 2013 surpassed many of our targets. In collaboration with local communities and government agencies we were able to: • develop and sign land-use agreements covering 30 kilometres of waterways and forests • renovate and build clean water sources, managed by community-based organizations • develop sustainable agriculture, including livestock raising, woodlot harvesting and beekeeping • establish collaborative forest management groups page 5 OUR REASON FOR HOPE – YOUTH Dr. Jane Goodall believes youth can make a difference. It is We provide resources and professional development this belief that drove her to start the Roots & Shoots program workshops for teachers and facilitators who work with young in 1991 with a group of students in Tanzania. people. In 2013, we trained 165 teachers, who reached a total of 4,000 youth in their classrooms. “Roots creep underground everywhere and make a firm foundation,” says Dr. Goodall. “Shoots seem very weak, but Comments from the workshops show that teachers are to reach the light, they can break open brick walls. Imagine enthusiastic about our approach: that the brick walls are all the problems we have inflicted “I better understand the term sustainability. It is not only on our planet. Hundreds of thousands of roots & shoots, about sustainability. It’s about the root cause and the future.” hundreds of thousands of young people around the world, can break through these walls. We CAN change the world.” “This is a great way to make environmental studies more meaningful in the curriculum.” The goal of Roots & Shoots is to inspire and support youth to work on environmental, conservation and humanitarian “It provided me with a better understanding of how important issues.