Dr. Jane Goodall is gone, and with her, a particular kind of seeing. Over the 65 years Goodall worked with chimpanzees, the rest of us came to see what she saw: creatures with personalities, families, grief, joy.
Goodall established the Jane Goodall Institute in 1977 to support work with chimps in Gombe, Tanzania, and to expand research, education, and conservation efforts worldwide.
In the late 1980s, Goodall flew over Gombe and saw her forest sanctuary had become an island surrounded by bare hills. Families had to cut down trees to survive. The choice was stark: either help find sustainable ways to live or watch everything—chimps and forests—disappear.
When Dr. Lilian Pintea came to Gombe in 2000 with his GIS expertise, Goodall saw the technology’s potential. GIS combined satellite imagery with maps and ground truth to monitor change and show a path toward restoration.
The TACARE program grew from this approach. Forest monitors used smartphones to photograph illegal logging in real time. Village leaders visualized how protecting steep hillsides would prevent landslides. But the real power wasn’t the data—it was that everyone was looking at the same picture, making decisions together.
Goodall’s collaboration with Esri started in 2005 with the goal of democratizing a shared view for conservation. She saw the GIS community as essential partners in the work of ensuring that communities have agency over their future.
At 91, Goodall was still working to protect the planet’s resources. Her Roots & Shoots program started with 12 Tanzanian high school students in 1991. Now it has grown to 75 countries.
Goodall showed us the way: Watch patiently. Listen first. Combine data with empathy. Give communities tools and respect—they will protect their lands better than outsiders ever could. Every person makes an impact on the planet every day. Find the best path forward. Then act on it.
Jane Goodall spent her life proving that this is how change happens.
