In 1994, Jane Goodall's JGI launched Tacare in 12 Gombe villages of Tanzania to fight deforestation. 27 years later, forest cover in community reserves had risen 66% across the area

Jane Goodall arrived in Gombe, Tanzania, in 1960 to study wild chimpanzees. Years later, a flight over the area changed how she viewed conservation. Below her, Gombe National Park was still green. But the hills around it had lost much of their forest. Local families had cleared trees for farmland, charcoal and income. Without the trees, rain washed soil into Lake Tanganyika. Erosion and landslides became serious problems. The people were struggling, and so was the ecosystem around them.

In 1994, the Jane Goodall Institute launched the TACARE project in 12 villages near Gombe. The goal was not simply to protect chimpanzees. Tanzanian teams worked with village leaders to understand local needs and develop plans for restoring the land.

That approach became known as Tacare. It placed communities at the center of conservation. Maps became an important part of the process. Satellite images, scientific data and local knowledge could be brought together to understand problems and plan solutions.


The approach later expanded to communities in Tanzania, Uganda, the Republic of Congo, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. Its central lesson remains simple: protecting wildlife also means understanding the people and landscapes that surround it.

What did Jane Goodall do differently?

In 1994, the Jane Goodall Institute launched the TACARE project in 12 villages around Gombe. The name originally referred to the Lake Tanganyika Catchment, Reforestation and Education project, but the approach eventually became known simply as Tacare.

Its central idea was straightforward but important: conservation should be built with communities rather than imposed on them. Tanzanian staff with different areas of expertise worked alongside village leaders to develop plans that considered land restoration, local needs and biodiversity together. Instead of treating people as an obstacle to conservation, the project made them part of the solution.

That shift also changed what conservation work looked like on the ground. The approach gradually expanded beyond the communities surrounding Gombe and into other parts of Tanzania, as well as Uganda, the Republic of Congo, Senegal and the Democratic Republic of Congo. The geographic reach changed, but the underlying principle remained the same: lasting environmental protection depends on people having a meaningful role in decisions about their own landscapes.

Why do maps matter to Tacare?

One of the less obvious parts of the approach is the role of maps. In Tacare, maps are not simply technical products showing where forests, villages or wildlife habitats are located. They provide a shared visual language that can bring different kinds of knowledge into the same conversation.

Satellite imagery, for example, can help communities look closely at their surroundings and identify places that matter to them. Local knowledge can then be recorded and connected with geographic information. Scientific data and geospatial analysis can add another layer, helping teams understand environmental problems and consider possible nature-based solutions.

That process matters because the people who live in a landscape often know details that cannot be captured by a satellite image alone. A map can become a place where scientific information and local experience meet. Mobile and other geospatial tools can then help communities put plans into practice and track changes themselves.

How does the Tacare process work?

The process begins with engagement, creating a dialogue with community members, leaders and local governments. It then moves into listening, where project teams learn about local priorities and experiences rather than arriving with a predetermined solution.

The next stage is understanding. Communities and project teams work toward a shared view of the problem, combining economic and technical knowledge while considering possible nature-based solutions. The approach then moves toward facilitation, supporting community members and leaders as they work toward practical responses.

The important point is that the process starts with relationships. A forest restoration plan may involve trees and soil, but it also involves farmers, families, village leaders and decisions about how land is used. Tacare recognizes that those pieces are connected.

Why does Jane Goodall’s conservation model matter in the U.S.?

Gombe is thousands of miles from the United States, but the underlying conservation lesson is familiar. Environmental problems rarely stay inside the boundaries of a protected area. Forest loss, erosion, water quality and wildlife habitat can all be shaped by decisions made by people living nearby.

For American conservation efforts, the broader idea offers a useful reminder: maps and scientific data are powerful, but they become more useful when combined with the knowledge of people who live on the landscape. Whether the issue is forests, watersheds, wildlife corridors or changing land use, local participation can influence whether a conservation plan survives beyond its initial launch.

Goodall’s journey from chimpanzee researcher to community-led conservation advocate began with a simple observation from above Gombe. The green forest she had known was surrounded by a landscape under strain. The answer was not simply to draw a harder line around the park.

It was to look beyond that boundary. Tacare grew from that realization. Its larger message is that protecting wildlife may sometimes require starting with people, listening to what they need and understanding the landscape they call home. For conservation, that can be a very different way of drawing the map.