Thu, Nov 11, 1999 page4

• Jane Goodall in Taiwan to offer words of hope

  ECOLOGY The renowned primatologist will visit communities struck hard by the 921 quake to give encouragement and promote environmental awareness through her Roots and Shoots program

  • By Chiu Yu-Tzu / STAFF REPORTER
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  Jane Goodall (珍古德), the well-known British primatologist along with ethologists for her chimpanzee research and animal conservation group, began a four-day visit to Taiwan yesterday.

  Goodall, 65, will make a goodwill tour to central Taiwan to visit homeless people in disaster areas who are suffering from severe anguish and living amid environmental problems resulting from the 921 earthquake.

  "How could I tell children in the rest of the world the story of the Taiwanese people's fight to survive if I've never gone to the disaster areas to listen to them? We have to stay together, to have hope for the future, and to find ways to be strong in the community," Goodall said.

  

  At a press conference in Taipei yesterday, Jane Goodall displays a bone from a Formosan Sika deer given to her on a previous trip to Taiwan. The deer has been successfully bred in captivity and Goodall said the momento serves as a reminder for Taiwan to keep hope strong.

  PHOTO: CHIANG YING-YING

  Government spokesman Chen Chien-jen (程建?H), who invited Goodall to come to Taiwan, said her visit demonstrated her deep affection for Taiwan.

  Accompanied by two associates, Herre Hegendoorm, director of the Jane Goodall Institute-Global, and photographer Michael Neugebauer, Goodall will first stop at Yi-ning High School (宜1??學) in Taichung, one of the centers for the Roots & Shoots (根與-]) groups founded by the Jane Goodall Institute in Taiwan.

  Goodall believes that with the support and encouragement of caring adults, children will grow up with a better understanding of the interdependence of all life on Earth. With this in mind, Goodall established the first Roots & Shoot group in 1991 in Dar Es Salaam, Tanzania. Currently, Roots & Shoots groups exist in more than 30 countries.

  "When I was a child, we were never taught about the environment. Now, we've begun to realize the damage we've done," said Goodall, referring to environmental disasters, such as deforestation, air pollution, and global warming.

  Goodall added that Taiwan is facing the same environmental problems encountered by other countries, and the priority to ensure more environmental awareness in the future rests in educating the younger generation about environmental issues.

  "I've learned that black face spoonbills (黑-接鷺) in southern Taiwan are becoming endangered because of a scheduled development of an industrial park. In addition, the Hua-tung Highway between Hualien and Taitung currently under construction in eastern Taiwan, may damage the ecology," said Goodall.

  "I think we have to rely on teachers to tell children to treasure the environment. In many countries, including America and the UK, children teach their parents. Children have new opportunities to learn about the environment, and they can take the new messages back home," added Goodall.

  "In addition to teachers and parents, these messages regarding environmental protection and animal conservation should be sent to the government and industry to prevent wrong policy-making," said Goodall.

  Growing up in Britain loving the outdoors, Goodall left for Africa when she was 23 and followed anthropologist Louis Leakey to study the great apes. With 30 years of hard work, love, willpower and wisdom, Goodall brought the habits and characteristics of chimpanzees to the world.

  Goodall has made the gap between chimpanzees and humans much smaller.

  In 1960, she discovered that chimpanzees eat meat, when other scientists at the time believed that they were herbivores. Through her research at Gombe National Reserve in Tanzania, she has shown people that human beings share 98 percent of our DNA with chimpanzees.

  Her research was also the first to clearly document behavior patterns of chimpanzees, including planning, adoption, cannibalism, surprise and consortship.

  Goodall learned respect for living things through her mother, Vanne Goodall, she said.

  "When I was 18 months old, my mother found me with a bunch of earthworms in my bed. Those living things were my collection from a park. My mom encouraged me to take them back to their home, the earth, to keep them alive," Goodall recalled in her newly published book, Reasons for Hope (希望).

  Vanne Goodall, now 94, also wrote a book based on Jane Goodall's adventure, titled Nature's Daughter (?j|蛣M的?k兒), which was recently published in Taiwan.

  During her two-day stay in central Taiwan, Goodall will also visit communities hard-hit by the earthquake, including Puli (埔里) in Nantou County, and Tungshih (東勢) in Taichung County.

  On Nov. 12, Goodall will speak at the opening for the International Photography Exhibition on Ecological Preservation, co-sponsored by the National Geographic Channel, at the National Museum of Natural Science (台??科學3晡姚]) in Taichung City.

  "We probably won't do too much fundraising for our institute this time because Taiwan is still recovering from the earthquake," said Eugene Chao (趙永2M), a legislator and head of the Jane Goodall Institute's Taiwan Branch.

  "Education is a more important issue, and that's why we're visiting children in central Taiwan to encourage them to face difficulties," he said.

  The institute raised NT$5 million during Goodall's visit two years ago, Chao said.
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