We are poisoning the soil through large-scale industrial agriculture. The most recent report from WWF describes the situation as critical – in the last 40 years, we have lost some 60% of all animal and plant species on Earth. We are experiencing the sixth great extinction. Orangutans and gibbons are losing their habitats due to the proliferation of non-sustainable oil palm plantations. When I arrived in Gombe in 1960 it was part of what was called the equatorial forest belt, stretching from East Africa through the Congo Basin to the West African coast. I saw traumatised infants, whose mother had been killed – either for the same bushmeat or the illegal live animal trade, for sale in the markets, or in inappropriate zoos where they had been placed after confiscation by local authorities.īut I also learned about the problems faced by so many African communities in and around chimpanzee habitat. I visited six chimpanzee range states and learned a great deal about the rate of deforestation as a result of foreign corporations (timber, oil and mining) and population growth in communities in and around chimpanzee habitat, so that more land was needed for expanding villages, agriculture and grazing livestock.Ĭhimpanzees were affected by the bushmeat trade – the commercial hunting of wild animals for food. I left Gombe in 1986 when I realised how fast chimpanzee habitat was being destroyed and how their numbers were declining.
Even the loss of one thread can have a ripple effect and result in major damage to the whole. I learned how all life is interconnected, how each species, no matter how insignificant it may seem, has a role to play in the rich tapestry of life – known today as biodiversity. During my years studying chimpanzees in Gombe national park in Tanzania I experienced the magic of the rainforest.
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