The world-famous Dr. Jane Goodall, best known for her extensive study of chimpanzees in Tanzania, praised the United Arab Emirates for its conservation work Wednesday night during a speech in Abu Dhabi as a part of the Sheikh Mohammed bin Zayed lecture series.
“Every single one of us makes a difference. Every one of us. We have a choice as to what kind of difference we are going to make,” Goodall said, according to The National .
Since her work with chimpanzees in Africa, Goodall, who is now a UN messenger of peace, has worked to further environmentalism around the world, and gave special praise to the UAE’s conservation of the native Arabian oryx .
“The Arabian oryx was declared extinct in the wild and because of the foresight of the late Sheikh Zayed, the breeding program was begun to save the Arabic oryx from total extinction by gathering together the oryx that were in captivity and establishing [the ark of Abu Dhabi in Sir Bani Yas]. Now, these Arabian oryx have been released back into the wild, with a flourishing herd in Abu Dhabi of which you can be very proud,” she said. “It’s unbelievable what people can do when they’re determined not to let these extinctions happen.”
Goodall also cited the Solar Impulse initiative as an example of the UAE's cutting edge leadership in environmental issues.