California Roots & Shoots Partnerships

Roots of Peace welcomes members of the Roots & Shoots youth network to our Penny Campaign (press release.) Each Roots & Shoots group plans and implements service-learning projects that promote care and concern for animals, the environment, and the human community. Through this exciting collaboration, every penny collected by participating Roots & Shoots members will help remove landmines and restore an elephant migration corridor across a four-nation trans-boundary area in Angola, Zambia, Botswana and Namibia. Landmines sown during the Angolan civil war have formed deadly barriers for man and animal throughout Angola. An estimated 130,000 elephants, whose numbers are growing at 5 per cent annually, are trapped in northern Botswana and can’t access historical foraging areas in Angola and Zambia due to landmines.

The high, artificial, number of animals has triggered an environmental disaster with serious damage to the woody vegetation in the Chobe National Park and adjacent areas. The elephants are also coming into increasing conflict with villagers because of the damage they are causing to crops and the daily threats to human life. If the migration routes are not opened, Botswana is faced with the stark reality of shooting and killing up to 60,000 elephants over the next few years.

Clearing the elephant migration routes is part of a wider plan aimed at creating a vast transfrontier conservation area, which is being supported by the governments of Switzerland and the U.S. “Once completed, it would create a continuous wilderness, wetland and wildlife area in southern Africa with significant eco-tourism potential and chance for local people to earn a sustainable livelihood,” said Heidi Kühn. “We’re delighted to have California Roots & Shoots members join our efforts.”

Please see the program description flyer and register your organization or school to get access to additional program materials and information.

Photos are from the Roots & Shoots Los Angeles Unified School District Leadership Conference in June 2005. Dr. Jane Goodall, Founder of the Jane Goodall Institute and U.N. Messenger of Peace, introduced Roots of Peace as a Community Partner of Roots & Shoots CA. (photos courtesy of Jed Harris)

For more information about Roots & Shoots and the Jane Goodall Institute.

Heidi & Kyleigh Kuhn introduce Roots of Peace at the conference