Roots creep underground everywhere and make a firm foundation. Shoots seem very weak, but to reach the light they can break open brick walls, Yared Fubusa explained last night in his lecture entitled, "Saving Chimpanzees and the Remaining African Equitorial Rain Forests."

Fubusa, a graduate student in tourism at the University of Utah, said how the name Roots and Shoots, an organization he helped implement in 1991, is symbolic. If the brick walls are all the problems that are being faced on the planet, then the hundreds and thousands of roots and shoots, symbolizing our young people around the world, can break through these walls.

Fubusa grew up in a village named Kiganza, which is near the Gombe Stream National Park in Tanzania. He met Jane Goodall, a scientist famous for her field studies of chimpanzees, when she came to visit his school in 1991. At only 14 years old, Fubusa became one of Goodall's scientific field researchers, and he helped to install the Roots and Shoots program.

Roots and Shoots is an environmental and humanitarian network for youth all around the world. There are active members in over 66 countries. The program shows care and concern for the community, for animals and for the environment, Fubusa said.

"Every individual has a role to play, no matter how big or small they are," Fubusa said.

The number of chimpanzees in Gombe Stream National Park, and also in all of Africa, is dwindling. Where there once were two million chimpanzees, there are now only 200,000, Fbbusa said.

One main reason for the decline of chimpanzee populations is deforestation, he said.

"If Tanzania keeps being deforested at the rate it is now, some people believe the entire country will become a desert in only 60 years," Fubusa said.

Also, the human population in Tanzania has grown from 15 million in 1985, to 33 million people in 2002.

"When human population increases, the chimps' habitats get invaded," Fubusa said.

Another reason for the declining number of chimps is due to bushmeat trade. Also, poachers usually shoot mothers in order to get to their babies, which they then sell and ship to Europe or America, to be used commercially or in zoos.

Fubusa is planning to do his Ph.D. on research involving community-based conservation.

"I envision a solution-oriented system where the communities in Tanzania are fully involved with tourism," Fubusa said.

Right now, most of the money obtained from tourism goes to the central government and to famous politicians. Fubusa wants to give villagers incentive to protect chimps that tourists will come to see, and in return, the villages will get to keep a percentage of the profits in order to pay for better schools and medical care.

"Tourists will be able to visit and see not only the chimpanzees, but they will also get to see the beauty of the local villages and cultures," Fubusa said. "The local people will benefit."

Fubusa believes that if he begins this "revolution" in Gombe Stream National Park and the surrounding villages, it will spread across Tanzania into different parks, and then into different countries around Africa.

"I want to revolutionize the way the government looks at conservation," Fubusa said.

Reuben Rose-Redwood (graduategeography), a long-time friend of Fubusa, believes that he is a man of the people.

"I believe that he will be one of the future leaders of Tanzania; there is no doubt about that," Rose-Redwood said. "He has a desire to make a difference."

Fubusa believes that the future of Africa is on all of our shoulders. Lakes and rainforests are diminishing at incredible rates in Tanzania and in the rest of Africa, Fubusa said.

For more information on the Roots and Shoots program or the Jane Goodall Institute go to www.janegoodall.org.