Jane Goodall: Children’s lack of time in nature is ‘appalling’, says conservationist

The award-winning primatologist tells New Scientist that education programmes must address the disconnect between young people and nature

By Adam Vaughan

The disconnect between young people and nature is “appalling” and a major issue that society needs to address, says the award-winning conservationist Jane Goodall.

Goodall, famous for her groundbreaking fieldwork on chimpanzees, says she welcomes the UK government’s new qualification for 14 to 16-year-olds on natural history, but more education is needed to help children engage with nature.

“It’s one of the big, big problems, dissociation from nature,” says Goodall. “Scientifically, we need nature, and young children in particular [need it] to develop properly …