A new nature reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will become the world’s largest continuous protected area for great apes, particularly the endangered bonobo species, the most human-like of all the apes. Larger than the state
A new nature reserve in the Democratic Republic of Congo (DRC) will become the world’s largest continuous protected area for great apes, particularly the endangered bonobo species, the most human-like of all the apes. Larger than the state of Massachusetts, the new reserve encompasses 11,803 square miles of tropical rainforest, extremely rich in biodiversity and will protect both the bonobo and okapi, a rare forest giraffe found, like the bonobo, only in the DRC.
The Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) paved the way for the new reserve by developing a desire for conservation within the local people, who have endured much hardship during the recent war in the Congo, which devastated the local people and claimed four million lives — more than any war since WWII.
"The people of Sankuru relied on the forest for every aspect of their livelihood, said Sally Jewell Coxe, president and co-founder of the Bonobo Conservation Initiative. "Helping them to develop new economic opportunities apart from the bushmeat trade was one of the most urgent priorities."
Andre Tosumba, director of BCI’s Congolese NGO partner, ACOPRIK (Community Action for