Conservation in Action 2025 (EXTERNAL SHARE) - Flipbook - Page 38
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OVER 27,000 PEOPLE REACHED THROUGH
COMMUNITY ACTIVITIES IN BONOBO HABITAT
Since 2009, Friends of Bonobos (FOB) – through the Lola ya Bonobo Sanctuary – has successfully released
over 30 Endangered bonobos into the Ekolo ya Bonobo Community Reserve in The Democratic Republic
of the Congo. Illegal poaching remains the greatest threat to these – and other – wild bonobos, so in 2024
and 2025 we provided 昀椀nancial support to FOB to enable the
education team of Les Amis des Bonobos du Congo (ABC)
to deliver anti-poaching conservation education and
awareness raising.
In 2025, the ABC team reached over 18,000 people around the Ekolo ya Bonobo Community Reserve
through a range of activities, ranging from school sessions with students and teachers through to
practical workshops with civil servants.
Over 27,000 people were reached over the course of the two-year project.
At the end of 2025, we formally agreed a new three-year project with Friends of Bonobos. This will focus
on long-term monitoring and protection of the reintroduced bonobos and is particularly important as
a new release is planned in 2026. Our support will help to train and equip bonobo trackers to conduct
forest patrols, gather ecological and behavioural data, and engage with other forest users to minimise
human-bonobo con昀氀ict. Building on the previous support for conservation education and engagement,
this will be an important step in our e昀昀orts to ‘Reverse the Red’ of this species.
Young bonobo at the Lola ya Bonobo sanctuary in the Democratic Republic of the Congo – Friends of Bonobos
