National Network for Equitable Library Service

When Deni B'chard learned of the last living bonobos the matriarchal great apes who are, alongside chimpanzees, our closest relatives he began exploring ways to reverse their alarming decline. Upon arriving in war-ravaged Congo, B'chard connected with the Bonobo Conservation Institute (BCI), a small organization that has done more to save bonobos than any of its larger counterparts. Witnessing BCI's activities first-hand, B'chard realized that its approach offers a unique, inspiring, post-colonial model of conservation that is saving the bonobo by helping rebuild and revitalize Congolese communities devastated by war and chronic unemployment. Part history, part travelogue, part environmental'manifesto, 'The Last Bonobo' forces us to reexamine established modes of conservation while blazing a path toward new, sustainable solutions to our most urgent environmental issues.