– They need love. Fanny Minesi describes some of our closest relatives. The pygmy chimpanzee, or bonobo, shares almost 99 percent of its genes with us humans. Photo: Norad Minesi runs Lola Ya bonobo outside Kinshasa in Congo. The reserve was founded by her mother. She has grown up with the bonobos. – They are led by the women, who share the power, she enthusiastically tells news. – Maybe you can be inspired by it? she laughs. Fanny Minesi has grown up with the bonobos. Photo: Norad The rainforest in the Congo basin is the only place in the world where bonobos live. And there they do an important job, for all of us. Congo’s rainforest is the second largest in the world. The peatland and the trees absorb and store enormous amounts of carbon, which would otherwise worsen the climate crisis. Here the bonobos eat fruit and nuts. Then they spread the seeds around so that new trees and aftergrowths are born. – They are crucial for the ecosystem. We call them the gardeners of the forest, says Minesi. But now it is the forest’s helpers who need help. Photo: Norad – Dør ud leuður For the reserve is not their natural habitat. Orphaned bonobo babies are cared for here. The species is endangered and the population has declined over the past 30 years, according to WWF. – In 2020 and 2021, we received ten a year. Research says that for every orphan who comes to Lola, ten have died in the wilderness, says Minesi. Gladys Mavunza with a bonobo baby that has lost its family. Photo: Norad At the reserve, they get a name and a human adoptive mother, who will give them care and love. It is absolutely necessary to save them, says Minesi. – Without the love and bond they create with their mother, they always die. They stop fighting, they stop eating, she says. Back to nature The aim is to get them back to nature. It is a long process. First around five years with an adoptive mother and bononbo kindergartens on the reserve. When they are ready, a group is selected and transported back to the rainforest. There, it can take over a year of gradual adaptation before they are able to join the wild herd. Photo: Norad Minesi says that she and her colleagues can see that nature has become richer where the bonobos have been reintroduced. – In the area that is protected, we have large mammals, we have hippos, we have leopards, different types of monkeys, many types of birds, she says. The nature summit must find answers There are several reasons why the bonobo is threatened with extinction. Poverty is a major contribution, according to both Minesi and Norwegian Norad. Deforestation threatens their habitat. It can come from poor people cutting down trees to grow food. Other players engage in both legal and illegal logging. Bonobos are also hunted for, among other things, food or traditional medicine. Norway works a lot to protect the rainforest in the Congo, says Hilde Dahl, deputy director at Norad. – We collaborate with the authorities, civil society and other actors to implement measures that will contribute to taking care of the forest. At the same time, there is also a focus on offering alternative sources of income for the population living in and around the forest. It is not just the bonon that is struggling. One million plant and animal species are threatened with extinction, according to the UN. The Congo rainforest is a major carbon store for the world. Photo: Per Liebeck / Norad Right now the world is meeting at the COP15 nature summit in Montreal, to try to find solutions. The aim is to adopt a framework for global biological diversity. It has been called “a Paris agreement for nature”. For Minesi, there is a clear connection between protecting the pine forests, the rainforest and the earth’s climate. – People who live far away from the Congo basin must understand that their future is linked to the protection of this area, she says.
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– They need love – news – Klima
