Biology Reference
In-Depth Information
The result of all this is a conservation movement that might be characterized as viral. Regardless
of their level of education, local people have numerous ways to participate, and whereas they might
oppose a park that excludes them, they understand how community conservation improves their
lives. They have seen members of their community who once struggled win respect and become
conservationists. Albert was elected to parliament, and the conservation graduates from the ISDR
technical college, both men and women, have found jobs with larger NGOs and received govern-
ment positions. Most importantly, the people are interested in more than the immediate material be-
nefits of conservation; they feel ownership of conservation's long-term vision, and they know that
their forests are degrading and the wildlife is vanishing.
The Congo I was encountering could not be more different from the images that dominate the
media: a country of such inhumanity that we find it incomprehensible. Blinded by the old trope of
the dark heart of Africa, we fail to understand how our material and political interests have contrib-
uted to the suffering of the Congolese. Rather, we dismiss their hardship as an African phenomen-
on. We refuse to acknowledge even how our appetite for the newest technology has accelerated the
environmental degradation. In
Dancing in the Glory of Monsters
, Jason Stearns writes: “If all we
see is black men raping and killing in the most outlandish ways imaginable, we might find it hard
to believe that there is any logic to this conflict.” Among the results of such media portrayals is that
we fail to recognize the culture that has evolved within the rainforest, a sort of living Rosetta Stone
that can both open the complex ecosystem to science and offer a framework for conservation.
Over the previous month, I had noticed that Sally and Michael wore too many hats, writing
grants and running offices in two countries while being leaders in the field, negotiating projects,
and coordinating visits. They seemed disorganized and overwhelmed at times, but they did listen to
the people, and when the villagers spoke to them of the forest, they abided by the cultural rules and
found a way to work within them, knowing that this approach would have enduring results.
However, their relationship to cultural stories isn't naïve. Neither Albert Lokasola nor BCI be-
lieves that conservation should be left in the hands of starving people, practiced on the basis of
folklore alone. War, migration, logging, and overpopulation have profoundly altered people's rela-
tionship to the natural world in many parts of the Congo. Still, the traditional beliefs of rainforest
inhabitants endure in many places, and conservation is more likely to take hold when their cultures
are respected and, where possible, used to complement the scientific view.
Cultural understanding is one factor among many in creating a successful reserve, from commu-
nity accords that prevent hunting to legal protection at the national level, to international funding.
These are all part of a complex web of relationships that link Washington, DC, London, Oslo, and
other capitals to Kinshasa—to Kokolopori, Sankuru, and the numerous Bonobo Peace Forest sites
under development. And yet if that web is to connect not just to educated Congolese like Albert
and André but to all the people in the forest, understanding their history and values is crucial. When
they see conservation as an organically integrated part of their livelihoods and personal ambitions,
they are far more inclined to take up its cause and reproduce its projects independently.
Back in Kokolopori, after almost five days with Roger, I found the camp busy. The villagers
came out to watch the 3-D film crew lugging their equipment about. With the help of trackers
and eco-guards, the crew carried everything into the rainforest to shoot scenes of bonobos. One
night, the cameraman projected his footage on a sheet in a hut, the villagers passing around the 3-D
glasses, seeing their bonobos hanging in the air before them, just above the rough-hewn table with
its bowls of pineapple chunks.
