Protect bonobos.
Preserve rainforests.
Empower people.

Photo © Christian Zeigler, National Geographic

When the Bonobo Conservation Initiative was founded 25 years ago, we started with a small group of motivated people and one very big idea: to protect bonobos and their rainforest home.

Tokolonga elongo! Together, we will win!

With your help, we’re fighting to save bonobos from extinction.

Together with Congolese communities, the DRC government, and international partners, BCI is implementing innovative solutions to address the complex problem of bonobo conservation.

15,000

Bonobos remain in the wild. Humankind’s sister species. Peaceful. Intelligent. Loving. Endangered.

25

Years of collaboration with indigenous communities and organizations to protect the Congo Basin.

9,000,000

Nine million acres of officially protected habitat, with two million more on the way in the Bonobo Peace Forest.

Our programs.

We have so much to learn from and about bonobos, but time is running out. Their population is small, fragmented, and declining rapidly due to hunting and habitat loss.

To succeed in our mission, BCI is taking action on multiple levels.

Baby bonobo holding a stick to its mouth

Photo © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

PROTECT

Aerial view of a river winding through forests with a rainbow in the background

Photo © Christian Ziegler, National Geographic

PRESERVE

A group of smiling schoolchildren peering through an open window

Photo © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

EMPOWER

Closeup of a winding tree trunk in a forest

Photo © Gwenn Dubourthoumieu

PEACE FOREST

Now live!

Watch BCI President Sally Jewell Coxe’s inspiring TEDx Asheville talk: “An Ape as an Avatar: How Bonobos Can Lead Us to a Better World”.

You can help.

Bonobos need us—and we need bonobos! Each and every act of support makes a difference. Your donation directly supports our work with local communities to protect bonobos and their habitat in the Congo Basin.

DONATE NOW