This course centers on the conservation and preservation of the Bonobo Ape's (Pan paniscus), an endemic species that calls the tropical rainforest habitat of the Congo their home. Local communities have been working to protect this bioregion and its species for years, and through a special partnership, the Ice Axe Foundation Impact School is honored to work with the local communities of the Congo Basin on this sustainability project.
By working with local Congolese people through cooperative conservation and community development programs, and by helping to shape national and international policy, the Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) is establishing new protected areas and leading efforts to safeguard Bonobos wherever they are found. This course will immerse students in an on the ground experience in the heart of the African continent, blending social ecology with cultural regeneration with a particular understanding of the political economy that forms both threats and solutions to the Bonobos, their home, and the people who coexist with them.