Empty Hands, Open Arms: A New Vision of Conservation to Save the Bonobos and the Congo Rainforest

Through a series of interviews and travelogues, novelist and memoirist Béchard (Cures for Hunger) recounts his efforts, alongside Bonobo Conservation Initiative (BCI) president Sally Jewell Cox, to save the nearly extinct bonobo chimpanzee. Since the Congolese have a complicated relationship with both the bonobos and the rainforest, BCI takes a “grassroots” approach, working with existing institutions to effect change. Strategies include laying the groundwork for ecotourism, which could boost both the bonobo population and the Congolese economy. Despite the author’s good intentions, the narrative becomes diffuse as he tries to tackle the Congo’s history, and the complex political and economic factors involved in global warming and the destruction of the rainforest. Béchard is at his best when sharing his own insights; he makes his most salient points when describing his firsthand experience among the Congolese, narrating his travels through Djolu and Kokolopori by motorcycle and canoe. (Oct.)