A carefree childhood is something we all aspire to give our kids, but it can be difficult in our increasingly complex world. To mark #WorldRainforestDay on 22nd June, I was wondering what to select for my 96th #BrightenYourDay video - which species is most important in a beautiful biodiverse rainforest? The answer, of course, is us! People have been living in and playing a role in the ecology of rainforests for untold millennia. And for most of that time, our activities have mostly been compatible with the healthy functioning of that ecosystem - and with care, we could reign in our demands on our planet's forests to a sustainable level once again.
On a visit to Kokolopori, a village deep in the Congo #rainforest, I went down to the river to have a wash only to find I was not alone. First, clouds of butterflies fluttered by to sip the salts from my sweat-soaked camerabag. Then the joyous shrieks and giggles of the village kids caught my attention and camera's lens - splashing in the river, then using their arms to shade the riverbed to watch the fish. After our bath, they showed me their playground - a cut liana made a great swing, and some kind of pumpkin with a stick through it made a roller to run behind. Finally a really skilled gymnast showed us how to really work the liana swing. Of course I had to have a go, but fortunately my efforts were not recorded on video so I'll leave that to your imagination. I did spend much of my childhood in #Beverley climbing trees to tie ropes to swing on - in the absence of lianas in #Yorkshire - and we did have a natural swimming place in Barmston Drain by Brickie Bridge on Swinemoor, but I must admit to some envy at their natural jungle gym.
Whenever I chat to a child in places like this, I wonder whether he or she will grow up to be a poacher or a politician. These kids have the good fortune to be part of a community that works with the Bonobo Conservation Initiative, so have good mentors to guide their education and development. If rainforest conservation is to succeed (and it must if we are to stabilise our climate) it must be done with the full participation of the people who live in and depend upon the forest.