Burundi

The institutional cooperation with the 'Office Burundais pour la Protection de l'Environnement' (OBPE), formerly known as 'Institut National de l’Environnement et la Conservation de la Nature (INECN)', started in 2006. In the framework of the strategy of the CEBioS programme for 2014-2023, the cooperation programme with OBPE was formulated in March 2014 in a participative workshop involving RBINS, OBPE and various stakeholders (Université du Burundi, Belgian embassy…).

The main objective of the cooperation with OBPE is to facilitate the link between scientific research and sustainable management of the 3 main national Parks in Burundi, the 'Parc National de la Rusizi', 'Parc National du Ruvubu' and 'Parc national de la Kibera'. The link consists of information flow and dissemination through the strengthening of the CHM at OBPE and the library in Gitega, awareness raising, scientific research on various ecosystem services, the production of tools to facilitate habitat monitoring and decision making for the management of the parc and capacity building of scientists, managers and rangers.

Expected outcome: OBPE is able to better monitor the dynamics of habitats in its protected areas, both at the implementation level (rangers using tools), as at the management level (reporting, analysing trends and deciding on specific interventions). OBPE has a better knowledge of the value of the ecosystem services and can use this information to promote green economy such as eco-tourism, mushroom collection, pollination, etc.