The Price of Tea: How Burundi is trading a National Park for a Cash Crop
When Kibira was elevated to protected area status by a ministerial order establishing its boundaries on 12 December 1933, its area was 90,000 hectares. This remained the case until 1950, according to Professor Richard Habonayo, a lecturer and researcher at the Faculty of Agronomy and Bioengineering at the University of Burundi. Today, this area is […]
No Water, No Peace: The Human Cost of Kibira’s Vanishing Water Sources
Deforestation in Kibira and drought are accelerating the drying up of water resources. The population in the park’s two watersheds is paying the price. Scientists fear the worst. This fourth story is part of a series of four investigations produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center. In the capital of the former province of […]
500 to 200: How Tea Plantations Are Fueling the Decline of Kibira’s Chimpanzees
Tea plantations stretching as far as the eye can see on the edge of Kibira Park, agricultural fields, construction of a hydroelectric power station and vast bare land abandoned inside Kibira… Production companies and state institutions – OTB, Regideso, Isabu and DPAE – as well as local communities have encroached on the habitat of Kibira’s […]
Who’s Clearing Kibira? Farmers and Government
State production companies and institutions—Regideso, Isabu, and DPAE—carry out several development activities in Kibira, while local communities illegally exploit forest and mineral resources there. These activities exacerbate deforestation in Kibira. This second story is part of a series of four investigations produced with the support of the Pulitzer Center. “Kibira has become agricultural land!” exclaims a […]
Tea vs. Trees: The Struggle of Kibira National Park
Woodlands belonging to the Burundi Tea Board, where wood used to dry green tea leaves at the Rwegura tea factory has been cut down Photo Arthur Bizimana The Burundi Tea Board (OTB) is aggressively expanding tea-planting areas in Kibira National Park, one of the country’s ecosystem treasures, according to locals and serial studies from conservations. […]
Tanganyika: sludged lake, defenseless
The deposits into the lake mainly stem from indigenous and non-indigenous sources, which are causing water pollution as well as climate disorder, research found. Indigenous [autochthons] sediments group a large organic and a mineral component whose organic tenure average 3% that is a production of 20 to 60 tons per hectare comprising 2% algae and […]
Climate and agriculture: a double threat to hydroelectric production in Burundi
Burundi to invest in thermal power stations as climate change and unsustainable agroculture hints at hydroelectric facilities. The level of hydroelectric power station reservoirs is falling as a result of climate change and agricultural encroachment. This is reducing Burundi’s hydroelectric production. In an attempt to compensate for this drop, the Régie de Production et de […]