Burundi is facing a rapid change in landscape as human pressure on forests and soil degradation hit at Northern region as it was granted USD 6,000,000 addition fund for landscape restoration and resilience project.
On Monday, the 16th of August, 2022, the Burundi’s National Assembly in a plenary session analysed and adopted a law ratifying the grant for additional fund to support for the Landscape Restoration and Resilience Project in Burundi.
The grant is expected to be handed over by the International Development Association and to be executed to enlarge the initial project in Matongo commune in Kayanza Province, with degraded landscapes.
Environment experts warned over unsustainable activities on mountains and marshlands including cutting tree for chalk coals, searching for fields to cultivate, and habitable land.
In addition, population growth governed the erasure of environment since population grows but land remains tiny.
“Overcultivating the land is a major handicap to land restoration as Burundian only rely on agriculture to feed their families”, said Leonidas Nzigiyimpa Specialist in Nature conservation.
On May 13, The World Bank Group announced the approval of a US$6 million grant from the Global Environment Facility to support communities in restoring degraded landscapes and intensifying sustainable land management practices for more resilient food production and strengthened value chains.
“Climate change is the ultimate threat multiplier of fragility in a country like Burundi, and this additional financing builds on the recognition that landscape restoration efforts must be addressed to tackle multifaceted problems related to rural poverty, nutrition, food security, and land use at the community level”, saidJean Christophe Carret,World Bank Country Director for Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola.
Activists have been on top to restore land in Burundi. Also, individual projects have been implemented in a bid to reshape forests in Burundi such the army of the country with their project “Ewe Burundi urambaye” translated in English as Burundi is well restored.
So far, the initial project consisted of Buhinyuza (Muyinga province) and Isare (Bujumbura province) communes’ restoration. In addition three protected areas including Ruvubu Park, the part of Kibira Park and Bururi Natural Forest Reserve.
As of today, the initiative has had an impact on restoration of degraded landscapes. It has also contributed to effective land management in the collines of the Bujumbura and Muyinga Provinces respectively Isale and Buhinyuza communes.
The National Assembly passed the bill unanimously.
