According to the recent law 1/10 N° of 30 May 2011 on the creation and management of protected areas in Burundi, the Rusizi Nature Reserve is a protected area under the governance of co-management between the State and the local communities. This new vision in the management of the Rusizi Nature Reserve comes at a time when this protected area is in a disastrous situation of degradation following the various conflicts between INECN and communities over the use of natural resources. These conflicts have their origin in the fact that the creation and management of this reserve have always been prescriptive, with the exclusion of local communities, who have finally lost the right to use biological resources.

Faced with the continuous degradation of the Rusizi Nature Reserve due in part to a lack of collaboration between stakeholders in the exploitation and management of its natural resources, the project Integration of coastal communities in the conservation of the Rusizi Nature Reserve proposes to promote consultation between the following partners:

- the local populations using these resources;

- the local and national associations concerned;

- local elected officials, parliamentarians and senators;

- the National Institute for Environment and Nature Conservation (INECN), which is the governmental body responsible in particular for the management of protected areas.

The new law therefore appears to be a tool for the effective involvement of local communities in this reserve management exercise. It is therefore a new protection policy that responds to the variety of rights recognized by communities and the State and demonstrated by the sharing of authority and responsibility in the management of the reserve.

The law considers that the management of a protected area must be accompanied by activities to develop human environments, in particular by granting communities the right to use the natural resources of the protected area. Indeed, article 27 of the same law stipulates that a memorandum of agreement on the right of use and its application procedures must be signed between the organization responsible for the conservation of nature in its functions, in this case INECN, and a segment of the population concerned by these rights.

It is with this in mind that INECN, in its stages of co-management with communities, has signed a memorandum of understanding with associations that exploit the resources of the Rusizi Nature Reserve.

Article 27 relates to the establishment of an exploitation plan drawn up by mutual agreement between the managers of protected areas and the representatives of the coastal populations using a given natural resource. This means that despite the access to natural resources granted to the population through the memoranda, rational methods of exploiting them must be put in place to guarantee their sustainability.

Objectives:

- Overall objective: of the project is to improve the governance of the natural resources of the Rusizi Nature Reserve through the effective involvement of all stakeholders.

- Specific objective 1: Integration of the interests of various social actors and other partners into the planning and decision-making processes concerning the management and sustainable use of the Reserve

- Specific objective 2: The promotion of ecologically viable practices for the management of natural resources in the Rusizi Nature Reserve.

Donor: IUCN/CARPE	International Union for Conservation of Nature
Regional Program for the Environment in Central Africa

 

1. A Participatory Diagnosis on the legislation in force for the establishment of a suitable mode of governance for the management of the Rusizi Nature Reserve;

- A two-day stakeholder consultation workshop was organized under the facilitation of the National Institute for Environment and Nature Conservation (INECN), with the technical support of the Association Protection of Natural Resources for the Welfare of the Population in Burundi (APRN/BEPB). The objective of the meeting was to: “set up a participatory governance mode and incentives for the management of the Rusizi Nature Reserve”. The Workshop saw the participation of all stakeholders in the management of the Reserve. These are INECN, the Local Administration, the representatives of the people, the representatives of the people, the national NGOs and local associations working in the Reserve and the police in charge of security in the vicinity of the Reserve.

2. Establish and support a permanent exchange framework (Local Forum) between different stakeholders, local communities, authorities, local and national associations working in the Reserve, local elected officials, parliamentarians, senators and the INECN for the protection of the Reserve

- Through this activity, a meeting for all stakeholders was organized to analyze the co-management commitment text for the Reserve and the texts governing the Statute and the Rules of Procedure of the Forum for the Reserve. On this occasion, these texts were
approved and validated by the participants.

3. Encourage and facilitate associations, local groups and national associations working in the Reserve to sign with INECN for their participation in the management of this protected area.

- Meetings were organized to develop memoranda of understanding between INECN and stakeholders. The statute and rules of procedure governing the forum were developed on that occasion. In the end, a workshop to set up a participatory governance mode and incentives was organized. During this activity, memoranda of understanding were signed.