TRIBUTE TO THE LATE NZIGIDAHERA BENOIT (1964-2018)

In this newsletter No. 3, we pay tribute to a great figure, the late NZIGIDAHERA Benoît (Peace be upon him) who was a man of reference, an unforgettable legend, a true genius and friend of nature, the botanist par excellence, the botanist par excellence, the tireless worker and the man of the field. Head of the Biodiversity Research Department at the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection (OBPE) and National Focal Point of the Burundian CHM, he has contributed enormously to the progress of biodiversity research and to the protection of the flora and fauna of Burundi.

The late NZIGIDAHERA Benoît has always worked for inter-institutional and multi-actor collaboration in Burundi. He was also recognized as a champion of biodiversity by major international organizations and platforms such as the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN) and the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD). Thus, from 2003, the late NZIGIDAHERA Benoît was at the origin of the partnership between the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences (IRSNB) and its CeBIOS program, financed by the Belgian Development Cooperation, and the OBPE. This partnership has made it possible to establish a program of research, information exchange, awareness-raising and the conservation of biodiversity in Burundi. In order to disseminate scientific knowledge on biodiversity on a global scale, the late NZIGIDAHERA Benoît, through the Burundi Biodiversity Information Exchange Center (CHM-Burundi), strongly contributed in 2006 to the creation of the Scientific Bulletin of the National Institute for the Environment and Nature Conservation (INECN), which became, in 2015, the Scientific Bulletin on the Environment and Biodiversity of which he was the Editor-in-Chief.

For example, in 2016, CHM-Burundi received a certificate of merit in information exchange at the Thirteenth Conference of the Parties (COP13) held in Cancun, Mexico. In 2018, CHM-Burundi received a gold medal awarded by the Executive Secretary of the CBD at the Fourteenth Conference of the Parties (COP14) on Biodiversity in Sharm el-Sheikh in Egypt.

In this special issue, his former colleagues, his former friends and students, who are now university teachers and researchers in various institutions, pay tribute to him by opting to immortalize him through their works in a team spirit so dear to the late Benoît. These authors answered specific questions related to the conservation of nature and the preservation of biodiversity. This was the primary and daily concern of the late Benoît. In this special newsletter, articles deal with various fields, such as ecology and the valorization of natural resources. To remain true to the spirit of openness that characterized the late Benoît, this newsletter on the environment and biodiversity encouraged and accepted contributions from different backgrounds.