On 9/4/2018, a workshop was held, within the premises of the Restaurant la Détente, a workshop of presentations by the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection (OBPE) of the results of the 2014-2018 program for capacity building in the field of biodiversity under the funding of the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium (IRNSB) through the CeBIOS program. This workshop saw the participation of the Focal Point of the CHM-Belgium, the Coordinator of the CEBios program, the Coordinator of the CEBios program, the managers and managers of the OBPE, representatives of the administration, university professors, members of the National APA Committee and the Interinstitutional Focal Points (PFIs) of the Interinstitutional Focal Points (PFIs) of the Center for Information Exchange on Biological Diversity.

Overview of participants

 

The activities of this workshop began with an opening statement from the Director General of OBPE, Dr. Samuel NDAYIRAGIJE. Taking the floor, he first welcomed the participants and welcomed the Belgian delegation a pleasant stay. Then, he spoke about the 2014-2018 program of OBPE activities supported by IRSNB, which is part of the specific agreement (2014-2023) between the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGD) and the IRSNB, whose initiatives include support for activities carried out by the OBPE.

Opening remarks from the CEO of OBPE

He took this opportunity to talk about the agreement that was reached between OBPE- IRSNB whose objectives are:

• Support the OBPE in strengthening its capacities in terms of research, information exchange, awareness-raising and the conservation of biodiversity in protected areas and
• Allow the IRSNB and other research institutions in Belgium and elsewhere to promote their collections and archives and their expertise concerning biodiversity in Burundi.
• The implementation of these objectives, he stressed, leads us to four intermediate results including:
• A better understanding of the dynamics of habitats and biodiversity within protected areas in Burundi;
• A better understanding and valuation of ecosystem services in protected areas in Burundi;
• Raising the awareness of target audiences about biodiversity;
• Strengthening the CHM and MRV (Measuring, Reporting, Verification).

Concluding his remarks, he said that the OBPE is required to provide a report each time on the annual plan that has passed and thanked the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation of Belgium and the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium for the support constantly shown in supporting Burundi in activities of research, awareness-raising, information exchange and protection of biodiversity, not to mention the institutions and persons who have been more involved in all the activities carried out. In the frame of this program of solutions to the questions that haunt biodiversity.

After this opening speech, the activities of this workshop continued with a presentation on the 2014-2018 Partnership Framework between OBPE-IRSNB by Mr. MASABO Onesphore from the Biodiversity Research Service at OBPE. Starting his presentation, he talked about the Memoranda of Understanding and several annual contracts concluded between the OBPE (ex-INECN) and the IRSNB including: the Memorandum of Understanding on capacity building for the exchange of information and awareness-raising on conservation established for the period from 2002 to 2009;

Presentation by Mr Masabo Onesphore

• the Memorandum of Understanding in Support of INECN activities (Current OBPE) focused on research, information exchange and the conservation of biodiversity in protected areas in Burundi for the period 2010 to 2012 and
• -the Memorandum of Understanding for a Program of Research, Information Exchange, Information Exchange, Awareness and Conservation of Biodiversity in Burundi for the period 2014 to 2016. He said that the workshop was part of the third memorandum.

He continued his presentation by talking about the 2014-2018 program of OBPE activities supported by IRSNB within the framework of the specific agreement (2014-2023) between the Directorate-General for Development Cooperation (DGD) and the IRSNB, whose initiatives include support for activities carried out by the OBPE. He did not fail to point out that the activities carried out from 2014 to today (2018) were each time programmed in an annual plan for each of the 4 years. These annual plans describe in detail the activities that refer to the logical framework and timetable of the Programme for Research, Information Exchange, Awareness and Conservation of Biodiversity in Burundi.

He ended his presentation by mentioning all the intermediate results expected for the four axes financed by the CeBIOS program.

After this presentation, there was a series of presentations on the dynamics of habitats and biodiversity in protected areas in Burundi, on ecosystem services in protected areas in Burundi, on raising the awareness of target audiences on biodiversity and the strengthening of the CHM and MRV (Measuring, Reporting, Verification) (Measuring, Reporting, Verification) respectively by Messrs MASABO Onesphore, NDAYIKEZA Longin, NTASHAVU Dieudonné from the Biodiversity Research Department. and NDAYIZEYE Liévin attached to the Burundi Information Exchange Center of the Convention on Biological diversity. During these presentations, the participants showed through the various achievements using numerical data, the impact of these results, the constraints they faced, the main conclusions, the lessons learned from these 4 years of activities as well as the prospects for the future. These various presentations showed that the 2014-2018 programme was carried out in a satisfactory manner and that there is a need to perpetuate the achievements made.

Presentations of the various achievements by the various managers of the Biodiversity Research Department

Interventions by the various participants

The presenters in turn responded and clarified the concerns of the participants.

Interventions by the various presenters

After the interventions of the presenters, there was a reading session on the recommendations of the workshop by the rapporteur of the day in the person of FOFO Alphonse.

This workshop was closed by the CEO of OBPE thanking the participants for their important contributions and wished them good night.

During this workshop the following recommendations were made:

At the OBPE of:

• Raise awareness among the various target groups on raising awareness for the conservation of biodiversity in Burundi;
• Identify other ways of publishing information (such as the newsletter) in addition to the CHM-Burundi website;
• Establish an institutional structure within the OBPE to coordinate the interventions of other ministries in the field of biodiversity;
• Advocate so that all laws already proposed can be enacted as quickly as possible (law on environmental inspectors, law on biodiversity, etc.);
• Involve all stakeholders for the participatory management of protected areas;
• Disseminate research results to protected area managers;
• Rehabilitate the infrastructures (trails, buildings) of protected areas in order to relaunch tourism and facilitate surveillance;
• Set up a system to alert for possible dangers that may harm ecosystems and biodiversity;
• Organize meetings with the beneficiaries of ecosystem services (OTB, REGIDESO) in order to urge them to contribute to the maintenance and conservation of these services;
• Appoint a representative of the Batwa community on the National APA Committee (Access and Sharing of Benefits arising from the use of genetic resources);
• Ensure a permanent Internet connection to the Biodiversity Research Center located in Jabe;
• Display the CHM website in various universities in order to make it known to young researchers;
• Follow up so that the memorandum signed by researchers and traditional practitioners is applied; -Thank the Kingdom of Belgium for the support it has continued to provide to the OBPE via the Biodiversity Research Center.

To donors of:

• Strengthen the capacities of Interinstitutional Focal Points for good image taking and journalistic writing;
• Fund projects to improve the living conditions of populations living near protected areas;
• Take into account the perspectives already expressed during the presentations made during the workshop on 9/4/2018;
• Strengthen the capacities of OBPE staff, especially those of the Biodiversity Research Center;
• Support in-depth studies on ecosystem goods and services;
• Support the OBPE financially and technically so that it can better carry out its missions;
• Continue to support the program of research, information exchange and public awareness.