In the context of the conservation and sustainable management of tropical rainforest ecosystems in Central Africa, Kibira National Park had the privilege of being selected as a model forest that could serve as an example for other forests in the subregion. The Kibira forest has a long history. Before 1933, this forest served as a hunting reserve for the Kings of Burundi. The local populations respected the forest and gave it magical power.

A right of use relating to the grazing of livestock and the collection of forest products (firewood, construction wood, pharmacopoeia, beekeeping, bamboo, marsh grasses, etc.) was then recognized. Only the Batwa knew about this forest and lived daily on the products they made from it. Some parts of the forest were protected by families responsible for guarding the sites where the Kings are buried. Thus the tombs of the first Kings of Burundi are located in Kibira in the town of Kabarore (Rugazi zone). From 1933 to 1980, Kibira was classified as a Congo-Nile Ridge Forest Reserve by Belgian authorities. A delimitation was then materialized by the planting of a double line of cypress trees. This status was maintained after the independence of Burundi (1 July 1962).

Only the exploitation of valuable woods (Entandrophragma excelsum and Prunus africana) was then regulated and controlled. From independence to 1980, the right to allocate new land for crops within the defined area was abolished, but the right of use concerning grazing was retained. From 1980 to 1993, Kibira had the status of a national park. User rights are practically no longer tolerated within the park. The grazing of livestock, fires for pasture, and the collection of products other than dead wood is prohibited. The park is again delimited by a double line of pine trees and by a perimeter track that surrounds the park.

From 1993, the political crisis turned into an armed conflict. Some of the surveillance staff give up work due to insecurity, some residents take advantage of the absence of these personnel to cut wood and clear certain areas of the Kibira National Park.

In 2000, Kibira National Park received its legal status through Decree No. 100/007 of 25 January 2000 delimiting a park and four nature reserves. The Kibira National Park has thus always attracted the attention of the authorities from the Belgian tutelage (before the independence of Burundi) until today.