Since 2012, the National Institute for Environment and Nature Conservation (INECN), currently called the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection (OBPE), has undertaken activities to set up ecological trails to monitor the dynamics of habitats and biodiversity in the three main APs of Burundi, in this case the national parks of Kibira, Rusizi and Ruvubu.

This initiative has always benefited from the support of the IRSNB within the framework of a long-term partnership, particularly focused on monitoring the dynamics of habitats and the promotion of ecosystem services. OBPE agents have therefore been trained so that they can collect standardized data on the evolution of environments, and get involved in field campaigns that are organized regularly to carry out observations on these changes (Pl. 1). Training workshops, data collection campaigns and scientific research on habitat dynamics were used to collect the data necessary to develop lexicons of plants observed in the above-mentioned parks. This guide is therefore one of the fruits of this work carried out in the PNru. This manual constitutes a didactic tool whose merit is to make known the vegetation of the PNru in a simple way, but without altering the scientific quality of the content. It offers standard observation standards on the evolution of habitats, makes it possible to recognize current types, to facilitate the monitoring of their dynamics and to integrate this information into a database.

In addition to generalities and the methodology used for the preparation of this publication, it provides a brief illustrated description of the habitats observed along the four ecological trails established in the four sectors of the PNru, as well as a list of plants recorded in these environments. These are dominant and frequent plants, that is to say, well visible and which constitute references for recognizing the types of habitats in which they are found.

In fact, the names of dominant plants are very often used to designate the latter. This lexicon, containing scientific names of plants and their appellations in Kirundi, is intended to be very practical. The aim is to make this tool available to users, who are not necessarily initiated into the natural sciences, since strictly scientific terminology would not be usable by the general public. This guide, which is essential for the implementation of the LEM, is also likely to support actions to raise awareness about the conservation of the PNru.