Under the funding of the Royal Institute of Natural Sciences of Belgium (IRSNB) through its CeBIOS program, an internship was organized at the Meise Botanical Garden in order to strengthen the capacities of the agents of the Burundian Office for Environmental Protection. This internship was carried out, during the period from October 22 to November 12, 2023, by OBPE agents working in the biodiversity research department and also taking care of the OBPE Herbarium. They have been trained on aspects of taxonomy and collections management. Thus, during the training and under the supervision of the agents of the Meise Botanical Garden, the trainees were trained on the treatment, registration, digitization and conservation of plant specimens, mushrooms, algae. Also, trainees took advantage of the presence of specialists in certain families such as Rubiaceae, Poaceae and Lamiaceae and other phyla such as mushrooms, algae and macrophytes, etc.

Herbarium treatment	Interspersing the herbariums in the JBM cabinets
Specimen scanning session
Plague trapping session	Visit to the JBM greenhouses

Through this internship, the beneficiaries learned a lot about the taxonomy of species in the Rubiaceae family and the management of collections thanks to the experience of the agents of the Meise Botanical Garden. Also, in the same context, OBPE, through its agents, received support in terms of work equipment.