Protecting Nature and Safeguarding Livelihood in Burundi!

Launch of a GNF project for the protection of forests and safeguarding rural livelihoods in Burundi.

Helping people help themselves!

Biraturaba informs and trains the rural population in order to expand the project. Training is an important aspect to improve the ecological and social situation in the project area..

Some examples of how you can help

• With 15 Euro two clay cooking stoves can be manufactured
• With 50 Euro 250 tree saplings can be cultivated and planted
• With 200 Euro self-help training can be provided

Poverty destroys nature

Burundi, a small agrarian state in the heart of Africa, can barely feed its population. Years of civil war have destroyed infrastructure, decimated the fauna and traumatised the inhabitants. One third of the income is used to buy firewood – money that could be spent on food and education. Timber is illegally harvested, poverty is the driving force behind poaching.

Ensuring the survival of species

As a result of the civil war, great apes and elephants have already disappeared. Now, the remaining forests must be preserved as habitat of bushbuck and serval, a rare African wild cat. The Rusizi delta at Lake Tanganyika is home to hippos and an endangered habitat as well.

Projects for humans and nature

Finally, cultivation and tree planting help protect forests and wild animals in the Rusizi National Park. Closed clay cooking stoves will replace open fireplaces. Additionally, trees provide shade and protect the huts against wind, thus also protecting the doum palm tree, a regional palm species.

First successes motivate

Currently, our partners at Biraturaba, together with war refugees, are planting 60,000 trees on plots allocated by the state. Furthermore, 1,000 new improved cooking stoves made of clay and equipped with metal grids are being manufactured, which use only half as much wood for cooking.

Helping people help themselves!

Biraturaba informs and trains the rural population in order to expand the project. Training is an important aspect to improve the ecological and social situation in the project area.