Drought, damaged soil fertility, increased frequency of bushfires and pressure for agricultural land are all threats that local communities are being faced with in Burundi, with climate change likely to exacerbate these pressures. Better management and use of ecosystem services play an important role in reducing the vulnerability and increasing the resilience of local communities.

Burundi BirdLife Partner (the Association Burundaise pour la protection de la Nature) has worked with Serukubeze, the Mpungwe Mountain Chain Site Support Group (SSG), in Ruyigi Province in the East of Burundi, towards the development of a community development Plan. The plan was a participatory process in which challenges, vulnerabilities and opportunities facing the community were identified. Support was then given to enable the community to engage with local government, with solutions integrated into a main development plan at the district level called Le Plan Communal de Développement Communautaire (Communal plans for community development). It has aided ecosystem-based adaptation measures to be in put in place and has helped communication between communities and relevant decision makers at local, national, regional and internal levels.

Extreme events are predicted to substantially increase in frequency (Solomon et al. 2007) making environmental events such as drought likely to become more prevalent. A change in how communities use local resources is therefore key in ensuring sustainable development and conservation of habitat for wildlife.

This case study is taken from ‘The Messengers: What birds tell us about threats from climate change and solutions for nature and people’. To download the report in full click here.