A US$ 6 million grant for Burundi Landscape Restoration and Resilience Project
RegionWeek Newsletter Vol IV, Issue #177 | Wednesday, May 19, 2021
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On May 13, The World Bank Group announced in a press release that it approved a US$6 million grant from the Global Environment Facility (GEF) to support communities in restoring degraded landscapes and intensifying sustainable land management practices for more resilient food production and strengthened value chains.
"Climate change is the ultimate threat multiplier of fragility in a country like Burundi, and this additional financing builds on the recognition that landscape restoration efforts must be addressed to tackle multifaceted problems related to rural poverty, nutrition, food security, and land use at the community level,” said Jean Christophe Carret, World Bank Country Director for Burundi, the Democratic Republic of the Congo and Angola.
The grant will allow the scale-up and expansion of the Burundi Landscape Restoration and Resilience Project to an additional province, Kayanza, home to degraded landscapes and important natural habitat. The project’s activities will specifically intervene in nine highly degraded coffee cultivation hills close to the Kibira National Park in the municipality of Matongo (Kayanza Province) and degraded forest landscapes within and along with the South Eastern sectors of the Park (Teza and Rwegura).
What you should know
Approved in 2018, the objective of the Landscape Restoration and Resilience Project is to restore land productivity in targeted degraded landscapes and, in the event of an eligible crisis or emergency, to provide an immediate and effective response to said eligible crisis or emergency.
The project supports the development of policies and capacities at the national and local levels to plan and implement land preservation and restoration in the targeted project areas, using a resilient and integrated landscape approach.
The project contributed to the restoration of degraded landscapes and improved land management in the targeted collines of the Bujumbura Rural and Muyinga Provinces, in the communes of Buhinyuza and Isale.
According to RegionWeek analysts, the most interesting component of this project in today’s context ( “Bujumbura-Tanganyika-Rusizi flooding”) is the Contingency Emergency Response (CERC). This contingency component can be triggered by a joint Government and World Bank agreement in case of an emergency. This component had been embedded in the project to finance early recovery or specific emergency works, goods, and services, in case of eligible emergencies, crises, disasters caused by natural hazards in the project.
Can this project help to address the rising water levels of the lake Tanganyika challenge, or floodings due to the Rusizi river overflow, can such events be eligible?
BURUNDI IN THE HEADLINES
This Wednesday, May 19, 2021, the Minister of Agriculture Dr. Déo Guide Rurema was the guest of the parliament to defend the Bill on Ratification by the Republic of Burundi of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Zone (AfCFTA). The AfCFTA will expand into an African market of 1.2 billion people, with a GDP of USD2.5 trillion in all 55 African Union member states, and will increase Burundi's intra-African trade by reducing tariff barriers and non-tariff. After analysis by Parliament, this Bill on Ratification by the Republic of Burundi of the Agreement Establishing the African Continental Free Trade Area (AfCFTA) was adopted unanimously.
The Ministry of Foreign Affairs held Wednesday in Bujumbura a workshop to raise awareness on the regional integration commitments made by Burundi, especially for the African continental free trade area (AfCFTA). The main goal was to analyze all aspects (advantages, opportunities, challenges, etc.) related to membership of Burundi, to the attention of private sector operators who are the key stakeholders. Participants recommended that the ongoing negotiations on various protocols should be led by a permanent team of experts with profiles specific enough to match conclusions requiring full vigilance. The workshop was supported by TradeMark East Africa an organization that works to reduce barriers to trade and increase business competitiveness in the East Africa region to contribute to economic growth, reduce poverty and increase prosperity for all.
The 22nd Meeting of the Tripartite Commission (Burundi, Tanzania, and UNHCR) on the voluntary repatriation of Burundian refugees living in Tanzania has held this Wednesday in Bujumbura. The 25th meeting of the technical working group was held from May 17th to 18th. Burundi was represented by the Minister of Home Affairs Mr. Gervais Ndirakobuca, Tanzania by its Minister of Interior George Simbachawene, and UNHCR by Abdul Karim Ghoul.
From 22 to 24 July 2020 in Kigoma, Tanzania, the tripartite technical working group on the voluntary return of Burundian refugees accepted the recommendation to create a platform for the coordination of reintegration of the returnees. Responding to the need to harmonize interventions and enhance coordination among the international community.
The 2021 Burundi Regional Refugee Response Plan brings together some 20 partners in Burundi and includes Government ministries, UN agencies, and NGOs, notably the Ministry of Interior, the Ministry of Human Rights, Social Affairs and Gender, the Ministry of Education, the Ministry of Health, the Ministry of Youth, UNHCR, UNDP, UNICEF, UNFPA, FAO, UN Women, WFP, WHO, UNAIDS, IOM, CARE, DRC, IRC, JRS, and Welthunger Hilfe. In 2020, the response to the Burundian refugee situation was among the most underfunded globally with last year’s US$293 million appeals just 40 percent funded.
READ ALSO: Burundi needs US$222.6 million for the 2021 Joint Refugee Return and Reintegration Plan
Thanks for reading!
Fabrice Iranzi, Editor in Chief | RegionWeek.com
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