SI-Community-based biodiversity conservation in the Rusizi plain, Burundi - RUBICOM

BI2023SIN367A102 01/09/2023 - 31/08/2025 National parks in Africa are essential to protect megafauna, associated biodiversity and landscape. Park authorities hence restrict the use of natural resources by local communities, to avoid illegal land encroachment, poaching and ecosystem degradation. Yet, the persistent poverty, and the need for natural resources for their livelihood results in conflicts 1) between local communities and park authorities, and 2) between humans and wildlife. The RUBICOM project aims to provide the basis for a knowledge driven, sustainable human-bioversity coexistence in the River Rusizi plain of Burundi, focusing on aquatic and wetland ecosystems. Community-based biodiversity conservation requires a stronger focus on optimizing conservation efforts that maximize synergies between biodiversity and ecosystem functioning, and local communities being able to benefit from the ecosystem services the wetlands provide (e.g. for drinking water, fish, medicinal plants, drought resilience, flood protection). The project will focus on wetland biodiversity, and more specifically targets the hippopotamus (in short hippo) as a key or ‘flagship’ species for conservation. The hippo is a key species determining the ecosystem’s primary production, water quality and plant biodiversity, but is also involved most directly in human-biodiversity conflicts, often leading to direct confrontations and injuries. The project aims to set a baseline for biodiversity status in the region, as well as improve understanding of people’s perception on human-wildlife conflicts and potential for community-supported biodiversity conservation. This can serve as basis for developing solutions for a more community-based biodiversity management, and creation of locally embedded knowledge hubs that further strengthen these community-based biodiversity strategies, which is also key to developing future climate change adaptation strategies. Wetlands play a key role in developing a climate-resilient future for the community.