The Integrating Biodiversity into National and Sectorial Development Policies in Burundi Project began in August 2017. Implementation was first delayed due to unforeseen circumstances and was subsequently, officially terminated in February 2021.

The overall objective of the project was the integration of biological diversity in national, sectoral, and local development, and poverty reduction strategies, plans and programmes. To attain this objective, the Government of Burundi drew up sectoral plans to integrate biodiversity into 6 key sectors including the agriculture, mining, transport, finance, internal affairs, and planning sectors. However, the effective integration of these plans could only be achieved with the committed involvement of stakeholders, particularly senior decision makers. The project attempted to attract the attention of decision-makers and lead them towards biodiversity integration.

Concrete results in 2018 included the drafting and stakeholder validation of legal texts for the creation of the Inter-Ministerial Platform and the Technical Committee on Biodiversity that would advise it, the drafting and validation of the national position on the integration of biodiversity in the new Poverty Reduction Strategy, an awareness raising guide for high level decision makers, a training of Burundian-Clearing House Mechanism sectorial Focal Points on the use of Portal ToolKit and data transfer to the Bioland tool, posting of approximately 40 new pages of information by these Focal Points, and a drafting of President of Burundi’s speech for the International Day for Biodiversity.

Due to the termination of the project before all activities were implemented, impacts of the project could not be measured.