World Environment Day- Five Talents backs youth-led environmental restoration in Burundi

In 2022 I visited Burundi to meet with Five Talents programme partners and Savings Group members, and thought it an amazing country, with wonderful people and incredible landscapes. However, there are some very real challenges being faced by communities there.

Burundi is among the world's 22 most vulnerable countries to climate change, with an estimated 91% of internal displacements caused by natural hazards. There is an alarming combination of deforestation and climate change; according to the UN Food and Agriculture Organization Burundi has lost 50% of its forest cover in the last 25 years. 

To address these issues, Greening Burundi has launched initiatives to ensure climate justice in Burundi, and we are delighted to be partnering with them.

Greening Burundi is a non-profit youth-led organization that implements climate actions and environmental education programs in schools and the community. Their mission is to enhance the protection of the environment and to fight against climate change and its impacts by planting millions of trees for healthier populations and a better environment.

Their mission perfectly aligns with Five Talents: sustainability and resilience are two of our guiding principles. We are always asking ourselves, “is it going to have a long term impact?” and “can it withstand and adapt to change?”, and as climate change intensifies, these questions become increasingly harder to answer. 

Our partners and members live in countries which are disproportionately affected by climate change. Flooding, landslides and drought have devastated communities across eastern Africa, and our partner programmes are no exception. The UK team has always tried to find ways to minimise our impact on the environment, but the nature of our work means each year we do have to make periodic trips to programmes to assist our partners and to visit members. We already have steps in place to minimise our air travel, but we wanted to further offset the impacts of the flights we do take. So that is why we are supporting Greening Burundi. They are:

• Reducing poverty and food insecurity through different programmes such as agroforestry techniques, permaculture, kitchen gardens, implementation of anti-erosion measures and market-gardening promotion.
• Mitigating the negative environmental impacts of deforestation by promoting sustainable natural resource investments such as planting tree seedlings and community forests.
• Reducing indoor pollution through education and waste management.

When I spoke with Emmanuel Niyoyabikoze , Founder and CEO of Greening Burundi recently, he said:

‘To achieve Greening Burundi's goals, the support of Five Talents will contribute to the success of our environmental protection actions through massive afforestation.

Greening Burundi has a long journey to plant 50 million trees by 2040, and to achieve this we need support. The help of Five Talents will act in an invaluable way to meet the need for Greening Burundi to meet this objective.’

I know from my visit, from talking to Emmanuel and reports from our programme partnerships in Burundi, that the impacts of climate change and environmental degradation bring huge challenges for some of the most disadvantaged and fragile communities in the region. We were inspired to hear about Emmanuel’s entrepreneurial endeavours with Greening Burundi and how he is inspiring a new generation of young people with a vision of an environmentally sustainable future for their country. We are delighted to be supporting him and his team as part of our action on climate change. 

Kris Coppock

Co-CEO, Five Talents UK

Learn more about Greening Burundi.

Read the full Five Talents Burundi Report.