Background 

From January-June 2011 PEI provided technical assistance to the government of Burundi. Burundi’s economy is characterized by the primary sector which contributes to nearly 40% of the GDP and employs nearly 93% of the population. Nevertheless, the high population density in fertile areas, the lack of investment in the field of environment and natural resources, low awareness and poor tools for environmental management in combination with climate change have resulted in environmental degradation including deforestation, land degradation, non-rational exploitation and pollution. To better tackle these challenges Burundi received technical support from PEI in 2011 on how to mainstream P-E objectives into the PRSP II with particular attention to the environment and natural resource management component. PEI worked together with the Ministry of Environment, Ministry of Economy and Finance, various sector ministries and the UNDP CO who funded most of the assistance.