Congolese families, who fled from Democratic Republic of Congo by fleeing on a boat across Lake Albert, sit in a line at United Nations High Commission for Refugees' Kyangwali refugee settlement camp in Uganda, March 19, 2018. Photo Reuters

KAMPALA, UGANDA - Twenty-two-year-old Meta Josten from the Democratic Republic of Congo was already living a hard life in one of Uganda’s refugee settlements. When the Ugandan government announced measures last year to control the spread of COVID-19, life got even harder.

With little or no work available to locals, Josten, who previously survived on casual labor outside the settlement, had no income to supplement the aid his family was given.

For Josten, who lived with five siblings and a jobless father, it was the hunger that almost got him to take his life.

“We slept two days without eating food," Josten said. "We were just surviving on just porridge. A bit of porridge which sustained us for the bit of moments. By then I was like if it’s like this, which means, it’s useless for me to stay in this world.”

Mamuru Jackson, a refugee from South Sudan, said it was the lack of human interaction that pushed him to the brink. Having fled to Uganda with a younger brother, leaving his mother and father in South Sudan, Jackson wasn’t ready to assume the role of a parent.

“Actually, that thought came into my mind," Jackson  said. "Because, I feel like I’m alone in this world. And also, the work at home. Because I was only elder person. The other brother of mine is still very young. I feel overwhelmed.”

Male Ali, a psychologist and counselor, said  both Josten’s and Jackson’s conditions were deepened due to the thought of not being cared for after separation from family. He outlines the underlying issues.

“Parental abuse, poverty," Ali said. "Those who have been stricken … Those who are traumatized. Especially those who faced violence. Exchange of bullets, now like for the refugee dwellers. And they really had a lot of post-traumatic stress that was now transitioning them to another stage of contemplating suicide.”

Psychologists say the contemplation of suicide takes place in stages. These include losing hope, planning on how to end their lives by either using an overdose, poison, ropes or falling from high elevations — and finally accomplishing the act.

It is at the second stage that psychologists say people at risk must get the attention they need to prevent them going through with suicide.

Professor Eugene Kanyinda is a member of the Medical Research Council unit of Uganda.

“Illnesses for example like depression in our African culture are not recognized as mental illnesses," Kanyinda said. "So, I think there’s a need for people to understand that, I mean, if you see a relative for example, talking of suicide, don’t take it lightly. I mean, the person probably is already entertaining those ideas.”

Some warning signs psychiatrists said one should look out for are withdrawal, crying, self-isolation, loss of interest in formerly pleasurable activities and lack of sleep.

For survivors of suicide attempts, counsellors refer to them as heroes, to encourage them to think positively. - Halima Athumani, Voice of America

Nearly 50 years after it was first mooted as a possible deepwater facility, the port of Lamu officially opened yesterday, providing new transport opportunities to businesses in northern Kenya as well as landlocked neighbours in Ethiopia and South Sudan.

Uhuru Kenyatta, Kenya’s president, was on hand as the 2,524 teu Cap Carmel docked at the brand new port. The giant $3bn facility will eventually house 32 berths. Funding has come from China with state-run China Communications Construction Company the designated builder.

The port is Kenya’s second deepwater one, after Mombasa, and is part of a multi-billion-dollar infrastructure project, the Lamu Port-South Sudan-Ethiopia Transport Corridor project (LAPSSET) launched in 2012 with hinterland road and rail links being built too.

“This port will connect South Sudan, Ethiopia, and Kenya,” Kenyatta said at the opening. “Eventually, it will connect northern Kenya to the Middle Belt of Africa, which runs from Dakar, Senegal in the west to Lamu in the east.”  Splash

A woman walks through a flooded street to her home in Gatumba, western Burundi, on May 19, 2021. Photo MOSES HAVYARIMANA/Nation Media Group

Thousands of residents in Bujumbura and Gatumba have fled their homes after their property and houses were flooded due to the rising water levels of Lake Tanganyika and the swelling rivers around the city.

The water level of Lake Tanganyika increased since the beginning of the year, leading to almost 30,000 people displaced, as the government worked to provide land to relocate them.

“I am really tired now of shifting every now and then because this is the second time I have witnessed these floods. The first one was last year,” said 56-year-old Bemera Rea.

Ms Rea is among the 5,000 people the government said were affected by the rising water level of Rusizi river that cuts through Gatumba and flows to Lake Tanganyika.

The government said that more than 2,000 people were evacuated to Muramvya, several kilometres away from Gatumba.

When visiting the flood victims in Gatumba on Monday, Burundi’s Minister of Internal Affairs Gervais Ndirakobuca said that there is need for a clear identification of those affected.

“Whoever was renting should find somewhere else to rent because landlords now are the ones in dilemma,” he said.

“You have to prepare your hearts about any decision the government will take even if it is to relocate [you] to other areas, if that’s what the government sees as a lasting solution.”

Some of the displaced people said rather than relocating them, the government should extract sand from Rusizi river to prevent it from overflowing.

“We have built our houses here and where the government wants us to go there is nothing other than empty terrain,” said Mr Shuri Yabukumi.

Since last year, floods affected more than 27,000 people, leaving more than 6,000 people homeless, according to the government.

River Rusizi burst its banks submerging and damaging homes and properties of the residents living around the lake.

Lake Tanganyika, which is shared by four African countries, is a source of food, drinking water, transport and source of livelihood for thousands of people who live in the lake basin.

The Burundi government introduced a law that protects water bodies and only allows the construction of private buildings 150 metres away from the lake. The area between the lake and the homes is used for planting trees. However, people who have special authorisation can build near the lake. - Moses Havyarimana, The EastAfrican

Photo Ange Dany Gakunzi/Banque mondiale

When you land in Bujumbura, Burundi, you are immediately struck by the verdant landscape. Everything is green. The peaceful city is surrounded by beautiful Lake Tanganyika, the deepest in Africa, with majestic hills to the north. Soon, one discovers that those steep hillsides, the nearly 3,000 or so “collines” of Burundi, are much more than an extraordinary landscape. They are home to a patchwork of communities organized around each colline. In many ways, they represent the beauty but also the pains of the people who live on it and from it. These collines hold the souls of ancestors and families lost during past conflicts, including the 1994 crisis. They tell the country’s story.

But this impressive majestic landscape is threatened by overuse and degraded resources which are further aggravated by climate change. Climate-related disasters—chiefly torrential rains, floods and landslides—have triggered 100% of the forced displacements in 2020 in Burundi according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, underscoring the urgency of action to address compounded risks from rising climate impacts, fragility, and displacement.

Multi-risk vulnerability in Burundi’s colline landscapes

Like many African countries, Burundi is set to bear the brunt of impacts from climate change that it was not responsible for creating.  Globally, Burundi has the lowest per capita Greenhouse Gas emissions, ranking last out of 188 countries and contributing only 0.01% to global emissions. Meanwhile, Burundi is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and faces the burden of the impacts of global emissions, ranking 171 out of 181 countries in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, which summarizes countries’ vulnerability to climate change.

Furthermore, each year, Burundi loses almost 38 million tons of soil and 4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to land degradation. The coffee sector exemplifies people’s dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods: half of the country’s households live off the sector which brings 90% of the country’s foreign revenue. But in the last 40 years, severe soil erosion led to a two-thirds decrease in coffee production, pushing millions back into poverty.

Burundi’s collines are home to more than 90% of the country’s largely rural population, composed of mostly women and youth, who rely on agriculture and forestry for their livelihoods. They also are critical hubs of multi-risk vulnerability: 75% of court cases are linked to land disputes, and the recent massive return of refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania has been a source of increased conflict and violence. Poverty and conflict in Burundi are closely linked to resource dependence and climate fragility. Since 2015, the country has experienced unprecedented forced displacement: 131,000 internally-displaced people were counted in 2020, 83% of whom were driven by climate-related disasters and 17% caused by other socio-economic factors, according to the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix.

In Burundi’s context, climate change compounds pre-existing risks through rising rainfall and temperature variability, projected to worsen by 2030-50, with recurrent flooding, landslides and soil erosion already destroying livelihoods and exacerbating poverty. Past extreme weather events including severe floods in 2006 and 2007 and severe droughts between 1999 and 2000 and in 2005 accounted for losses exceeding 5% of the GDP, affecting more than two million Burundians. In addition, river flooding from Lake Tanganyika poses an increasing challenge. Batwa communities are particularly disenfranchised, and at the heart of multi-sector vulnerability, making community-driven development approaches critical in Burundi’s development context.

Climate change is the ultimate threat multiplier in fragile and conflict-affected states such as Burundi.  Institutions unprepared to face new environmental and climate risks, high levels of poverty, and agricultural-based economies make them particularly vulnerable.

When you land in Bujumbura, Burundi, you are immediately struck by the verdant landscape. Everything is green. The peaceful city is surrounded by beautiful Lake Tanganyika, the deepest in Africa, with majestic hills to the north. Soon, one discovers that those steep hillsides, the nearly 3,000 or so “collines” of Burundi, are much more than an extraordinary landscape. They are home to a patchwork of communities organized around each colline. In many ways, they represent the beauty but also the pains of the people who live on it and from it. These collines hold the souls of ancestors and families lost during past conflicts, including the 1994 crisis. They tell the country’s story.

But this impressive majestic landscape is threatened by overuse and degraded resources which are further aggravated by climate change. Climate-related disasters—chiefly torrential rains, floods and landslides—have triggered 100% of the forced displacements in 2020 in Burundi according to the United Nations Office for the Coordination of Humanitarian Affairs, underscoring the urgency of action to address compounded risks from rising climate impacts, fragility, and displacement.

Multi-risk vulnerability in Burundi’s colline landscapes

Like many African countries, Burundi is set to bear the brunt of impacts from climate change that it was not responsible for creating.  Globally, Burundi has the lowest per capita Greenhouse Gas emissions, ranking last out of 188 countries and contributing only 0.01% to global emissions. Meanwhile, Burundi is extremely vulnerable to the impacts of climate change and faces the burden of the impacts of global emissions, ranking 171 out of 181 countries in the Notre Dame Global Adaptation Index, which summarizes countries’ vulnerability to climate change.

Furthermore, each year, Burundi loses almost 38 million tons of soil and 4% of its gross domestic product (GDP) to land degradation. The coffee sector exemplifies people’s dependence on natural resources for their livelihoods: half of the country’s households live off the sector which brings 90% of the country’s foreign revenue. But in the last 40 years, severe soil erosion led to a two-thirds decrease in coffee production, pushing millions back into poverty.

Burundi’s collines are home to more than 90% of the country’s largely rural population, composed of mostly women and youth, who rely on agriculture and forestry for their livelihoods. They also are critical hubs of multi-risk vulnerability: 75% of court cases are linked to land disputes, and the recent massive return of refugees from neighboring Democratic Republic of Congo, Rwanda and Tanzania has been a source of increased conflict and violence. Poverty and conflict in Burundi are closely linked to resource dependence and climate fragility. Since 2015, the country has experienced unprecedented forced displacement: 131,000 internally-displaced people were counted in 2020, 83% of whom were driven by climate-related disasters and 17% caused by other socio-economic factors, according to the International Organization for Migration Displacement Tracking Matrix.

In Burundi’s context, climate change compounds pre-existing risks through rising rainfall and temperature variability, projected to worsen by 2030-50, with recurrent flooding, landslides and soil erosion already destroying livelihoods and exacerbating poverty. Past extreme weather events including severe floods in 2006 and 2007 and severe droughts between 1999 and 2000 and in 2005 accounted for losses exceeding 5% of the GDP, affecting more than two million Burundians. In addition, river flooding from Lake Tanganyika poses an increasing challenge. Batwa communities are particularly disenfranchised, and at the heart of multi-sector vulnerability, making community-driven development approaches critical in Burundi’s development context.

Climate change is the ultimate threat multiplier in fragile and conflict-affected states such as Burundi.  Institutions unprepared to face new environmental and climate risks, high levels of poverty, and agricultural-based economies make them particularly vulnerable.

Figure 1: Scaling up Investment into Burundi’s Colline Landscapes

This is mission possible, but it cannot be done alone. While the World Bank is mobilizing additional resources through its Prevention and Resilience Allocation, it is essential to crowd-in financial and technical partners, including United Nations’ agencies and other climate concessional financing.

Addressing climate risks in fragile states has the potential to enhance resilience and reduce sources of conflict, while generating growth and long-term sustainable development. To be effective, climate investments must recognize the interlinkages between climate and conflict risks. In Burundi as in every other country, these investments must also be rooted in strong political and institutional support to trigger the changes needed to make the “land of 3,000 collines” resilient. - JUERGEN VOEGELE/VERONIQUE KABONGO/ARAME TALL, World Bank