Conflin and Coffee in Burundi 131to livestock rearing at the same time. Political considerations in the demar-
cation of protected areas constitute another cause of conflict between the
government and rural inhabitants. Rural populations have been dislodged
without prompt, adequate and sufficient compensation by the government in
many state-protected areas. Furthermore many of these areas have not been
clearly demarcated and the population is often informed neither on the sta-
tus nor of the law governing protected areas.
State seizure of land ostensibly for reasons of 'public interest' and redis-
tributed to private individuals is yet another land-related source of grievance.
The most renowned of these cases is that of Rusizi National Park, which used
to be over 9 000 hectares and which was created by expropriation from the
Riparian population without compensation. In 2000, the government decid-
ed to change the park into a natural reserve of 5 280 hectares. The remaining
4 000 hectares was carved up between high government officials in the coun-
try and prominent businessmen. In a belated attempt to redress the griev-
ances of the local population, the government decided to compensate the
Riparian population 20 years down the line.
The case of the Regional Development Corporation in Rumonge featured
prominently in the Arusha peace and reconciliation talks on Burundi. State
appropriation of privately owned land and subsequent unfair subdivision
between previous owners has been a source of great acrimony?'
Government mismanagement of public land extends to the confusion
between communal and state prerogatives on land. Communes continue to
parcel out land while this is a prerogative of the Ministry for Land and
Environment. The most striking case concerns public forests where commu-
nal authorities sell public trees to the private sector, effectively dislodging the
local population that have planted and cared for the forest, in total disregard
for their welfare.
In Burundi, additionally, the principle that "the farmer who ploughs a
piece of land for several seasons becomes its owner" has led to the popula-
tion's appropriation and use of land belonging to displaced persons. This
leads to conflict upon the return of the original landowners. There are cases
of land disputes of this nature in Rumonge, for example.
Swamps are wholly state owned. Swamp ownership by individuals, there-
fore, contradicts the professed government policy, more so because, often the
'owners' are government officials. This fraudulent acquisition of state-owned
land remains a source of conflict.%
Main Environmental Challenges
The challenge facing Burundi is as much a political one as it is environmen-
tal. Pervasive and widespread practices of non-participatory environmental
planning, appropriation of public land and coercive implementation of envi-
ronmental conservation programmes have alienated the rural population