Burundi is a landlocked country in Central Africa, south of Rwanda. It is home to about 8.4 million people, most of whom live in abject poverty; annual income is about $100 and life expectancy is just 45 years. About 36 percent of the land is arable. Natural disasters include droughts, alternating with rains, often causing landslides in the mountainous interior of the country. Overgrazing has led to soil depletion, while clear-cutting of the forest has caused erosion and loss of habitat.
Most climate experts believe that Burundi will be one of the countries hardest hit by global warming, as temperatures rise and stress an already weakened population. Burundi lies on the eastern shore of Lake Tanganyika, which contains about 18 percent of the world’s liquid fresh water and is vital to the survival of millions of people across Central Africa. In the past four years, the lake has receded about 50 ft. (15.2 m.) from the shore as feeder rivers have slowed.
Aside from being a key source of drinking water, Lake Tanganyika is crucial to the region’s food supply: fish from this lake supply 25-40 percent of the region’s protein needs. However, fish yields have been dropping as a direct result of global warming. A 2003 study found a 0.6 degree C temperature rise along the lake, combined with a decrease in local wind speeds. This has decreased circulation within the lake, negatively impacting the its unique ecosystem. This is likely to grow worse, with most estimates indicating a temperature rise of 2.7 degrees F (1.5 degrees C) in coming years. Farmers throughout the country note that weather has grown more erratic in recent years, resulting in diminished crop yields. Some models estimate that crops could decline by as much as 50 percent by 2020. In a region already plagued by civil and cross-border wars, there are fears of increased violence over resources as food and water supplies diminish.
Burundi is not a significant contributor to carbon emissions, with total CO2 emissions in 1993 at 231,000 metric tons. This was a 19 percent increase over 1990 totals, but still considerably lower than regional averages. An estimated 92 percent of their emissions come from liquid fuel sources, and only 8 percent from solid fuel. The country is a signatory to a number of international conventions on climate change, including biodiversity protection, desertification control, protection of the ozone layer and endangered species, and the Kyoto Protocol.
