Stop sandalwood illegal exploitation and exportation

This Tuesday 15th January 2014, the Ministry in Charge of Environment has declared that the illegal exploitation and exportation of the plant scientifically known Osyris Lanceolata and commonly named Sandalwood will be strictly punished according to the law.-By Lorraine Josiane

Rémy Ndayishimiye, Spokesman of the Ministry in Charge of Environment “This situation of deforestation leading to that species extinction is qualified as a crime against environment because the species is considerably threatened by human actions”.©Iwacu

Manishatse
Since August December 2013, the illegal exploitation of the plant Osyris Lanceolata or Sandalwood has been observed in Bugesera region especially in Kirundo and Muyinga provinces. Sandalwood plant is used for the transformation of different sorts of perfume and drugs. That plant is exported to Tanzania and Uganda because in Burundi there isn’t yet any transformation factory of that natural resource into manufactured products.
According to Rémy Ndayishimiye, Spokesman in the Ministry in Charge of Environment, people from Kirundo, Muyinga and around often uproot those plants for exporting them to some of our neighboring countries. They usually sell the roots and stumps of the tree. “This situation of deforestation leading to that species extinction is qualified as a crime against environment because the species is considerably threatened by human actions,” Ndayishimiye warns everybody who exploits that plant without permission. The Ministry informs the World Community that measures aiming at protecting, preserving and reforesting that species have already been taken to ensure rational management.

Everybody should protect the plant

The Ministry in Charge of Environment demands the Customs Institutions, Burundi Authority Revenue (OBR), Public Security Police and Local Administration of Bugesera areas to be more involved in the protection of that threatened species. It invites all the concerned services to work together to arrest that illegal exploitation and exportation of the species. The Ministry also requests Kirundo and Muyinga citizens to support the new orientations aiming for the multiplication of that species which constitutes a great richness of the country.