Bujumbura city has diversified but unevenly distributed green spaces. The typology and anthropogenic disturbances of these green spaces are still unknown. This study presents a typology of green spaces along the urban–rural gradient through a literature review. It assesses the presence of anthropogenic disturbances through inventories in 100 m × 100 m grids. Data reveal that Bujumbura’s green spaces are made up of green squares concentrated exclusively in urban areas, cemeteries present in peri-urban areas and sports green spaces observable all along the urbanization gradient. These green spaces are more exposed to trampling, which is more present in administrative entities with a peri-urban morphological status, as opposed to various constructions in administrative entities with an urban status. Finally, significative pairwise associations of anthropogenic disturbances were observed. The results show the need to protect these green spaces from all kinds of anthropogenic disturbances by raising the eco-responsible awareness of the population and the municipal authorities.

This study analyses the dynamics of green infrastructure (GI) in the cities of Bujumbura, Kinshasa, and Lubumbashi. A remote sensing approach, combined with landscape ecology metrics, characterized this analysis, which was based on three Landsat images acquired in 2000, 2013, and 2022 for each city. Spatial pattern indices reveal that GI was suppressed in Bujumbura and Kinshasa, in contrast to Lubumbashi, which exhibited fragmentation. Furthermore, the values of stability, aggregation, and fractal dimension metrics suggest that Bujumbura experienced rather intense dynamics and a reduction in the continuity of its GI, while Kinshasa showed weaker dynamics and tendencies towards patch aggregation during the study period. In contrast, Lubumbashi exhibited strong dynamics and aggregation of its GI within a context of significant anthropization. The evolution of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index demonstrates a sawtooth pattern in the evolution of tall vegetation patches in Bujumbura, compared to a gradual decrease in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. It is recommended that urban growth in these cities should be carefully planned to ensure the integration of sufficient GI.

La prise de conscience de l’importance des espaces verts et des services écosystémiques qu’ils rendent est primordiale pour tout programme de leur protection en milieu urbain. Pour cette raison, la perception des espaces verts des communes de la ville de Bujumbura (Muha, Mukaza et Ntahangwa) au Burundi et de leurs services écosystémiques par les acteurs locaux à partir d’une enquête en ligne et semi-dirigée a été appréciée. Les résultats révèlent que, les espaces verts de la ville de Bujumbura sont concentrés dans la commune de Mukaza et suggèrent une répartition inégale. En outre, quelle que soit l’enquête, les terrains de jeux constituent le type d’espaces verts dominants à Bujumbura. Plus de 80 % des espaces verts sont qualifiés de publics et pour ceux qui sont privés, les acteurs ne sont pas unanimes au coût d’accessibilité. La qualité de leurs gestion et entretien est moyenne à Mukaza et faible dans d’autres communes de la ville. Les enquêtés perçoivent que les espaces verts offrent potentiellement la possibilité de loisir et du bien-être physique et psychologique comme services écosystémiques dominants. Des mesures de préservation d’espaces verts existants et ceux de création dans les parties de la ville en extension s’imposent.

This study maps and quantifies the green infrastructure of the cities of Bujumbura, Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. A remote sensing approach, in conjunction with landscape ecology metrics, characterized this analysis, which was based upon three Landsat images acquired in 2000, 2013 and 2022 for each city. Spatial pattern indices show that green infrastructure was suppressed in the cities of Bujumbura and Kinshasa, in contrast to the city of Lubumbashi, which was characterized by a fragmentation of its green areas. Additionally, the values of the stability, aggregation and fractal dimension metrics suggest that the city of Bujumbura underwent rather intense dynamics and a reduction in the continuity of its green areas, while the city of Kinshasa shows weaker dynamics and tendances of patch aggregation in the study period. The city of Lubumbashi, in its turn, exhibits strong dynamics and an aggregation of its green infrastructure, in a context of a high level of anthropization. The evolution of the Normalized Difference Vegetation Index shows a sawtooth evolution of tall vegetation patches for the city of Bujumbura, against a gradual decrease in Kinshasa and Lubumbashi. It is advocated that the urban growth of these cities should be planned carefully in order to integrate the presence of sufficient green infrastructure.

This paper investigates a biobased innovation system producing a catnip plant-based mosquito repellent developed to fight malaria in East Africa. We adopt a technological innovation system (TIS) methodology. Previous studies on TIS in the global south emphasized innovation diffusion, rather than development. In contrast, we study the catnip-based mosquito repellents in East Africa, a R&D and innovation driven TIS. Our results highlight the potential of innovation development in East Africa by demonstrating strong TIS functions such as entrepreneurial activity, knowledge sharing, and legitimacy building. However, the TIS functions, market creation, resource mobilisation and policy guidance were relatively weak. This suggests that the innovation challenges in East Africa are not always related to a lack of knowledge generation or entrepreneurial capabilities, but more due to a structural feature such as lack of finance, resources, and supportive policies. Our study also demonstrates how local bio-entrepreneurs benefit from business incubation through regional cooperation.