Against the advance of the desert: a plant wall
Mauritania is one of 11 countries involved in the ambitious Great Green Wall project. This vegetal wall, crossing Africa from west to east, from Senegal to Djibouti, aims primarily to prevent the advance of the Sahara towards the Sahel. The wall is expected to measure nearly 8,000 km, almost the distance between Paris and Beijing! Although, for the moment, due to lack of funds, only 15% of the wall has been completed, mainly in Ethiopia, Niger and Eritrea, it should be finished by 2030, especially since funding is being made available by developed countries. The benefits of such a project, in addition to combating desertification, are multiple: protection against the wind, and therefore dust, which causes many diseases, protection against erosion, absorption of 250 million tons ofCO2, renewal of dead soil, increased rainfall through transpiration of trees. The project also has a social ambition, since it could feed thousands of people and create many jobs.
For its benefits to be optimal, the vegetation wall will be made up of species indigenous to each of the ecosystems it crosses, so as to adapt to the climate and soil, and to host an abundant biodiversity. Thus, Mauritania has been divided into several ecological zones. The Sahelian zone should host Senegalia senegal, Leptadenia pyrotechnica and Balanites aegyptiaca, all local tree species perfectly adapted to drought.
A stifling heat
With an arid climate, Mauritania is one of the countries on the front lines of global warming. Its droughts are becoming more frequent, more intense, and more prolonged. Heat waves, sometimes exceeding 50°C, occasionally cause deaths and each leads to a significant contraction of the economy, since more than 60% of Mauritanians depend financially on agriculture.
At the same time, bushfires consume up to 500,000 ha of valuable vegetation each year. In 2021, it will take only four days for 200,000 ha of vegetation to go up in smoke.
If the natural climate lays the foundation for this catastrophic situation, global warming is not innocent. Mauritania contributes only 0.1% of the world'sCO2 emissions, but is suffering the full consequences. Perhaps that is why it understands the importance of taking action against global warming. It has pledged to reduce itsCO2 emissions by 92% by 2030, with the help of the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP). Solar energy is seen as a solution: a project that is all the more vital as a large part of the population still does not receive electricity, although this is considered a factor of development. Up to 200 villages could be electrified, according to the agreement signed in June 2022 with the UNDP.
Waste and lack of infrastructure
The cities are the biggest victims of landfills where waste piles up with no other way out. The country's largest, located south of Tivirit, receives nearly 1,000 tons of garbage every day, which has been piling up there for the past 15 years, mainly from the capital Nouakchott. Faced with this ever-growing mountain, the population is demonstrating strongly to demand a solution. It must be said that if the closure of the landfill was announced two years ago, it is still not effective, for lack of another solution. This situation weighs heavily on the environment, since the waste is regularly found in nature, where come to pollute the scarce water resources. It also causes harm to public health, since cases of cancer are multiplying due to this pollution.
However, solutions exist. The city ofAtar, in the west of the country, is even since 2021 a showcase of a policy that could be conducted nationwide. With Western assistance, two trucks, a loader and a utility vehicle have been provided to the town of nearly 30,000 inhabitants, training has been provided, and existing equipment has been rehabilitated to complement the equipment and committees already present. Waste management in the city is already proving to be a success.
Water: a long struggle
Persistent drought and a lack of funds to create infrastructure are leading Mauritania to a permanent quest for blue gold. Underground resources are already scarce, and rainfall is infrequent, and there are even communes located in places without a continuous water table. And when, finally, one reaches water, it is salted by the desert sand! Large cities such as Nouakchott are mainly confronted with a lack of water purification infrastructure. While access to water has improved significantly in recent years, sanitation has struggled to take hold, with the result that water is a source of many diseases (malaria, diarrhea, dengue)..
The solutions to these problems are mainly confronted with the lack of funds. Thus, Nouakchott is waiting for investments for a desalination plant that should treat 200,000m3 per day: a small revolution for the city of one million inhabitants. The World Bank and the French Development Agency (AFD) have each contributed a total of 50 million euros to provide access to drinking water, but the challenge is such that progress, although present, is slow.
National parks
Mauritania has three national parks and other protected areas under other statutes. Among them, the Diawling National Park is a real success story of environmental protection! However, it did not start off on the right foot, since it opened its doors following an environmental disaster. The Senegal River Delta was once one of the most lush regions in West Africa. The flora and fauna were enriched by the cyclical flooding of the river, which inundated the valley, until the construction of two dams in the 1970s disrupted this cycle. They will have dried up the land, leaving it to desertification. Thus, in 1991, the Diawling National Park was born as a sustainable solution to restore the balance. Thirty years later, the vegetation has returned, accompanied by a rich flora. At its creation, the park had only 3 species of birds. Today, there are 369 species, including several threatened species!
The Banc d'Arguin National Park has a double conservation objective, as it covers both terrestrial and marine ecosystems. Its interest is such that it was classified as a Unesco World Heritage Site in 1989. It must be said that the meeting between its desert extent and the Atlantic coasts creates a remarkable and very contrasted environment, where many species live. It is one of the most important habitats in the world for nesting birds, with between 50,000 and 80,000 individuals! In the water, 45 species of fish and 11 species of crustaceans flourish. There are also threatened species such as green turtles(Chelonia mydas), classified as endangered, or the Atlantic humpback dolphin(Sousa teuszii), critically endangered.
Finally, the Awleigat National Park, whose creation was decided in 2006, is still in its infancy. Its objective is to conserve local biodiversity and even to reintroduce certain species that have deserted the territory, such as the African ostrich(Struthio camelus).
