ALM UNDP

Summary:

To increase the resilience of rural communities to increased water stress and reduced productivity of agricultural and livestock sector as related to climate change impacts. Situated in the Saharan region of West Africa, Mauritania fronts the Atlantic Ocean on the west is bordered by Western Sahara on the northwest, Algeria on the north, Mali on the east and southeast, and Senegal on the southwest. Except for the valley of the River Senegal on the south, two thirds of Mauritania is within the Sahara Desert. Mauritania is therefore one of the countries most vulnerable to the effects of desertification. This is the consequence of the winds activity that sweeps the country. Most rain falls during the short rainy season, from July to September, and average annual precipitation varies greatly. In the northern two-thirds of the country – where oasis are found, average rainfall is less than 150 mm where often, isolated storms drop large amounts of water in short periods of time, producing flash floods. A year, or even several years, may pass without any rain in some locations. Almost all the country is under an arid/semi-arid regime. Of the total of Mauritania’s land, about 37,5 % are considered as agricultural land , most of it being pasture land : the arable land potential is scarcely more than 500,000 ha (i.e. less than 1 percent of the national territory). The system of land tenure has been in transition since the 1980s. Factors contributing to this transition include government abolition of centuries-old slavery practices involving tribal and ethnic relations between various herding and sedentary communities; government development policies, particularly with regard to land reform and irrigation schemes; and tremendous shifts in land settlement and herding patterns because of drought. Historically, rangeland for herding was controlled through tribal ownership of wells; around oasis, slave groups worked cultivable plots, although traditional noble clans held ownership of the land. In more southerly settled agricultural areas, ownership varied from region to region and village to village, depending on ethnic settlement patterns. Mauritania is one of the poorest countries in the world. Poverty is estimated at 47 per cent of the population in 2004 and it is largely a rural phenomenon. The agricultural sector contributes about 25% of the country’s gross domestic product (GDP), with livestock accounting for about 15% and crop production and fisheries for about 5% each. Crops, livestock and artisanal fisheries are the main sources of income among the population.