Observed climate changes are resulting in an intense process of desertification in Mauritania, putting additional pressure in the extremely fragile oases of the Sahara and moving the desert conditions further south, threatening the country’s very fragile and most fertile and populated lands in the Sahelian region. The climate-change induced desertification process is taken place in a robust and not well-managed urbanisation context. Driven by a complex set of factors, this is expanding regional hubs, which are becoming complex rural-urban hybrids with very vulnerable populations to climate change.

This project focuses on four regional hubs or poles along the strip or band of the country where the desertification process is more severe and stopping it more strategic. In particular, from north to south and from west to east, the project focuses on Aoujeft, in the province of Adrar; Rachid, in the province of Tagant; Tamchekett, in the province of Hodh el Gharbi; and Nema, in the province of Hodh El Chargui.

The proposed project aims to increase the resilience to the current and projected impacts of climate change of the populations living in these hubs, contributing at the

same time to stop desertification moving further south. In this sense, it seeks to ensure that awareness and knowledge on the impacts, risks and vulnerability to climate change are strategically mainstreamed in participatory development planning and implementation at meso and micro levels and that, on that basis, substantive investment are made in a systemic way on the ground to increase resilience, including land rehabilitation, water infrastructure and management, and adapted and diversified livelihoods. To facilitate this, the project also seeks to strengthen the enabling environment for mainstreaming climate change in key national policies, strategies and guidelines.