wfn.org | Mauritania: Carrots now grow where desert used to be

[FRANK_IMHOFF.parti@ecunet.org (FRANK IMHOFF)]

Lutheran World Service works on environmental projects for over 20 years

NOUAKCHOTT, Mauritania/GENEVA, 4 June 1998 (lwi) - The Lutheran World
Federation Department for World Service (LWF-WS) has carried out
environmental projects in Mauritania for more than 20 years. The results
are visible. The sand dunes have stopped advancing and new projects benefit
from the lessons learned from past experience.

The first environmental project of the LWF in Mauritania was the Greenbelt
Project of Nouakchott, carried out between 1975 and 1990 as a pilot dune
stabilization project around Nouakchott, the capital. The advance of the
Sahara desert has long been an overwhelming problem for the country where
two-thirds of the land already is covered by the Sahara desert, and where
desertification is spreading into cultivable land.

In 1975, the Sahara came knocking at Nouakchott's door. The sand dunes were
threatening enough to cause the inhabitants to seriously think of moving.
After years of work, the Greenbelt Project has succeeded in putting a stop
to the moving sand, actually saving the capital itself from being overcome.

At the time the Greenbelt Project was established, no reforestation or dune
stabilization projects had ever been undertaken in Mauritania. As this was
a new domain, a research center was established to study local and imported
plant species to learn which would be the most successful in halting the
movement of the sand dunes. Since then, the research center has continued
its activities. Experiments are conducted to find new ways of gathering and
preserving viable seeds, promoting the growth of different plant species,
testing planting and propagation techniques and evaluating the survival
rate of plants in the field. Valuable results have been achieved.

The center's research has shown, among other results, that prosopis trees
need not be closely spaced when used for dune stabilization. This finding
allowed for a reduction in work and funds due to the lower number of trees
needed for the dune stabilization project. The center also has gathered
enough viable seeds from around the country to create a seed bank. These
seeds are now redistributed to other projects to provide healthy, strong
seeds for planting tree nurseries.

The research center continues to explore. One of the latest experiments has
been the testing of cactuses as wind breaks and living fences to protect
vegetable gardens from wandering animals. The cactus has the additional
advantage of producing a fruit that can be used to make a vitamin-rich
juice.

New Project called Environmental Protection and Village Reforestation

In 1991, capitalizing on the practical experience gained from the Greenbelt
Project of Nouakchott, the LWF created a new project called Environmental
Protection and Village Reforestation. The project incorporates an area of
78,400 kilometers (49,392 miles) south of Nouakchott, housing 16 percent of
the population of Mauritania and most of the country's infrastructures. The
advance of sand in the area is serious. Invading the cultivable land and
infrastructures, it causes degradation of the vegetation, water loss, and a
rural exodus. Major activities introduced by the project are dune
stabilization, reforestation and protection of natural resources.
Techniques using wind breaks, living fences and agroforestry also are
included.

The project aims, in this way, to protect vital village infrastructures,
encourage regeneration of the environment, the development of a balanced
ecosystem, and the return and resettlement of the population in the area.
An important priority for the LWF also is the involvement of the
communities themselves in every activity. "Participatory development" is
the project's catch-phrase. So now, carrots grow where desert used to be.

This edited article was written by Kirstine Olsson, a trainee with the LWF
Department for World Service field office in Mauritania.

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Lutheran World Information
Editorial Assistant: Janet Bond-Nash
E-mail: jbn@lutheranworld.org
http://www.lutheranworld.org/