Mauritania

Country Profile:

Population (thousand) (2015): 5,299
Multidimensional Poverty Index Value (2011): 0.29
Inequality-adjusted Human Development Index, Country Rank (2014): 156
Gross Domestic Product per capita, at Purchasing Price Parity (2015) (US$): 4,300 (2015 est.)

50848 – UNPEI Theory of Change – Mauritania_v5.pdf

Mauritania_Country_Factsheet_June_2015.pdf

Background

Climate change has exacerbated desertification in Mauritania which has negatively impacted the national economy and greatly contributed to the impoverishment of the most vulnerable groups. The high pressure on resources coupled with poor environmental governance impedes the achievement of the MDGs.

PEI initiated the Mauritania country programme in 2005 to support the government in addressing these issues and promoting sustainable development. The PEI Mauritania programme focuses on improving national capacity to include P-E objectives into national policies and development planning processes. Thereby the country program is contributing to the achievement of national development goals and the overall PEI Programme outputs.

PEI Mauritania is led by the Ministry of Environment and sustainable development (MDEDD). Additionally, various sector ministries are involved in the implementation and PEI Mauritania is also closely collaborating with the UNDP CO.

Achievements:

Increased awareness and capacity on poverty-environment mainstreaming among key stakeholders through the dissemination of a number of strategic studies that demonstrate the evidence of poverty-environment linkages, and related capacity building on the use of integrated ecosystem assessments, economic tools and instruments, and poverty-environment indicators.
Poverty-environment objectives integrated into the economic and social pillar of the PRSP 3, the environment section of the UNDAF 2012-2016 and the national environmental action plan. Further, budgeting tools and instruments for poverty-environment mainstreaming have been developed, including indicators, tax systems, budget guidelines and databases.
Enhanced government commitment to tackle the impacts of climate change on the national economy. The Government has developed a national strategy on climate change and an agenda 21 for Nouakchott City. The Agenda 21 identifies climate change adaptation and mitigation actions related to governance, land tenure, sand occupation and poverty.
Government shows sustained commitment to address poverty-climate issues by continuing to allocate more than 15% of its environmental budget for climate change infrastructure, such as green walls, to protect the city of Nouakchott against the effects of climate change. The Government has further reinforced the implementation of the Green Belt movement program and invested over US$2 million public funds to protect Nouakchott from the advancement of dunes as well as a rise in the sea level.
Mobilized Millennium Development Goal Fund (MGD-F) funding related to the ‘environment and climate change’ thematic window in Mauritania. The PEI component under the MDGF was highlighted in the MDGF publication as an example of good practice.

Key Documents