Scientific data for decision making

Implementing a marine spatial planning without knowing territories and resources is meaningless. Major breakthroughs in Mauritanian marine environment knowledge have been made recently that confirm scientific research is highly necessary to set a course towards clean and rich seas. Therefore several tools are necessary to adjust policies to the local context (sea uses regulations, norms and standards…). This is the reason why the programme BOG has supported national stakeholders to consolidate existing knowledge and design research programs to map vulnerable zones. As a result a Maritime Atlas of Vulnerable Sea Areas in Mauritania has been issued in French, Arabic and English. The program also initiated a set of ship-based surveys to assess seabirds and marine mammals off Mauritanian coasts: a key factor to understand and, thus, protect, marine biodiversity. In addition, a monitoring and early warning system for micro-contaminants has been designed and is now operating under the supervision of a coordination of 6 national institutions. Sediments, fish, bivalves, crabs, water are sampled and chemical as well as bioassays and biomarkers analyses were made in order to establish baseline levels of micro-contaminants.

  • Existing capacities among local scientific institutions was a real asset
  • International networking with scientific institutes (increase publication capacity, value local research…)
  • The objectives of the ministry of environment to set up national norms and standards also eased the process
  • English as the international scientific language is a real challenge in such country
  • Technical institutions won’t naturally take the lead for the monitoring and early warning system. The project needs to think of a more workable organization
  • New mission and mandate are not considered as such as soon as financial partners are identified…
  • As a consequence the main lesson learnt: appropriation unfortunately strongly depends on money