The challenge of sustainable governance of marine and coastal resources and territories has recently emerged in Mauritania. Definitely there is still a lack of understanding about what is at stake (environmental, social and economic levels). Therefore our programme invests in awareness raising among challenged stakeholders like the civil servants, fishermen, coastal communities, local NGOs… through: (i) production and up keeping of communication tools (flyers, film, posters, websites, social networks, newsletter), (ii) training courses, conferences…

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.

Our project deals with environmental governance within a 20 or 30 years’ time frame. Marine spatial planning issues are very likely to become more and more complex and people in charge in 20 years’ time won’t obviously be the same as today. This is the reason why we have designed and developed a comprehensive capacity building programme including the creation of a Master degree on environmental management of extractive industries (Master GAED), an academic documentation centre, training sessions and internships. In addition, and waiting for this future generation to be ready, we have to get the institutions (and not only people) ready to maintain and use technical tools we have contributed to set up (for example the implementation of a monitoring and early warning system for micro-contamination). Therefore our project provides administration and civil society representatives with equipment and training sessions.

In Mauritania biodiversity protection and scientific research cannot be fully supported by public funding. This is why the programme has focused on identifying new sources of funding. We have developed a partnership with the oil and gas industry resulting in more transparent and trustful communication, sharing of non-commercial data, and funding of activities of the Programme Biodiversity, Oil and Gas on a voluntary basis. This included support for a ship-based surveys co-financed by Kosmos Energy and a Master’s degree course supported by Kosmos and Total. In addition, the programme is now collaborating with BP.

The Antongil Bay Fisheries Co-Management Plan (ABFMP) is a national level legal framework to recognize local community management rights. It was developed through significant collaborative efforts between WCS, resources users, and Government. The result was the first seascape scale traditional, artisanal and industrial fisheries co-management plan in Madagascar covering 3,746 km2 of marine habitats that officially confers fisheries management authority to local communities. The plan acknowledges the role of Antongil Bay marine reserves for resource recovery, and fixes maximum levels for traditional, artisanal and industrial fishing efforts. The decree adopting the ABFMP grants the fishermen’s associations the rights to develop regulations adapted to the local context, identify and implement practical measures to ensure respect of regulations, register and issue licenses to local fishers, and establish and enforce different zones within the local managed fishing areas. Local fisher associations are officially accountable for the implementation of ABFMP and they actively participate in inspection, surveillance and monitoring activities.