Bilateral meeting with Her Excellency Lalya Aly Kamara, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Mauritania

Nouakchott - The FAO Director-General met today in Nouakchott with Her Excellency, Lalya Aly Kamara, Minister of Environment of the Republic of Mauritania.

The Minister welcomed the Director General and appreciated FAO’s support for the work of the Ministry in various projects and stated that she looked forward to more strengthened cooperation in various environment sectors in line with FAO’s mandate.

The Minister stressed that FAO did not only play a role vital in agrifood systems transformation, but also related areas such as forest conservation, land reclamation and management, and most importantly for Mauritania for the fight against desertification through the Great Green Wall Initiative implemented by the Pan African Agency through which FAO extends technical support.

The Minister stated that more technical assistance is needed for various projects to develop among others humid zones, decentralization of natural resources in villages, and capacity development in rural areas on land preservation and how to grow their own income through natural resources. She also noted that Mauritania needed more technical support for forestation projects, as well as aquarium developments to diversify marine species and to educate the youth about environment protection. She further requested FAO support for data collection for forest inventory. The Minister also conveyed her appreciation for FAO’s support for two on-going regional projects and one smaller project which sensitizes farmers on climate financing.

The Director-General appreciated the role played by the Ministry of Environment in various projects with FAO and stated that a more narrowed down and focused cooperation was necessary for greater impact. He praised Mauritania for its exemplary work in agrifood systems transformation, leading to diversification of agriculture and strengthened its fight against desertification. He recognized the need to scale up and speed up the Great Green Wall Initiative and reiterated FAO’s commitment to this regional initiative.

They both agreed to use FAO’s comparative advantage as a specialized agency to work together towards sustainable development in Mauritania, including by strengthening biodiversity cooperation and ecosystem restoration.