Climate change in Mauritania threatens date farmers

Date farmers in the Mauritanian Sahara have seen threats to their crops due to the recent lack of rainfall, and workers have been increasingly forced to move to large urban centres, France 24 reported on October 2.

In the Sahel, where less than 0.5% of the land is arable, tens of thousands of people’s livelihoods depend on the crops extracted from the oasis ecosystem, where the shallow groundwater reserves lack rainwater to be replenished.

Mauritania has seen an increase in migration from the oasis region to larger cities, especially by young people, who have been pushed to support their families by working in the urban centres.

France 24 / Maghrebi