The Biodiversity Foundation of the Ministry of the Environment and the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation, AECI, have signed a collaboration agreement today in Madrid to support the implementation of nature conservation and sustainable development activities in Mauritania.

The purpose of this agreement is to carry out, within the framework of the Azahar programme, activities aimed at improving the living conditions of the population, through the restoration and conservation of the functioning of the ecosystems of the Djawling National Park, the central nucleus of the Transboundary Biosphere Reserve of the Senegal Delta. to provide resources for the benefit of the population and biodiversity.

Thus, this project will contribute to the restoration of ecosystems and all the biodiversity associated with them, given the increase in pressure on ecosystems and deficiencies in hydraulic management. In addition, this initiative will make it possible to solve the difficulties in the supply of drinking water, diseases linked to water stagnation, low schooling, lack of medical assistance or the absence of electricity. It will also improve the standard of living of the populations and reduce the poverty rate, since there are no financial mechanisms to support income-generating activities.

The agreement signed today between the Biodiversity Foundation and the AECI is part of the Azahar Programme, an initiative of the Spanish Agency for International Cooperation that consists of a coordination effort between all public and private actors in Spanish development cooperation, in the Mediterranean area, in the field of sustainable development, protection of the environment and conservation of natural resources.

The Biodiversity Foundation joined the Orange Blossom Programme in 2006 and a first collaboration agreement was signed. The actions contemplated at that time, which are still being carried out today, included the supply of drinking water through photovoltaic solar energy to the population living around the Senegal Delta Transboundary Biosphere Reserve, which are about 15,000 people, as well as the preparation of a naturalist guide on this protected area.