Mauritania has officially launched a four-day nationwide aerial seeding campaign to combat desertification, which currently affects over 84% of the country's total land area.
The environmental restoration effort, announced by the Mauritanian News Agency, aims to cover 8.7 million hectares (21.5 million acres) across nine targeted regions. The operation involves dispersing three tons of carefully selected, native drought-resistant tree seeds from aircraft to revitalize degraded landscapes.
Speaking at the official launch of the campaign, the Minister of Environment and Sustainable Development, Messouda Baham Mohamed Laghdaf, highlighted the strategic role of the intervention in restoring the nation's natural ecosystems.
"Through this campaign, three tons of carefully selected native seeds will be dispersed to help restore ecosystems and promote sustainable environmental development," Laghdaf stated.
Minister Laghdaf explained that aerial seeding provides a crucial operational advantage, allowing government authorities to deploy seeds rapidly over remote, vast, and topographically challenging areas that remain difficult to reach by land. Beyond re-establishing tree cover, the seeding initiative is structured to rehabilitate degraded grazing lands, stabilize shifting sand dunes, enhance soil fertility, and support broader biodiversity regeneration.
The initiative comes amid growing environmental pressure across Mauritania, which spans approximately 1.03 million square kilometers. Earlier in the year, Minister Laghdaf warned that desertification continues to encroach on land, posing severe ecological threats to the country's coastline, as well as its terrestrial and marine biodiversity.
Decades of recurring, severe droughts have severely reduced forest cover across the country, accelerating land degradation. The environmental crisis is further compounded by annual wildfires, which destroy approximately 100,000 hectares (247,000 acres) of vital pastureland each year.
Protecting rangelands and natural pastures remains a critical socio-economic priority for the Mauritanian government, as a significant portion of the population relies directly on pastoral agriculture and livestock rearing for their livelihoods. According to figures from the Environment Ministry, Mauritania's domestic livestock population exceeds 30 million animals and maintains an annual growth rate of over 3.5%, placing high demand on available grazing resources.
