Mauri:RAINFED NAT RES MGT

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The Rainfed Natural Resource Management Project will capitalize on the government's (a) empowering local communities and decentralizing services of the Ministry of Rural Development and Environment (MDRE); (b) implementing recommendations in the country environmental strategy paper (CESP) concerning more efficient management of natural resources; and (c) coordinating with existing extension services, devising a domestic energy strategy, and liaising with the Mauritanian Integrated Development Program of Irrigated Agriculture (PDIAIM) now in process. To break the poverty cycle, the project will improve the basic ecological functions (water and mineral cycles, ecological succession) through resource management, thus bringing about sustainable yield increases in crops and livestock and increased incomes for participating communities. The project's three components are: (1) financing investments in 250 villages chosen from representative agro-ecological zones in the country s rainfed area; (2) strengthening government services to support community organization, improve the legal framework for local empowerment, and finance government's technical support to beneficiaries; and (3) enhancing skills, including developing required technologies (research, short- and medium-term technical assistance), and disseminating those technologies through extension and training.