Eco-Anxiety in Mauritania

Early February heralded the 2nd edition of Le Marche Bleue, an ecological, citizen, and artistic initiative held in Mauritania's Banc d'Arguin National Park. This year, it featured a sharpened focus on eco-anxiety and the future of Mauritanian youth. Established as a nature reserve in 1978 and inscribed as a UNESCO heritage site in 1989, this national park is where the Sahara meets the Atlantic: powerful waves, housing some of West Africa's richest fish stocks and nurseries, clashing with the sands of an infamously vast desert.

Comprising roughly 12,000 square kilometers of sand dunes, coastal swamps, and small islands, Banc d'Arguin boasts of remarkable biodiversity and is the better-known of Mauritania's two national parks.