7388. Review SEA Mining - Mauritania

The NCEA has been requested by the Mauritanian ministry for Environment to provide a review of the SEA for the mining sector. For this advice, a site visit was conducted by the NCEA in February 2024. 

Advisory reports and other documents

Significant details

In 2022, the Ministry of the Environment commissioned a strategic environmental assessment (SEA) of the mining sector to ensure that environmental and social aspects are taken into account in the governance of the sector. Following receipt of the draft SEA report at the end of 2023, the ministry requested an independent opinion from the NCEA on the quality of the draft SEA report for the mining sector before validation of the report.

The provisional report examined by the NCEA presents a good diagnosis of the mining sector: the report identifies some key development poles of the mining sector and lists some important environmental and social issues of the mining sector in Mauritania. However, even if one of the goals of the SEA process was to formulate strategic recommendations, the process is not clearly linked to political decision-making on the mining sector by key stakeholders. In its opinion, the NCEA made other observations on aspects of governance and analysis of socio-economic and environmental impacts.

During the first days of its mission, the NCEA organized a workshop for civil servants at the Ministry of Environment. This workshop focused on environmental assessment procedures, monitoring tools, and the importance of ESIAs and SEAsfor the governance of the mining sector.

Parties involved

Members of the working group

Chair: Simone Filippini
Technical secretary: Stephen Teeuwen, MSc

Further details

Country: Mauritania

Last modified: 08 Apr 2024