Chinguetti, a UNESCO World Heritage site in Mauritania, is at risk of being engulfed by advancing desert sands exacerbated by climate change. Home to precious Quranic texts and manuscripts, it has long attracted scholars and poets. However, frequent sandstorms and shifting dunes threaten the ancient city's infrastructure, leaving residents resigned to their fate. Efforts like tree-planting to combat the encroaching sands have had limited success. Local leaders express deep concern over the loss of both cultural history and livelihood as the climate crisis unfolds.
"It's a city surrounded by an ocean of sand that's advancing every minute," El Wely, the president of the local Association for Participatory Oasis Management, said.
Residents say the desert is their destiny. As the world's climate gets hotter and drier, sandstorms are more frequently depositing metres of dunes onto Chinguetti's streets.
Tree-planting projects are trying to keep the invading sands at bay, but so far, they haven't eased the deep-rooted worries about the future.
Chinguetti is one of four UNESCO World Heritage sites in Mauritania, a West African nation where only 0.5 per cent of land is considered farmable.
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