Abstract EN:

Since time immemorial droughts and famine have affected the Mauritanian areas. They may be held responsible for the shaping of the ecosystems and have directed the human mobility. Although these phenomena are very synchronous, they are not always linked with a relationship of cause and effect. Having said that, all the droughts which have affected the country have been corroborated by famine but it does not imply that famine gives rise to droughts. So that a number of disturbing non climatic factors prevails among which, even out of a derogatory climatic context, stimulating the productive systems to the extent of raising the agro-pastoral productions beyond the needs of the societies in question is an impossible task. We also demonstrate that the desire to provide food for everybody to overcome famine and to put an end to the process of lands drying out is utopian, as long as a drastic change in the social, economic and political systems of today is not made.