Environment Bound

Hospitals in Nouakchott and Nouadhibou are reporting a surge of patients suffering from an unidentified fever that health experts say may be linked to the spread of Rift Valley fever across West Africa.

Nearly 4 million people are now displaced across the Sahel, the UN warns, as violence and collapsing services escalate a regional humanitarian crisis.

Factories that once hummed with activity along Mauritania’s Atlantic coast now stand silent, their doors shut as fish stocks plunge and communities struggle to adapt. In Morocco, the warning signs are just as stark—sardine landings in key southern ports have nearly halved, and locals worry that they might soon face the same fate as their neighbors to the south.

Heavy rains and flooding in Niger have forced authorities to delay the start of the school year, as hundreds of classrooms have been damaged or are being used to shelter displaced families. The government is working to restore school infrastructure so education can resume safely for thousands of students.