On 9 June 2020, the board of directors of the Banc d’Arguin and Coastal and Marine Biodiversity Trust Fund (BACoMaB) approved the new gender action plan. The action plan has been developed with support from the French Development Agency (AFD) as part of the new AFD project which was signed in November 2019.

BACoMaB and AFD experts have been working together since March 2020 to draw up an action plan and a strategy that take into account gender issues in environment conservation within Mauritanian Marines Protected Areas (MPAs). The gender question is getting interest since sociological analyses show that inequalities reduction between men and women is correlated with more respect for environmental issues and decreasing of threatening practices for natural habitats within societies and communities.

Based on BACoMaB’s 2018-2027 Strategic Plan, the gender action plan is driven by six guidelines derived from the six strategic orientations of the fund. Below are the main purposes of the plan:
organisational development by staff education on gender issues within conservation activities
MPAs capacity building to take into account gender questions in their activities
an inclusive environmental education strategy which promotes equality between men and women
an external communication that includes gender-linked subjects and their implication in environmental conservation, and
MPAs support to enable men and women to equally take part in conservation activities and environmental management decision processes
BACoMaB is a sustainable financial mechanism which is implemented for Mauritania’s coastal and marine biodiversity conservation. It produces regular incomes from financial mechanisms mobilizing the funds capital, which are used to finance operating and planning costs of Mauritanian Marines Protected Areas.