Title

Please provide a name for your action learning plan.

Mapping the Waste in Mauritania: A Multifaceted Strategy for Identifying and Managing Dumping Sites.

Challenge statement

Challenge statement: What is your challenge? (Please answer in specific terms: "Our challenge is that...”.)

Our challenge regarding waste management in Mauritania is multifaceted. One aspect of the challenge is the lack of a comprehensive waste management system in the country, resulting in the uncontrolled dumping of waste in various locations. This has resulted in adverse environmental impacts such as soil contamination, air pollution, etc. Another aspect of the challenge is the lack of awareness among citizens regarding the proper management of waste, including the separation of recyclable materials from non-recyclables. This leads to poor recovery of valuable resources and exacerbates the problem of waste accumulation. Additionally, there is a need to promote sustainable waste management practices that can be easily adopted by the community and integrated into the existing social and economic fabric of the country. To address these challenges, Acclab is considering ongoing work and implementing a comprehensive waste management strategy that includes spatial mapping of waste disposal sites across the country, the development of a waste database and monitoring system, promoting recycling and composting, and capacity building for citizens and government agencies.

Background: What is the history of your challenge? What is causing or driving it? Who is involved? How does the current situation look like? What undesired effects does it produce?

The challenge of waste management in Mauritania has been a longstanding issue that has escalated in recent years. Rapid urbanization, coupled with population growth, has led to an increase in the amount of waste generated in the country. Unfortunately, the city of Nouakchott for example, lacks a comprehensive waste management system, and as a result, waste is being dumped in various locations, including along the streets and in open areas. This practice has resulted in adverse environmental impacts, such as soil contamination, air pollution...etc. Moreover, the improper disposal of waste has led to the proliferation of disease vectors, which pose health risks to citizens. The lack of awareness among citizens regarding the proper management of waste, including the separation of recyclable materials from non-recyclables, exacerbates the problem of waste accumulation. The Lab intends to bring the government, non-governmental organizations, private sector, and concerned citizens together in efforts to address this challenge by implementing a comprehensive waste management strategy that includes spatial mapping of waste disposal sites, development of a waste database and monitoring system, promoting recycling and composting, and capacity building for citizens and government agencies.

Quantitative evidence: What (official) data sources do you have on this challenge that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge? You can add text, a link, or a picture.

Research has shown that households in urban areas generate an average of 0.5kg/day of waste per capita and 0.3kg/day per capita in rural areas in Mauritania. Solid waste-related emissions are anticipated to increase to 2.38 billion tonnes of CO2-equivalent per year by 2050 if no improvements are made in the sector. The lack of a comprehensive waste management system has resulted in waste being dumped in various locations, including along the streets and in open areas. This practice has resulted in adverse environmental impacts such as soil contamination, air pollution, and degradation of natural habitats. Moreover, it has led to the proliferation of disease vectors such as rodents and flies which pose health risks to citizens. Acclab intends to engage with the government, non-governmental organizations (NGOs), and concerned citizens to address this challenge by implementing a comprehensive waste management strategy that includes spatial mapping of waste disposal sites, development of a waste database and monitoring system, promoting recycling and composting, and capacity building for citizens and government agencies. https://issuu.com/asw2sss2swhcsss/docs/nouakchott_guide_to_resilience_2021/s/12204806  https://datatopics.worldbank.org/what-a-waste/trends_in_solid_waste_management.html

Qualitative evidence: What weak signals have you recently spotted that characterizes its urgency? Please provide qualitative information that better exemplifies the importance and urgency of this frontier challenge. You can add text, a link, or a picture.

Observations of waste accumulation: AccLAB team is observing the uncontrolled dumping of waste in various locations across the city, including in open areas and on street corners. This waste accumulation can lead to foul odors, unsightly scenery, and the proliferation of disease vectors. Informal conversations with citizens: Through informal conversations with citizens, the Lab team gained insight into citizens awareness and perception of waste management practices. For example, the Lab discovered that many citizens are unaware of the health and environmental risks associated with improper waste disposal. Social behavior: Social behaviors can indicate a lack of awareness or concern for the environment. For example, the Lab observed that people littering or dumping waste in public places, indicating a need for education and awareness campaigns on proper waste disposal practices.

Value proposition: What added value or unique value proposition is your Accelerator Lab bringing to solving this challenge? Why is it your Lab that needs to work on this challenge and not other actors within UNDP, other stakeholders in the country respectively? Why is it worth investing resources to this challenge?

Acclab has already engaged in mapping the spatial distribution of waste sites across the capital city, which resulted in generating key non-traditional database, georeferenced with information on the type of the disposal site, group and subgroup of the waste, etc,  that  adds value in terms of the data gaps about the waste management in Mauritania. This database is expected to be extended across the country in a scaling up phase. 

Short “tweet” summary: We would like to tweet what you are working on, can you summarize your challenge in a maximum of 280 characters?

The #acclab in #Mauritania is engaged in tackling the waste management challenge through leveraging innovative mapping technics related to waste management across the country and contributing in building cleaner and healthier cities for all. #wastemanagement 

Challenge classification

Partners

Learning questions

Learning question: What is your learning question for this challenge? What do you need to know or understand to work on your challenge statement?

What are the root causes of the waste management challenges in Mauritania, and how can they be addressed? What are some successful waste management strategies that have been implemented by other Labs with similar challenges, and how can they be adapted and applied to Mauritania? What role can citizen engagement and participation play in promoting sustainable waste management practices in Mauritania, and how can they be effectively integrated into the waste management strategy? What are the economic, social, and environmental benefits of effective waste management practices, and how can these benefits be quantified and disseminated to stakeholders to promote support and investment in waste management initiatives?

Usage of methods: Relating to your choice above, how will you use your methods & tools for this learning question? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

Acclab intends to organize several events such as workshops, round tables, hackathons, etc to extract information and data using collective intelligence and sensemaking and model future scenarios using future thinking and foresight methods and finally use data visualization methods to communicate and disseminate relevant information to different stakeholders for informed policymaking. 

Existing data gaps: Relating to your choice above, what existing gaps in data or information do these new sources of data addressing? What value do these add in answering your learning question?

The acclab has noticed a substantial lack of data when it comes to waste in Mauritania. The above methods will help us in gathering information and data from different sources and make use of the collected data to extract relevant information about waste management. 

Closing

Early leads to grow: Think about the possible grow phase for this challenge - who might benefit from your work on this challenge or who might be the champions in your country that you should inform or collaborate with early on to help you grow this challenge?

The Lab has engaged in a limited experimentation to generate data in the spatial distribution of waste across the capital city. This is considered to be lead to grow the experimentation to cover the whole country and therefore provide comprhensive strategy for managing waste through evidence and data. 

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