Author(s): Elouan Praplan; Mohamed Mahmoud Abidine; Moustapha Taleb; Emmanuel Dubois; Maimouna Saleck; Fatimetouh Boukhreiss; Philip Brunner; Paolo Perona

Linked Author(s): Paolo PERONA

Keywords: Water ponding; Coastal cities; Nature-based solution; Salt-tolerant trees

Abstract: Rising ground water levels in Nouakchott, the capital of Mauritania, lead to brackish water ponding that damages urban infrastructure and limit s development. Ponding directly impacts the health of citizens through sewage overflow and contamination of drinking water and is likely to be worsened by climate change and rapid urbanization . The impacts intensify during the rainy season. Afforestation is proposed as a nature-based and sustainable ecohydraulic solution to enhance flood resilience in Nouakchott and contribute to poverty alleviation. The effectiveness of this approach was evaluated through numerical simulations. Besides describing these results, in this work we also highlight how future pathways are going to be explored in forthcoming projects to have a positive impact on the end users, i.e. the population of Nouakchott. Specifically, we discuss the identification of ideal test sites for assessing young tree survival and establishment , as well as the results of inquiries targeting the social acceptance of large-scale afforestation program as a long-term ecohydraulic management remediation measure to the inundation problem .

DOI: https://doi.org/10.64697/iahr.proc.ise2026.abs.327

Year: 2026