Soon after the first offshore oil field was discovered an intense public debate started in Mauritania about environmental and social risks of this sector. That led to the development of the Programme Biodiversity Oil and Gas, which aims, through a collaborative and integrated approach, at collating data in the marine environment, understanding the ecological consequences of human uses, designing and developing technical tools to monitor activities, and implementing corresponding policies. These activities are currently continued and consolidated with the GIZ “Co-management of marine, coastal and terrestrial resources” (CorMCT) program.