The vision:   One of the hottest regions on earth is to become a green belt in the long term.   The Austrian Broadcasting Corporation (ORF) reported on our reforestation project SAREP (Sahara Renaissance Project) in Mauritania in its programmes ‘Zeit im Bild – ZIB’ and ‘Mayrs Magazin’.   How can new life […]

IfaS Press Release | May 17, 2025 Under the patronage of Prof. Dr. Peter Heck, Managing Director of the Institute for Applied Material Flow Management (IfaS) and initiator of the project, the 3rd International Conference of the Sahara Renaissance Project (SAREP) was held on May 14, 2025, at the Environmental

At the end of January, the Kölnische Rundschau newspaper published a detailed article about the SAREP project. Editor Thorsten Moeck spoke to Prof. Dr. Heck, the initiator of the project, about the plans to green the desert in Mauritania. The country has already made a two million hectare dune available

Featured photo: Prof. Dr. Peter Heck and governor Alexander Schweizer at the presentation of the certificate The Zukunftsinitiative Rheinland-Pfalz (ZIRP) e.V. called on companies from Rhineland-Palatinate to apply for the title of “Future Company” for the seventh time. The association awards this title to Rhineland-Palatinate companies that combine digitalization and

In his recent interview within the German podcast “Grad°Global”, Prof. Heck introduced the project to a broader audience and talked about its chances to significantly contribute to climate change mitigation and a sustainable development in Mauritania. The podcast is a production of the Foundation Development and Climate Alliance on behalf

Following the 2nd SAREP Conference, the current project status and impressions of the conference were shared with a wider audience via the “SAT 1 Newsmagazine”. More Information can be found here.

On July 10th 2024, the 2nd SAREP Conference took place at the Environmental Campus Birkenfeld. The SAREP-Team welcomed more than 100 guests from industry and academia who presented about different technical and economic aspects of the project. A special focus was put on agriculture and forestry in hyper arid regions

In early February, SAREP was featured in the German national news “Tagesschau”. Following the news about the recently renewed carbon emission reduction targets of the European Union, SAREP was presented to a nationwide audience as a possible solution that could help to meet these targets. More Information can be found

From 26th to 30th of January, the SAREP team under the lead of Prof. Heck visited Mauritania. After expressing their general appreciation of the project in the MoU signed during COP 28, the Mauritanian government had established an interministerial committee for coordinating the next steps related to the project consisting

At the 28th UN World Climate Conference in Dubai (COP 28), a Memorandum of Understanding was signed between Prof. Dr. Peter Heck (IfaS) and the Minister for Petroleum, Energy and Mines, Mr. Nany Chrougha representing the Mauritanian government. The document serves as a first crucial agreement on the way of