For centuries, poets, scholars and theologians have flocked to Chinguetti, a trans-Saharan trading post home to more than a dozen libraries containing thousands of manuscripts.
But it now stands on the brink of oblivion. Shifting sands have long covered the ancient city’s 8th-century core and are encroaching on neighborhoods at its current edge. Residents say the desert is their destiny.
It sadly sounds like a dreadful end coming to this old city, at least without some significant aid and intervention. However it’s hard to say how much any of that may help without global coordination to mitigate the greater climate crisis.