Sustainable Agriculture Morocco Project #1563

Grow Trees and Offset Carbon with African Farmers

by High Atlas Foundation

Project Report | Jul 4, 2021
Uniting Pathways for Landscape Restoration

By Samarth Saksena | HAF-UVA Intern

North African and Middle Eastern nations can combat climate change through well planned landscape restoration initiatives leading to carbon sequestration, but also indirect benefits like job creation, food security, and improved livelihoods and resilience. Restoration initiatives are best carried out when the right partnerships are formed between all sectors of society.

The webinar “Unlocking $100 Billion For Restoring Africa’s Landscapes: How Do We Get There?” hosted by the World Resources Institute, raised the issues of monitoring and accountability of progress on the project and a scientific approach, as required, which are vital factors for these initiatives to be successful. If nations on the edge of the ever-encroaching Sahara take these components into account, they can fight desertification and climate change through successful landscape restoration initiatives.

Countries that undertake landscape restoration projects will see environmental benefits as well as a positive change in the lives of local communities. In 2009, the International Food Policy Institute conducted a study on the impacts of agroforestry landscape restoration initiatives in Niger and Burkina Faso. In Niger, these led to carbon sequestration through an increase of 200 million new farm trees, but also increased food security in the form of 500,000 tons of additional cereal production per year. Women also saw increased equity. They had a stronger economic position due to selling products from the trees and benefited from the increased supply of firewood and water. Thus, landscape restoration through agroforestry benefits the environment and local communities.

Long-term strategic partnerships across all sectors are vital for the sustainability of landscape restoration initiatives. During the webinar, Carol—founder of Greenpot, a bamboo company that seeks to establish nurseries in Kenya—mentioned that assessing and finding the right partners was imperative. Greenpot works with farmers, prioritizing getting money “down to the ground.”

Project monitoring and accountability enable progress to be checked, important for the success of such initiatives. Jennifer, Vice-President of Corporate Sustainability at Mastercard, placed emphasis on the importance of monitoring the impacts of initiatives. In addition, Isaac Acquah of Ghana’s Environmental Protection Agency said that a challenge often faced by land restoration initiatives is getting precise, accurate data on carbon flux and tree growth. With this data, money can be spent in the right places for the greatest benefit.

Countries undertaking these landscape restoration projects must adopt a scientific approach. This comes in two parts: data collection and ecosystem planning. Carlos, former Costa Rican Environment and Energy Minister, explained the utilization of a land-use capacity map during Costa Rica’s initiative to restore forests that doubled their tree cover. These nations must also take a scientific approach to the species grown and planted and the ecosystems affected, taking care to use native species that will flourish. “The right trees in the right places,” as Merli called it.

Rodriguez also outlines how govern During the webinar, Carol—founder of Greenpotments can take steps to fulfill their responsibility to ensure success in landscape restoration initiatives. First, they should take a streamlined institutional approach. In Costa Rica, the ministries that dealt with natural resources were combined into one agency, the Ministry of the Environment, removing bureaucratic obstacles. Second, governments must implement smart policies that encourage landscape restoration. Rodriguez explained that in Costa Rica, the government altered the land tenure system, recognizing private property of those living in the landscape, giving an incentive for land production and restoration. Costa Rica also taxes fossil fuels, leading to $35 million invested in payments for carbon sequestration in productive agriculture.

One non-profit organization successfully involved in landscape restoration initiatives as part of their participatory sustainable development projects is the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) in Morocco. With thirteen nurseries and over four million trees grown, they work with farmers, governments, and the private sector to build partnerships that ensure long term success. HAF’s diverse partners include Ecosia, FRÉ Skincare, University of Virginia, Credit du Maroc, and the Moroccan High Commission of Water and Forests, among many others. They also responsibly monitor the progress of nurseries and gather data on the carbon flux with an adaptive management approach. Finally, they use scientific methodologies for tree planting like those recommended by Merli and Rodriguez. HAF plants in its nurseries those native species like fig, carob, and argan that will flourish and contribute to the local environment and biodiversity.

Well-planned landscape restoration initiatives can fight climate change in North Africa and the Middle East, but also have the potential to benefit the growth of local communities. Building upon the examples found in Niger and Burkina Faso, Greenpot, Costa Rica, and the High Atlas Foundation, these countries can advance their own initiatives—a powerful tool for sustainable human development, changing lives for years to come.

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Jun 15, 2021
Afous Ghissiki: A Project to Promote Organic Agriculture in Guelmim

By Karam-Yane Azzabi | Program Coordinator

It was with great excitement that I hit the road to Sidi Ifni accompanied by Abdeljalil, HAF Field Manager, and Mustapha, HAF Driver to meet the Dar Si Hmad Association (DSH), our partner in the "Afous Ghissiki" project.

The Dar Si Hmad Association (DSH), created in April 2010, aims to promote local culture and develop sustainable initiatives through education and scientific ingenuity with communities in southwest Morocco. The association has a vision for enabling sustainable livelihoods and creating opportunities for low-resource communities to learn and prosper.

The Afous Ghissiki Project was launched in April 2020 and funded by the Bureau of Oceans and International Environmental and Scientific Affairs (OES) in partnership with the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) and the Daiat Nzaha Cooperative. The project aims to improve and upgrade traditional farming in two oases, Ougoug and Tighmert, in the Guelmim province, and one pedagogical farm in permaculture in the Sidi Ifni province. The project accomplishes this by training beneficiaries in techniques and radical water management for sustainable and ecologically based future product marketing.

Our visit started by meeting Dr. Jamila, Dar Si Hmad’s Executive Director, at the DSH office in Sidi Ifni.

During our journey, we visited the Tighmert Oasis in Asrir commune, Guelmim province, where we met the people served by the project. Fourteen farmers have benefited from five workshops about organic agriculture, water management, climate knowledge, soil composition, and farming techniques like grafting and pruning of trees. Besides agriculture, Tighmert Oasis is a touristic spot, so the inhabitants continue to suffer from the repercussions of the COVID-19 pandemic. Also, this oasis is threatened by water shortage due to the Fask Dam construction and the intensification of banana cultivation. Moreover, in August 2020, a fire of unknown origin broke out in the oasis and destroyed local crop.

We carried on our visit and went to the Ougoug Oasis in Imi N’Fast commune, Sidi Ifni province, to meet the people there who benefited from the project. Here, 24 farmers had participated in the same workshop series as in Tighmert.

In order to apply techniques learned during the workshops and help farmers diversify their production, 1,190 trees of different types (Argan, olive, fig, pomegranate, carob, and walnut), which had been raised in HAF nurseries and funded by ECOSIA, were distributed to almost 40 farmers in the two oases by Dar Si Hmad. Our visit to Sidi Ifni was an opportunity to monitor these trees, which are now growing successfully thanks to the workshops that DSH conducted with them.

In addition to the two oases, HAF has distributed another more than 6,000 trees to farmers in the Guelmim Oued-Noun region. Monitoring has shown that these trees are also growing in good condition.

After completing our visits in the two oases, we visited the pedagogical farm of Agdal Brahim, where new farming practices have yielded positive results. This farm was long abandoned and is now thriving.

The Afous Ghissiki project results demonstrate a significant impact, as it has promoted organic agriculture, ensured food autonomy and income generation, and encouraged family consumption of their own crop.

One of the things that I noticed during our eight-day journey in Guelmim and Sidi Ifni was that there are more and more initiatives by young people who are creating associations in order to improve the living conditions of the rural population in the Guelmim Oued-Noun region.

A special thanks to Dr. Bargach, who welcomed us very warmly, as well as to Mr. Ouafegha who facilitated our visit to the two oases. We are grateful to the whole Afous Ghissiki project team whose efforts have been incredible.

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Jun 10, 2021
Green Spaces and Community Programs

By Carlie Daniel | HAF-UVA Intern

As time progresses, we see more people glued to technology and staying indoors for hours on end. Many people don’t even go outside to take a walk or experience the green spaces in their backyards; however, research has shown many benefits to utilizing green spaces both physically and mentally. Michelle is an environmental epidemiologist with the US Forestry Service, who focuses her research on exactly this: fear in green spaces and their usage in the modern-day.

In her April 9 presentation on Trees, Safety, and Violence, she discussed the fear factors that contribute to decreased use of green spaces even with their countless benefits. One of the biggest fears people have in relation to the use of green spaces is drugs and bringing their families to a place where inappropriate, dangerous activity may be occurring. One quote added from a parent was, “You have to create activities and you have to do it at a safe time and you have to do it in a safe way because nobody wants to bring their children out anywhere and have to duck bullets,” in reference to perceived high crime rates in green spaces. Also, an interesting fear that many people have is trees, and they say that it doesn’t allow police and security officers to be able to have a clear view of the area; thus, they are against the planting of more trees and shrubs. These fears drive people away from utilizing spaces that have such positive effects on mood and should not be a place of fear for any reason.

When the entire world was turned upside down by the pandemic last year, public interaction dwindled, leading to higher rates of poor mental health. The use of outdoor green spaces can significantly help with the burden of a pandemic for many reasons. Green space use during COVID-19 leads to decreased transmission rates, improvement of physical and mental health, and a better experience throughout the pandemic as a whole. In teenagers, the use of green spaces and outdoor nature can lead to decreased stress levels and additionally elevated mood after passing by any green space. Kondo discussed the way outdoor spaces can benefit all of us during such a tough time, but some people do not have access to these safe green spaces. Thus, communities should be encouraged to transform certain underused spaces into green areas.

The United States Farmer-to-Farmer Program (F2F) focuses on prolonged maintenance of environmental resources including green spaces. It was authorized by Congress in 1985 and funded through Title V of Public Law 480. It aims to improve conservation and sustainable use of natural resources, expand agricultural sector access to financial services, and strengthen agricultural sector connections overall. It is a program for sharing the knowledge and skills of farmers around the world.

The High Atlas Foundation, a US-Moroccan nonprofit organization, benefited from 27 expert volunteers in 2017-18, who assisted more than 20 cooperatives and farmers in four provinces. Between July 2019 and March 2021, HAF completed 29 Volunteer assignments with 50 agricultural cooperatives in three targeted regions - Marrakech-Safi, Beni Mellal-Khenifra, and Oujda. In Morocco, green spaces can be utilized not only for personal use, but also for community gathering spaces for planning, empowerment, and a sense of community.

The Farmer-to-Farmer Program is just one step towards conserving and creating green spaces that everyone can access. Additionally, by utilizing volunteer experts in the field, a community of people interested in sustainability can come together to work towards safe, accessible green areas. With more community programs like F2F, green spaces can be conserved and hopefully become spaces people are not fearful of. In Morocco, these spaces can be utilized not only for personal use, but also for community gathering spaces for planning, empowerment, and a sense of community.

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