Developmental nonprofits in the area have begun working with communities facing scarce economic prospects in the face of “extreme” climate events like drought, which occur in Morocco every two years. The High Atlas Foundation (HAF), working in part with Farmer-to-Farmer, a USAID program, creates tree nurseries in areas of the lower mountain regions. Some communities from the higher pasturelands have voiced their interest in these projects. This follows a trend within the past two decades of nomadic and semi-nomadic pastoralists seeking out additional or alternative forms of agriculture.

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Since 2004, the number of  in the Maghreb region has declined by more than 60%. As of 2014, only 25,300 remain. Morocco is home to one of the largest regions of pastoral rangelands in the Maghreb. These rangelands make up about 40% of land territory, or 20 million hectares, in Morocco and Algeria. In Morocco, the majority of nomadic pastoralists range in the western coastal plains. Their pasturelands include the Rif and Tell mountains, where altitudes for some summer pastures reach 3,000 meters above sea level. There, the air is dry and the pressure is lower, limiting the kind of agriculture the area can sustain. Along these routes, pastoralists herd camels, sheep and goats, producing mutton and valuable products like wool (to be used for local handicraft) and manure, an alternative for chemical-based fertilizer.

Pastoralism is a process engrained in Moroccan history and heritage. Up until the last century, semi-nomadic pastoralists occupied the Middle Atlas regions, traveling with herds during the grazing season and growing crops like cereal for domestic consumption. Herders still use indigenous breeds and veterinary medicine developed over centuries.

Yet some pastoralist communities are beginning to favor more sedentary farming methods. Part of the reason is the rising and devaluing of mutton as a main source of meat, now associated with being unhealthy due to its high cholesterol content. However, the Moroccan ministry of agriculture suggests the reason is that pastoralists are suffering from the degradation of rangelands, which makes it difficult to maintain a livelihood.

Overuse, Not Overgrazing, Degrades Pasturelands

Moroccan pastoralism is changing for a wide range of reasons. Viable grazing lands are affected by the amount of rain per season, availability of shrubs for grazing and regional politics or poverty — all of which are subject to change. The main factors that make pastoralism difficult for many, and may be a reason for some to switch to sedentary farming, include shifting social values, environmental change and rising population in both urban and rural areas. But the most pressing issue for pastoralists is land degradation.

Many typically point to overgrazing as a reason for the degradation of pastoral rangelands. This is often blamed on pastoralists themselves, whose herds graze away the vegetation. Yet varying rainfall, especially in arid climates, leads to periods of drought, and the shrubs that typically cover the steppe lands are not as plentiful.

Rangelands in the Maghreb region  1,557 hectares a year to drought and degradation, and in nearly three decades, more than 8.3 million hectares of land have been “severely degraded.” This is one of the reasons there has been a recent movement of pastoral nomads traveling northward, particularly toward the Souss region in Morocco. But this kind of movement leads to regional  like land disputes and tension, especially in the Souss region that is home to a large population of Amazigh people, who must now compete with newcomers for land and natural resources.

Overuse, rather than overgrazing, more accurately explains the desiccation of pastoral land. Overuse, or human-induced degradation, comes from improper agricultural practices like plowing with heavy machines and over-irrigation, soil erosion by deforestation and, to some extent, overgrazing. Agricultural researchers have suggested that overuse, coupled with a growing rural population and a difficult climate, wears away the land, so pastoralists must either move to more viable pasturelands or build themselves an economic cushion by engaging in irrigation farming and growing crops, fruit or nut trees.

Land formerly used for pastoral purposes is being converted to sedentary farming areas. Fruit and nut trees provide diverse incomes as grass for herding becomes harder to find. Land used for forestry and herding has declined by 21% since the early 1980s, while agricultural land used for non-forestry and non-pastoral purposes has increased by 7.7%.

At the same time, as more people move to cities, rural areas face low population densities. Modernization policies have tended to favor farming expansions and development in areas with higher populations, leaving pastoralist societies — far from city centers — to be . This has reduced their access to certain services, such as privatized veterinary services, which makes it difficult for herders to afford veterinary care.

A Semi-Nomadic Majority

Many pastoralists in the region, in part a result of changing social norms and development in the region, are only semi-nomadic and will likely stay so. This means they may have both farmlands and herds, which they send off with a herder for the grazing season. As advancements in education expand access to rural areas, pastoral families value sending their children to schools for a more , which requires them to stay in one place. Yet despite shifting trends and smaller numbers, pastoral systems will remain important as the population grows and demand for meat rises.

As rural life changes, development must also change, so it is important to work with rather than against existing shifts. The High Atlas Foundation works with communities to address these agricultural changes by taking a participatory approach to development. HAF takes note of communities that are looking to grow fruit, nut or medicinal plants, thereby determining trends and producing a plan for the community to approve for implementation.

This process has taken root as HAF’s House of Life program, through which 12  have been built around Morocco. Trees are planted every  where they grow for two years, contributing around 30,000 trees annually to be donated to local farmers and schools as a way to reduce environmental damage and improve local livelihoods. As communities continue to mark their interest in sedentary farming, projects like this face new levels of expansion.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51łÔąĎ’s editorial policy.

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As the US aims to improve race relations, black culture and heritage have become more than just an expression of the black community, but something that is inherently all-American. The BLM movement has highlighted the need for change in the US, and it may be helpful to consider the methods of Moroccan multiculturalism. In Morocco, cultural protection is tied to development, limiting socioeconomic divides and welcoming diversity.

A Model for the World

There is a word for the Moroccan ideal of multiculturalism — a term borrowed from the Spanish — known as convivencia (coexistence). Originally a reference to the relative harmony among Christians, Muslims and Jews living in Islamic Iberia (al-Andalus) during the Middle Ages, it now represents the shared history, culture and heritage of Morocco’s diverse national identity and a guide for modern multiculturalism.

Moroccan Judaism has roots in the time of antiquity. Jewish merchants came to Africa around 500 BC, likely to take part in the riches of the Carthaginian gold market. Before the Arab conquest, several native Amazigh (Berber) tribes converted to Judaism, one of which, located near Sefrou, survived long into the 11th century.

In 1948, about 265,000 Jews lived in the French and Spanish protectorates of Morocco, although the numbers soon began to decrease as many emigrated to newly-formed Israel. Those who remained resided mostly in small towns and villages, dispersed throughout the country, limiting their access to educational institutions and health care. The illiteracy rate for some Moroccan Jews was  than 40%.

When Morocco gained independence in 1956, after rising hostilities and anti-Jewish in 1948, many Jews believed they had no future in a country where they felt they were unwelcome. However, despite these setbacks, Morocco has and continues to be protective of its Jewish community as a model for inclusion.

The 2011 amendment to the Moroccan Constitution redefined Moroccan national identity, establishing difference — Arab, Muslim, Jewish, Amazigh, Andalusian, African, Mediterranean — as a facet of Moroccan identity. It also made Tamazight, which is spoken by native Berbers, roughly one-third of the Moroccan population, an official language. And two years later, Morocco’s new migration policy  24,000 migrants, beginning the first phase of a human-rights approach to migration and strengthening support of Morocco’s African heritage.

In combination with Morocco’s municipal charter — requiring participatory methods in community planning and thus involving minority voices — and the country’s stance within the UN Alliance of Civilizations (which ties multiculturalism to development), this solidified a tradition of multicultural preservation. This was a result of efforts by the late King Mohammed V and King Hassan II as well as the current monarch, King Mohammed VI.

The Role of Society

Morocco’s preservation of cultural heritage has led to greater community development and reduced poverty in neglected minority areas. Cultural preservation projects, funded by the ministry of culture in the  — a Jewish quarter whose traditional name was reinstated in 2017 — have restored streets and town squares, creating a safe, clean space for its inhabitants.

The House of Life , initiated in 2010 by the chief rabbinate of Morocco and the ministry of interior, permits the restoration of 167 mausoleums and cemeteries in 14 different regions within Morocco. This has led to the development of pilgrimage destinations such as Ouezzane Cemetery in northern Morocco, where Jews of Moroccan descent who emigrated to Israel return to visit.

On lands surrounding these protected cemeteries, the High Atlas Foundation, a developmental organization in Marrakesh, creates nurseries for medicinal and fruit trees. These are then given to farmers as a way to diversify local produce and improve local economies, promoting both Jewish heritage and community development.

These projects are made possible through participatory methods, where members of the communities they serve decide which resources are most in need, a method that could be useful in underrepresented American neighborhoods. Promoting black art, culture and history gives recognition and provides a basis for the rest of the country to learn about differences.

“I always advocate for education,” says Laziza Dalil, a guest speaker on a series of Jewish-cross-cultural lectures hosted by the Kivunim Institute. “[Education] is a building bridge. It causes people to deal with diversity in a more positive way,” she adds. Dalil is also the vice president of the Association Mimouna, a Moroccan organization run by Muslim university students in the promotion of Jewish culture and tradition.

While the Moroccan case is not identical to the US, the development and support of a Moroccan multicultural society, through cultural preservation and promotion of minority visibility, can serve as a guide for NGOs and policymakers in America working to combat systemic racism. Such a plan may include funding the preservation of buildings and landscapes infused with black culture and history, supporting small museums or exhibitions on African American activism and achievement, and backing arts programs focused on diversity and inclusion.

The views expressed in this article are the author’s own and do not necessarily reflect 51łÔąĎ’s editorial policy.

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