Morocco’s nomads have spent centuries roaming the desert to find food for their animals, but their way of life is steadily disappearing. Many say their traditional lifestyle has become impossible to sustain as climate change brings ever more intense droughts. “Climate change is the cause of the deterioration (of this region), there are no more snowfalls like before, which made it possible to saturate underwater reserves. Everything has dried up, including the rivers and the wells.”, said Driss Skounti, elected to represent nomads in the region. Others blame government policies of land privatisation and agricultural investment, such as the “Green Morocco” programme.”It is the “Green Morocco” plan (programme defining the agricultural policy of the Kingdom of Morocco, launched in 2008 by the Ministry of Agriculture, ed.) that is behind all this, since it has allowed the rich to build farms, dig new wells and close the old ones belonging to the nomads. They have plundered the wealth of the country, these people who have houses, villas, they have taken everything, if they could take the sea, they would. And they left the people living outside to die”, accuses the nomad. According to the Ministry of Agriculture, rainfall is set to decline by 11 percent and average temperatures set to rise by 1.3 percent by 2050.
SOURCE: AFRICA NEWS
More Stories
Joshua Baraka is Ugandan Music’s Next Big Thing
Design for Human Rights
A Landmark Exhibition Celebrating the Global Impact of Modern and Contemporary African Fashions
Seven Striking Images by Africa’s New Creative Wave
Broken Chord, Sadler’s Wells Review – Sublime Music for the Tale of a South African Choir
Kinshasa’s Street Artists Raise Issues about Globalisation and Economic Plunder
Africa’s Leading Tourist Attraction 2023 Nominees
Lagosians will Proudly Tell You there’s No Party like a Lagos Party
If You Are Looking to Set Up an Office Remotely, South Africa has It All
Luxury Places to Stay in Zanzibar for a Memorable Vacation on the Island
Accelerating and Scaling Priority Infrastructure Development in Africa
Case Studies: Strategising for a New Era of African Trade