Management of gullied areas in semi-arid Atlantic plateaus of Morocco

With the objective of management of gullied slopes on the north banks of the Oued Grou, Sehoul commune, the option was to plant Atriplex halimus, a fodder shrub adapted to semi-arid environments, on degraded lands. The experimental plot corresponds to a strongly gullied old fallow. The gullies are parallel and start at the middle of the slope and extent to upland by retreat of their head. Each gully is 2 to 4m large and 1 to 2m deep. Downstream, the gullies loose their depth and deposit fans composed of material eroded upstream, before they join the channel of Hannanet, which has the tendency to incise its bed (more than 4m deep) inside colluviums made of sand, clay and pebbles.This paper presents an evaluation of this SLM (sustainable land management) technique, to assess its effect in term of soil protection and vegetation restoration. The monitoring concerned several parameters, the covering of the herbaceous vegetation, its biomass and the floristic biodiversity, the fodder production, the soil surface in term of moisture, resistance to penetration, cohesion, rate of pebbles and of the encrusted parts. In addition, we made observations on the gullies transversal profile and on the steepness of the banks.The results of the monitoring during two years show that the Atriplex technique, for correction of the gullies, presents several advantages. During the intense episodes of rain of the winters 2010 and 2011, in the atriplex plot more rain infiltrates and less runoff is generated. This process appears through the profiles of the gullies, which already show lee steepness and more sharp banks.The soil management by atriplex plantation offers a good opportunity for both, fodder production and soil conservation. The main factor responsible of this trend is the plot fencing during the phase of atriplex growing and herbaceous recovering. Less animal pressure on the vegetation cover and on the soil is then the solution for gullies cicatrisation and for ecosystem stability.But, the regional analysis demonstrates the difficulty to extent this kind of management and the constraints, which face the management. The participatory approach adopted before the experimentation was not enough to avoid these constraints. It is why the social context should be more understood to prevent the difficulties we faced

Los esfuerzos para dirección de bosque de alcornoque y sus efectos sobre conservación de suelo, la meseta Shoul, región de Rabat, Marruecos

The Shoul oak grove is a forested ecosystem inherited from a Holocene phase of ecological optimum; its evolution, through the double geologic and human temporality, and in relation with several processes of degradation, led to the progressive loss of its environmental equilibrium and further to the reduction of its economic contributions. The fragility of these forests is the consequence of the convergence of two main factors, i) the intrinsic fragility of the forested environment based on an unstable balance between the tree, the leached soils and their moisture content ; ii) the anthropological action on the forest environment and its degradation with the change of its floristic composition. During the colonization the new context was at the origin of the new social and economic relation between the forest and the surrounding populations. The current use of this oak grove is in a classic scheme of the reports society / forest in Morocco. The population is especially of pastoral main activity in the bordering communes. But the oak groves of Mamora-Sehoul are integrated into the area of influence of several cities, what exposes the forest to the risks of uncontrolled urbanization. These oak groves are thus in the centre of interest of several stakeholders with opposite behaviour and a new paradigm of relation rural/urban. Through a double approach, environmental and socio-economic, this paper will try to bring elements of answer by analyzing the interactions between a forest which reached an alarming threshold of degradation and a society affected by important changes in its modes of intervention and exploitation.La arboleda de roble Shoul es un ecosistema arbolado heredado de una fase de Holocene de grado óptimo ecológico; su evolución, por la doble temporalidad geológica y humana, y en relación con varios procesos de degradación, conducida a la pérdida progresiva de su equilibrio ambiental y con relación a la reducción de sus contribuciones económicas. La fragilidad de estos bosques es la consecuencia de la convergencia de dos factores principales, i) la fragilidad intrínseca del ambiente arbolado basado en un equilibrio(saldo) inestable entre el árbol, los suelos leached y su contenido de humedad; ii) la acción antropológica sobre el ambiente forestal y su degradación con el cambio de su composición floristic. Durante la colonización el nuevo contexto estaba en el origen de la nueva relación social y económica entre el bosque y las poblaciones circundantes. El empleo corriente de esta arboleda de roble está en un esquema clásico de la sociedad de informes / el bosque en Marruecos. La población es sobre todo de actividad pastoral principal en las comunas de lindar. Pero las arboledas de roble de Mamora-Sehoul son integradas en el área de influencia de varias ciudades, que expone el bosque a los riesgos de urbanización incontrolada. Estas arboledas de roble son así en el centro de interés de varios tenedores de apuestas con el comportamiento de enfrente y un nuevo paradigma de relación rural/urbana. Por un doble acercamiento, ambiental y socioeconómico, este papel(periódico) tratará de traer los elementos de respuesta por analizando las interacciones entre un bosque que alcanzó un umbral alarmante de degradación y una sociedad afectada por cambios importantes de sus modos de intervención y explotación

Between a rock and a hard place: early experience of migration challenges under the Covid-19 pandemic

This working paper was produced under the European Union Horizon 2020 funded AGRUMIG project and traces the impact of Covid-19 on migration trends in seven project countries – China, Ethiopia, Kyrgyzstan, Moldova, Morocco, Nepal and Thailand. The context of global migration has changed dramatically due to the coronavirus pandemic. Both within and between countries there has been a substantial curtailment of movement. As a result of multiple lockdowns, economic activity has severely declined and labor markets have ground to a halt, with mass unemployment in industrialized economies looming on the horizon. For both migrant hosting and origin countries – some are substantially both – this poses a set of complex development challenges. Partners of the AGRUMIG project undertook a rapid review of impacts across project countries, exploring the impacts on rural households but also identifying the persistent desire to migrate in spite of restrictions

Terres collectives (Maroc)

International audienc

Terres collectives (Maroc)

International audienc