A lesson from the farmers and trees of the al-Haouz province By Livie Nute, HAF-UVa student volunteer Grafted Carob Sapling, Photo by Livie Nute Never before had I sat with a branch in my hand and thought about what it means to sit with a branch in my hand. I tend to address branches with

By Ryan Winegardner, UVa/HAF student-intern The community members and the HAF team unloading and organizing the tree saplings (credit: Ryan Winegardner) There is a great horror and a curse that can sometimes overwhelm me while doing development work. It was maybe at its greatest when HAF visited Al Haouz province to plant trees with the

Addie Simkin HAF-UVA Intern On Monday I made couscous. That morning, we traveled to a HAF tree planting site to learn about grafting. Abdelilah taught us that grafting is important to the carob trees he supervises because when grafting, the farmer can select for the best flavor and the trees produce fruit years faster than

By Hanna Tuoriniemi, HAF Volunteer and University of Michigan Student The High Atlas Foundation is a beacon for multistakeholderism, contributing to the sustainable development of Morocco by promoting better lives for many. One method to classify the impact that they have had can be through positive business. According to the University of Michigan’s Ross School

تهدف مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير في إطار الاجراءات المتخذة لتعزيز التنمية المستدامة وبشراكة مع مصلحة خدمة الغابات والمياه الأمريكية  إلى تبني برنامج فيلق حماية الشباب ، للقيام بدور المحفز للتنمية على مستوى القاعدة الشعبية، في المجتمعات المحلية الضعيفة في جميع أنحاء المغرب، عن طريق تيسير برامج التنمية القائمة على المشاركة، على أساس وأساليب وتقنيات مضمونة النجاح

Jackson Coldiron Our planet is becoming less green, less productive, and less habitable. Desertification and drought have played a large role in these unfortunate phenomena.  Desertification does not refer to the advancement of deserts, rather it is the process in which fertile land degrades into desert. It is a brutal, self-feeding cycle. Dryland ecosystems experience

في إطار المحافظة على الغابات والتنوع البيولوجي والوعي بأهمية أدوارها، فإن المبادرة التي أطلقتها مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير تلعب دورا مهما للمساهمة في تحقيق هذا الهدف. حيث تم تنظيم ورشات تحسيسية تطبيقية للمرة الثانية  في بعض المؤسسات التعليمية بالدار البيضاء يوم السبت 14 ماي 2022، تم خلالها توزيع 150 شجرة  لفائدة مؤسستي إبن بطوطة والفارابي بالحي

By:  Lahssan Ben Moula photo by Safae Ben Karroum / HAF Undoubtedly, the significance of this title suggests that the Jewish cemetery in Akrich, the community of Tameslouht, Al Haouz province, is not a dead and unchanging place that contains the graves of Moroccan Jews who died 700 years ago. Rather, it is the opposite,

By Aya Ladgham, HAF Volunteer Charif Idrissi Middle school students learn about tree planting. Photo credit: HAF tea Charif Idrissi Middle School students  learned about animals, ecosystems, trees, and how to protect them through a set of workshops organized by the Peace Corps in collaboration with the High Atlas Foundation. At first, Mr. Aziz Rahmouni

By Aziz Rahmouni On Sunday, May 15, HAF team conducted environmental activities with 52 students and 4 teachers from Groupe École Asâada pour L’enseignement Privé, a private school located in the city of Taza. The team began the workshop with an introductory presentation of the High Atlas Foundation, including its goals, objectives, and programs. The

By Ellen Hernandez, HAF Writer/Editor Students help tend the pomegranate plants at Akrich nursery with Abderrahim Beddah. Photo: Ellen Hernandez/HAF Friday is the Islamic sabbath, and typically it is a day for attending the weekly sermon at the mosque and spending the afternoon with family. However, Abderrahim Beddah, caretaker of the nursery and cemetery at

ينتمي الجوز إلى فصيلة الجوزيات باعتباره ثمرة  ذات قشرة خشبية سميكة تحمل بداخلها لب الجوز المميز للأكل ، يبلغ طول شجرة الجوز إلى أكتر من 10 أمتار فالشجرة ضخمة بطبيعتها توفر  دوحةً وضلالًا للناس وجوًّا غابويا منعشا. وتعتبر شجرة الجوز من النباتات المعمرة على وجه الأرض حيث يرجع بعض المؤرخين إلى اعتبار شجرة الجوز من

By: Noah C. Kohlmayer, HAF Volunteer A member of Cooperative Essaouira Mogador. Photo: HAF An emblem of the Kingdom of Morocco is the Argan tree (Argania Spinosa L.) and the oil produced from its fruit. One can see goats climbing on the hard, thorny branches of this tree to eat its fruit and leaves. Traditionally,

By Fatima El Mrini “Among the activities and programs carried out by the High Atlas Foundation in supporting investment in Morocco’s sustainable development is encouraging its population of 11 million people to consider the transition from barley and corn cultivation to the planting of more profitable crops and fruit trees.   To advance and achieve this

By Hanna Tuoriniemi, HAF Volunteer and University of Michigan Student Introduction Poster to the Webinar Event, “Virtual Launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in the Near East and North Africa Region”. On March 23, 2022, I attended the United Nation’s Virtual Launch of the UN Decade on Ecosystem Restoration in the Near East

By Abdelilah Ghmiza, YCC Tree Monitoring Officer  Taounate is located in the Rif mountains region in northern  Morocco and is the capital of the Taounate region. Taounate is said to mean jbala, referring to the inhabitants of the mountains, and it is the name associated with the natural geography of the region. In Morocco, there

By Fatima El Mrini, HAF Tree Monitoring Officer March 26, 2022—As part of the activities carried out by the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) in partnership with the BeGreen program, the HAF team revived tree planting with some schools in Casablanca province. There, over 1,300 male and female students at Al-Farabi Prep and Ibn Battouta High

By Lahcen Ben Moula On March 28, the High Atlas Foundation in coordination with Zrayka Association for Development and Cooperation organized an environmental workshop for the students of Ibn Battuta School in the village of Ganfouda in Jerada province. Students of all school levels were involved in the planting process for more than 20 trees

To Eradicate Poverty, The Policy Times. Arabic: Sot al Iraq, 14 November 2021. French version By Yossef Ben-Meir Marrakech When we think about eradicating poverty on earth, solutions are as old as can be, and at the apex of our most forward-reaching innovation. The pathway forward is the complete blending of ancient knowledge and the

By Lahssan Ben Moula Be Green workshop held in Berkane Province Photo credit: lahssan Within the framework of its environmental and awareness activities, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF), in coordination with the Environment and Human Association in the city of Berkane, organized a field training workshop for a group of young people in the eastern

By Salma Derkaoui, HAF volunteer Our daily life is full of basic needs, needs that we as human beings must acknowledge and cherish. It is not a secret that we need water and food to survive, shelter to protect ourselves from the cold, the heat, as well as the danger… The homes we live in,

By Aya Ladgham HAF Volunteer On the 25th of February 2022, there was a meeting about how to build a platform for Research and Innovation Partnership on Food and Nutrition Security and Sustainable Agriculture. Dr. Loannis Dimitriou started by talking about the challenges for this collaboration, such as no one knowing who is doing what

By Lahcen Ben Moula  The High Atlas Foundation (HAF), which is pioneering the production and distribution of fruit trees, organized an environmental workshop for the benefit of secondary school students at Abi Bakr Al-Razi, in the city of Berkane, in partnership with the Association of Parents and Parents of Students and the Administrative and Educational

By: Henry Prillaman, HAF-UVa Intern Dr. Ben-Meir teaches a class from the fruit tree nursery in Imerdal, which overlooks the burial site of Moroccan Jewish saint Rabbi David-ou-Moche. July 2021. Photo: HAF In our Global Development in Morocco class with Dr. Ben-Meir, we discussed the need for storytelling and experiencing genuine emotion in both the

Hajiba Boumasmar HAF Program Coordinator (Youth Conservation Corps) Farmer-to-Farmer Expert-Volunteers with Takherkhourt cooperative members at the tree nursery. (Photo by HAF, December 2021) In the Tassa Ouirgane village (located in the Ouirgane municipality of the Al Haouz province), the High Atlas Foundation (HAF) assisted the local women;s group in building an organic fruit trees to benefit

Soufiane Amarirh, HAF volunteer On Monday, January 17th, I had the honor to come and participate in an exceptional work with the High Atlas Foundation. It was actually my first time doing tree-planting activities and giving students awareness of the benefits of tree planting. We started with a primary school in Marrakech, called al Mokef,

بقلم: محمد القادري حلت مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير يومه السبت الموافق لـ 05 فبراير 2022 ممثلة في السادة محمد القادري ويوسف الطاهيريومحمد بن ياسين بدوار تاكلاست جماعة أيت تمليل، إقليم أزيلال بتنسيق مع الشركة المغربية للحماية كان الغرض من هذه الزيارة توزيع ملابس شتوية على سكان المنطقة، وهو نشاط يدخل في اطار الأنشطة التي تقوم بها

Hajiba Boumasmar YCC Program Coordinator Children outside school in Boujdour with HAF program manager, Hana Ezaoui  Photo by: Hajiba Boumasmar, HAF HAF program manager, Hana Ezaoui, reports that 570 fig and pomegranate trees were planted with 9 schools in 5 Moroccan provinces: Boujdour, Akhefir, Tantan, Sidi Ifni, and Semanara, Hana conducted the tree-planting workshops with

By Hajiba Boumasmar, HAF Program Coordinator (YCC) Students from Oued Amlil visiting Bouhlou Nursery in Taza arranged by Mr. Aziz Rhmouni Mr. Aziz Rhmouni with ReForestaction arranged a field visit from a group of students from Oued Amlil to the Bouhlou nursery in Taza. He explained that the idea was to teach them the first

By Jamal Maghiouzi, HAF Field Coordinator On January 12, the Amazigh people celebrated their New Year 2972 which corresponds to the Gregorian calendar of 2022, Hebrew calendar of 5783, and lunar calendar of 1443. They refer to it as Yannayer which means January in both Amazigh and in Arabic. It is also called Ighf n