By: Said Bennani, HAF Project Manager and HAF Team Imegdal Nursery, Morocco. On June 4, 2021, Project Manager Said Bennani and a group of volunteers visited the Imegdal and Tassa Ouirgane nurseries. The first stop was the Imegdal nursery, where they met nursery caretaker Hassan Ait Ba on the new nursery land. To date, five

By Said Bennani, HAF Project Manager and HAF Team HAF Project Manager Said Bennani, Driver Abdelghani Kastih, and volunteer Youssef Tahri, all visited the Tadmamt and Akrich nurseries on June 3, 2021, to start off an insightful visit and viewing of the communities. The first stop was in Tadmamt, where they met assistant nursery caretaker

Profound Partnerships: FRÉ Skincare and the High Atlas Foundation, Maravi Post. Zuha Afzal | 2021 HAF-UVA Intern Abstract The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) is an international development organization based in Morocco whose mission is to promote sustainable development. By supporting and empowering local communities on capacity building, clean water initiatives, pro bono legal aid, youth

By Marij W Janjua, HAF UT-Austin Intern The HAF team visits the Tassa Ouirgane nursery in early June 2021 where saplings of carob, fig, and pomegranate are growing well. “Desertification  and  drought,  which  are  a  degradation  of  environmental  health,  contribute to the collapse of biodiversity and favour the appearance of zoonoses. This is yet  another 

By Karam-Yane Azzabi, Program Coordinator The HAF team visits Tighmert Oasis to meet farmers who benefited from the Afous Ghissiki project and planted trees with HAF in 2021. It was with great excitement that I hit the road to Sidi Ifni accompanied by Abdeljalil Ait Ali, HAF Field Manager, and Mustapha Id Said, HAF Driver

إن القطاع الفلاحي في المغرب مساهم أساسي في توفير فرص الشغل، خصوصا في العالم القروي ويحقق إكتفاءً ذاتياً في الاستهلاك الداخلي بنسبة% 100. يتوفر المغرب على  تجهيزات هيدرو فلاحية مهمة، مكونة من 139 سد، تمكن من تعبئة 15.2 مليار م3 من المياه، 13.3 مليار منها موجهة للاستعمال الفلاحي، (سقي حوالي 8.7 مليون هكتار). ويعد القطاع

Webster Hill HAF-UVa Intern The terrain of Morocco provides the opportunity to achieve tremendous agricultural and environmental results. The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) plants fruit trees across the country with rural communities. In 2021, HAF-community collaboration has planted 700,000 trees of nine fruit varieties, with 6,000 farming families in 39 provinces. In addition, 1.6 million

بقلم يوسف الطاهري : متطوع بمؤسسة الأطلس الكبير تنقل فريق مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير الى جماعة توبقال عبر مضايق تيشكا مرورا بمنطقة اكويم وتيديلي، بقيادة مديرة المشاريع بالَمؤسسة السيدة أمينة الحجامي ومساعدتها السيدة صفاء بن كروم، و متطوعة من الديار السلوفينية السيدة سيمونا زوبنز بتاريخ 25 ماي 2021 قرية أكرزران الجبلية  :لقاء تعاونية اكرزران النسائية  بين

Fieldwork in the Toubkal community by Simona Zupanc On Tuesday, 25th of May we started our journey to the Toubkal community. We went together with the project manager Amina El Hajjami, program assistant Safae Ben Karroum and volunteer Youssef Tahiri. Although we did not know each other, I easily joined the group of highly motivated,

Megan Sprotte and Megan Williams HAF-UVA Interns  In her recent essay, “The Labor of Agrodiversity in a Moroccan Oasis”, Karen Rignall examines the recent history of farming in the Mgoun valley in southern Morocco in order to explain how agrodiversity, labor, and tradition interact in current small-scale agrarian systems. Rignall emphasizes lines of thought that

By Caroline Culmo, Rohan Krishnan, Anjali Mahajan, and Elisa Zhang After nearly a year of working with the High Atlas Foundation on the development of a business plan for value added-walnut processing as volunteer consultants from the University of Pennsylvania, our team had the opportunity to visit several of HAF’s agricultural cooperatives and walnut tree

By HAF staff The consequences of environmental degradation extend far past a loss of natural resources or fragile ecosystems. The livelihoods, well-being, and health of people across the world is also at stake – particularly in regions that are already highly vulnerable to climate change and suffer from rural poverty, such as Morocco.  A unique

Sanae Benaadim HAF’s Office Manager & Volunteer Coordinator Students from the University of Pennsylvania’s International Impact visiting with the fruit tree nursery of the Takhrkhourt Women’s Cooperative in Asni municipality of the Al Haouz province. On May 18th, I travelled from Marrakech with the HAF President, Dr. Yossef Ben-Meir, Project Assistants Lahcen Ait Ouatouch and

Female Empowerment Can Drive Development in Morocco, Morocco World News. By Molly Case Charlottesville, Virginia Despite its international reputation as a reformist country, women in Morocco continue to face significant obstacles to social, economic, and political participation. Progressive revisions of the Moudawana Family Code (2004) and amendments to the Moroccan constitution (2011) have aided in

Nicole Luz HAF-UVa Intern When people speak of the protection and upliftment of children, those in juvenile detention are often forgotten. In Morocco, children between the ages of 12 and 18 who have committed a transgression of the law are often housed in Child Protection Centers (CPCs). Children who were abandoned, had to be removed

Making the Farmer King: The Need to Shift Our Approach to Agriculture, Morocco World News. By Olufunmilayo Aiyegbusi The Hague, Netherlands Looking through my grandfather’s diary 25 years after his death, I got some insights into the life of a farmer. Although he had three farms which would have added up to at least 100

By HAF Team Approximately 100,000 almond, walnut, and cherry saplings grow in the Tadmamt nursery on land lent in-kind by the Department of Water and Forests – Marrakech-Safi. HAF has ambitions to enhance the monitoring of its trees, measure carbon sequestration at a scientifically and socially responsible standard, and promote reinvestment back into the sustainable

Arabic version Written by Youssef Taheri, HAF Volunteer Translated from Arabic by Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator A photo exemplifying the effect of climate change What is meant by climate change? The concept of climate change is generally defined as the changes that occur at the level of the climate with a rise in

Dear friends, It is a special time of year – and a special week. We are celebrating the earth, our volunteers and partners, and the holy month of Ramadan. With the close of the planting season, our team is now visiting villages in 39 provinces across Morocco to monitor the 700,000 trees planted this year

A Unified Emissions Trading System By Finn Grundmann With a value of $299 billion, the trade of carbon credits has become one of the fastest growing markets globally. But with growth comes complexity and a global challenge. In working with the market’s many requirements, rules, and standards, I learned quickly that both simplicity and partnership

Blooming Morocco: One Argan Seed at a Time, Morocco World News, By Zuha Afzal – HAF-UVA Intern. Zuha Afzal – HAF-UVA Intern Deciphering effective mechanisms for long term growth is a journey that most certainly involves a variety of factors to be considered. Factors such as sustainable growth, women empowerment, clean drinking water, and planting

Written by MAP Ecology in Arabic Translated into English by Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) celebrated the inauguration of a solar irrigation system in the Akrich nursery in the rural commune of Tamslouht, Al-Haouz province. The nursery produces seedlings intended for later distribution to regional farmers and schools. The

Written by Hajar Toufik, Journalist, in Arabic Translated into English by Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator The High Atlas Foundation (HAF) continues to develop its projects relating to the creation of organic tree nurseries by using the arable land belonging to the Moroccan Jewish community.  Nearly ten years ago, the High Atlas Foundation (HAF),

Why Morocco Must Address Climate Change’s Threats to Water Resources, Morocco World News, By Megan Williams and Megan Sprotte HAF-UVA Interns. Megan Sprotte and Megan Williams HAF-UVA Interns Climate change is impacting water resources in Morocco, creating aggravated conditions as a result of both the environmental characteristics and social vulnerability that are present in the

By Zainab Hachoumi, HAF Intern Kaoutar Ait Lahaj, HAF Program Coordinator The general assembly of the Moroccan Platform for the Decentralization of Renewable Energies visiting Akrich. The High Atlas Foundation together with GermanWatch and the steering committee of the Multi-Stakeholder Partnership Project (MSP) have been carrying out their work on the decentralization of renewable energies

بقلم: محمد القادري منذ سنة 2000، ظلت مؤسسة الأطلس الكبير تدعم التنمية في المغرب، حيث اعتمدت منذ ذلك الحين على أساليب وطرق متعددة من أجل وضع خطة طريق للسير بالتنمية المستدامة في البلاد. لقد بدأت كمرحلة أولى بتوعية سكان الجبال والقرى عبر تنظيم تكوينات وورشات تهدف الى تطوير مهارات وقدرات الأفراد في المجتمعات المحلية أثناء

Shivani Lakshman HAF-UVA Intern Lake Ifni at the Toubkal National Park; Morocco’s oldest and largest protected area. Courtesy of the High Atlas Foundation, 2018. The Moroccan government recently laid out a new forestry strategy intended to meet five major goals: sustain natural resources in forests and National Parks, engage local users in forest management, promote

Carlie Daniel HAF-UVA Intern The Aziza Date is a rare type of date that contains a lower sugar content than other dates and can be preserved for up to two years before spoiling. Its long shelf life and nutritional value make it a valuable fruit that has the potential to be very beneficial to farmers

Carlie Daniel HAF-UVA Intern Development. When many people hear this word, they think of infrastructure and improved education but do not necessarily think about the challenges and processes that convert a place to a developed area. Participatory methods have been shown to have many benefits and positive outcomes as a method of development including helping

Sustainable Agricultural Villages As a Panacea to Poverty, By Olufunmilayo Aiyegbusi, moroccoworldnews. By Olufunmilayo Aiyegbusi Volunteer, High Atlas Foundation Nigeria As a nursing mother some years ago, I would have given anything to have had a small business. Working in a highly structured law firm and handling several sensitive case files clashed significantly with that