Argan Forest restoration in Morocco<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe next project was an Argan Forest restoration initiative in Morocco, in the surrounding area of Agadir. Argan trees have a relatively low water consumption, and they can grow on agricultural terraces in mountainous areas, which makes them very well suited for this part of Morocco. The forests contain very high biodiversity with many different plant and animal species, and they provide good protection against desertification. In addition, argan trees produce the starting material for argan oil, an expensive cosmetic and medicinal product, which means their economic value is very high.<\/p>\n
However, several recent developments have significantly shrunk the argan tree population. Frequent droughts led to water scarcity, and soil degradation led to farmers abandoning the terraces where the argan trees are grown. Other consequences of anthropic pressure on the argan forest, such as a loss of biodiversity, could also be observed.<\/p>\n
This project explores different options for counteracting those problems. The straightforward one is the reforested of the already existing argan forests. Another issue the forests face is the animals grazing on the trees and damaging them. To counter this, argan trees were planted in other areas, such as private land, to alleviate the pressure from the already existing forests and give them more time for regeneration. Another change made is the adaptation of farming systems with alley cropping. This means that argan trees were planted together with aromatic and medicinal herbs as those plants profited from their symbiotic relationship.<\/p>\n
Another big advantage of this project is the carbon sequestration which is expected to exceed 600,000 T of CO2<\/sub>.<\/p>\nTo achieve those ambitious goals, a participatory approach is used, and more than 50 NGOs already took part in the project. The main beneficiaries of this program are the local community members. Their switch from barley which yields around 150$\/ha, to argan, with 400$\/ha, is a big improvement in their income. To further increase their independence, workshops were organized for the local community members and initiatives that taught women the management of farming and the marketing of their products.<\/p>\n
Paired with continuous scientific research and advancement to improve nursery production techniques and adapt the farming systems, such as storing rainwater, mulching, or organic fertilization, this project has a big impact on the lives of the local communities.<\/p>\n
Nevertheless, a question that came up was how the decrease in barley production would affect the people. Firstly, the barley production in the area was very inefficient in the first place, yielding much smaller harvests than in other areas. Secondly, the significant increase in revenue through the argan products should enable people to afford barley from somewhere else.<\/p>\n
MARSADEV Project – Rehabilitation of a dried-out Wadi<\/em><\/strong><\/p>\nThe last presentation was about an agricultural project in Egypt. There the main challenges are low water levels in the areas further away from the coast and high levels of erosion. The project is implemented in a wadi, a valley with a riverbed that is only filled with water when heavy rainfall occurs.<\/p>\n
The goal is to prepare the wadi in a way to transform it into agricultural land once rainfall occurs. The first step is leveling the uneven surface and turning it into farmland. The solution to erosion is the construction of walls that protect the soil from getting blown away by the wind. These could be long straight solid walls or just rocks piled up in the shape of a small half-moon with a few plants inside.<\/p>\n
For irrigation, terraces are built into the central spillway of the wadi. This should ensure that all families who owned land in the wadi got a fair share of the water. The accessible water was harvested and transported through pipes to irrigate areas further away. An important factor for the efficient usage of the water was the measurement of groundwater levels, water levels in the water beds, and rainfall. Moreover, the project took care of the installation of the tools necessary to measure these things.<\/p>\n
These projects are all interesting and have shown positive results. They once more highlight the importance of a participatory approach and close cooperation with local communities. Providing the farmers with the right training and support proved to be the number one factor when it came to the success of the initiatives.<\/p>\n
The biggest strength of the different programs is their ability to combine economic empowerment of local communities and improve their living standard by combating climate change through tree planting. Hopefully, successful projects such as these will serve as an incentive and blueprint for many more similar projects in the future.<\/p>\n
<\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"
By Aleksander Esmann, HAF intern \u201cRestoring Degraded Forests and Landscapes in Drylands\u201d was the fifth webinar in a series of webinars on \u201cLandscape Restoration in the Arab Region,\u201d organized by FAO (Food and agriculture organization of the United Nations). Action Against Desertification\u00a0 After the general introduction, the first topic discussed was desertification and the most<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":23694,"comment_status":"closed","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[54],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2022\/12\/UN4.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23688"}],"collection":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts"}],"about":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/types\/post"}],"author":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/users\/6"}],"replies":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/comments?post=23688"}],"version-history":[{"count":3,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23688\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":23693,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/23688\/revisions\/23693"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/23694"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=23688"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=23688"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=23688"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}