{"id":901,"date":"2018-10-22T17:53:14","date_gmt":"2018-10-22T15:53:14","guid":{"rendered":"http:\/\/didouqen.com\/?p=901"},"modified":"2020-11-12T11:57:53","modified_gmt":"2020-11-12T11:57:53","slug":"coming-together-for-lake-ifni","status":"publish","type":"post","link":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/coming-together-for-lake-ifni\/","title":{"rendered":"Coming Together for Lake Ifni"},"content":{"rendered":"

By Errachid Montassir\u00a0<\/em>
\nProject Manager, Sami’s Project\u00a0<\/em><\/p>\n

Driving 70 kilometers on a unpaved road from the Aouloz commune in the province of Taroudant, you will find Lake Ifni nestled amid the towering peaks of the Tigolal mountains, near Mount Toubkal.\u00a0 This blue lake, according to local people, is a place that many young and hopeful brides come to visit.Lake Ifni\u2019s life began 245 million years ago.\u00a0 There are two sources of the lake\u2019s origin: the first is due to volcanic activity forming the crater, and the second is the accumulated snowfall and its melting \u2013 over millennia \u2013 filling the large indentation with water.\u00a0 Lake Ifni is at an altitude of 2,395 meters.\u00a0 The length of the lake is 900 meters and its width extends to a distance of 400 meters. Its effluent level \u2013 or the amount of water it discharges \u2013 is at approximately 300 meters per second.<\/p>\n

The Regional Management of Waters and Forests and its agency, the Toubkal National Park Management, recently organized a workshop with the immediate beneficiaries of Lake Ifni \u2013 the people of the Tifnoute Valley \u2013 to create together a sustainable development plan.\u00a0 Mr. Mohamed Issoual, the Regional Director of Waters and Forests, focused with the workshop participants on the need to work collaboratively to maintain the lake as: a water source upon which thousands of families depend for drinking and agriculture; the beginning waters that eventually contributes to the Souss Massa basin about 200 kilometers away; and as a majestic destination that draws visitors from around the world.<\/p>\n

In partnership with the United Nations Development Program and the local Toubkal Association, the High Atlas Foundation is assisting the development and implementation of a new plan, dedicated to enhancing both livelihoods and preservation.\u00a0 As part of the workshop, we support the efforts of Waters and Forests and the integration of the people and associations into the process of designing actions for livelihoods and sustainable management systems for the lake.<\/p>\n

Since 2003, we have been working closely with the Tifnoute people, growing nurseries and hundreds of thousands of trees (in memory of\u00a0RPCV Kate Jeans-Gail<\/a>), securing\u00a0organic certification<\/a>\u00a0of walnuts and almonds, building drinking water systems with 12 villages, promoting opportunities with women\u2019s coops, and engaging schoolchildren in environmental activities.\u00a0 Using the participatory approach, we created a municipal development plan, engaging all the Valley\u2019s 44 villages.<\/p>\n

The trust we have built with the Tifnoute people is derived from a long extension of advancing with them sustainable projects.\u00a0 This lake project came several years ago from the community mapping activity we conducted with local people neighboring the lake.<\/p>\n

The first day of the workshop began with a detailed presentation from the director of the Toubkal National Park, \u00a0Ms. Soraya Mokhtari.\u00a0 She spoke about the context and framework of this project, leading to the 2020 plan for Protected Areas in Morocco.\u00a0 Professor Lamiae Kacem of Marrakech presented substantial knowledge about Lake Ifni and its watershed, including its geographic scope and difficulties facing the Lake.<\/p>\n

Mr. Larbi Didouqen of HAF discussed with the workshop participants the opportunities associated with the new project, such as actions for the rehabilitation of ecosystems and preservation of threatened vegetation and wildlife species.\u00a0 Participants then discussed the advantages of the lake:<\/p>\n

– As a vital source of water
\n– The environmental and agricultural benefits
\n– The cultural heritage
\n– Its governance and new partnerships to support this
\n– Its touristic feature<\/p>\n

These are all essential reason to develop an integrated, participatory, and sustainable management plan for the Lake.\u00a0 However, we must address as part of this initiative the difficult obstacles: the absence of guides, waste pollution, deforestation, and the few local products available to visitors.<\/p>\n

The discussions surrounding the development plan ended with consensus around several points, which will be part of the project solutions to which we are committed:<\/p>\n

– Alleviating erosion
\n– Grow vegetation
\n– Initiate waste management
\n– Provide clean water and other infrastructure
\n– Establish a guidance center in the area<\/p>\n

The following day we visited Lake Ifni with members of Waters and Forests, the park management, and local associations.\u00a0 There we together fortified our agreement and collaboration to work together for this initiative and will bring our best support for the highest lake in Morocco and the people who depend upon it<\/em><\/p>\n","protected":false},"excerpt":{"rendered":"

By Errachid Montassir\u00a0 Project Manager, Sami’s Project\u00a0 Driving 70 kilometers on a unpaved road from the Aouloz commune in the province of Taroudant, you will find Lake Ifni nestled amid the towering peaks of the Tigolal mountains, near Mount Toubkal.\u00a0 This blue lake, according to local people, is a place that many young and hopeful<\/p>\n","protected":false},"author":6,"featured_media":18020,"comment_status":"open","ping_status":"closed","sticky":false,"template":"","format":"standard","meta":[],"categories":[46],"tags":[],"jetpack_featured_media_url":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-content\/uploads\/2018\/10\/t\u00e9l\u00e9chargement-8.jpg","_links":{"self":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901"}],"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=901"}],"version-history":[{"count":2,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions"}],"predecessor-version":[{"id":18021,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/posts\/901\/revisions\/18021"}],"wp:featuredmedia":[{"embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media\/18020"}],"wp:attachment":[{"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/media?parent=901"}],"wp:term":[{"taxonomy":"category","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/categories?post=901"},{"taxonomy":"post_tag","embeddable":true,"href":"https:\/\/wordpress-haf.ddev.site\/wp-json\/wp\/v2\/tags?post=901"}],"curies":[{"name":"wp","href":"https:\/\/api.w.org\/{rel}","templated":true}]}}