Changing Resource Management Strategies and Their Environmental Impacts in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco

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This paper discusses the social, economic, and ecological changes in terms of sustainable development in the mountain areas of North Africa. In many mountain ranges in Morocco, such as the Rif, the High Atlas, and the Anti Atlas, centuries old sedentary communities depended on terracing, cultivation of steep slopes, and intensive animal breeding. However, until the 1950s the northwestern section of the Middle Atlas was inhabited by semi-nomadic groups who depended on the summer pastures and in winter migrated to the surrounding lowlands in search of pasture and arable land. The paper recalls the cultural determinants behind these indigenous resource-use practices that no longer exist. During the last 35 years the pastoral nomadic migrations have disappeared; the people have settled permanently in the highlands for the first time and are engaged in a new pattern of agropastoral activities. The paper seeks explanation for the radical change in the perception and use of mountain resources. The detrimental impacts of these change processes endanger the viability of the natural resource base.