Sense-making and shaping of temporary wetlands: A socio-hydrological analysis of dichotomous ontologies of merjas in Morocco

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There are quite different ways of making sense of wetlands: as wastelands to be drained and reclaimed, as hotspots of biodiversity to be preserved or restored, as buffer zones, or as hydrosocial territories in which people live and produce. We argue that such ontologies not only represent ‘a reality out there’ but help bring this reality into being by shaping the way wetlands are developed and used. The present study was conducted on temporary wetlands (merjas) in the Gharb plain (Morocco). Using a socio-hydrological approach, this research probes the origin of these ontologies and how they shape field realities. Qualitative data were collected during field surveys and focus groups while hydrological data were obtained by remote sensing. There are two main ways of seeing merjas that have led to two different enactments – a ‘State’ one, that has drained and developed the land and re-distributed it to farmers of its choice; and a ‘local’ one, that of riverine communities who have learned to live with land–water dynamics, who now also claim part of this reclaimed land for their own children. The view of temporary wetlands as ecological systems has been restricted to three particular merjas, thereby obliterating the ecological role of others. Since the 2009/2010 floods, the idea of merjas as buffer zones to protect agricultural and urban areas has been under discussion. Although the idea is rejected by most actors, in practice, merjas will continue to play this role during major floods in the future, as upstream dams are generally managed with the aim of resilience to drought. We show how each ontology is connected to different networks of people, resulting in different enactments that sometimes co-exist and sometimes clash. Creating space for negotiation for the future of merjas remains challenging, given the changing water flows and the persistent co-existence of ontologies, as the people connected to it aim to enact their own version of the merja.