The Break-up of the Ksar: Changing Settlement Patterns and Environmental Management in Southern Morocco

Abstract

In spite of the French colonial intrusion up to the 1950s resource management in Saharan villages constituted what some have called the syndrome of collectivity. The syndrome of collectivity was the product of three interrelated factors: the Ksar or a nucleated settlement pattern ethnicity and village-drawn constitutions. Since Independence however the Ksar’s compact and nucleated settlement began to break up. I argue that the break-up of the Ksar and the emergence of a dispersed settlement pattern have led to significant erosion in village institutions governing the commons. In addition to the appropriate emphasis on environmental strategies in the literature I also contend that reflection upon settlement change and dynamic ethnic relations is critical to crafting sustainable environmental strategies in the new millennium. (authors)