Land and Livestock Management in the Mountains of Maghreb
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MSc Thesis 2013 Land and Livestock Management in the Mountains of Maghreb Flicker images Pedro Fiz Rocha Correa Land and Livestock Management in the Mountains of Maghreb Preface This report was written as a thesis for the Master Management Economics and Consumer studies at the Wageningen University. For my Master Internship I had the opportunity to spend three months working for the Mountain Partnership Secretariat (MPS), placed at the UNFAO headquarters in Rome, Italy. During this internship I had the possibility to work on a report about mountains and climate change for the 4th Regional Meeting of the Mountain Partnership, focused in the Near East Region. Among the topics undertook by this event, the Dryland Mountain Ecosystems in the Maghreb and their management appeared as the best topic for my thesis. The elaboration of this report was quite difficult since there was not much information available from the studied area, and the author was not able to visit the Maghrebian Mountains. However, thanks to the great help of Olman Serrano (team manager of the MPS) and Dr. Thomas Hofer, among other UNFAO officers and contacts in the Maghreb provided, it was possible to obtain accurate information and scopes from the region. Also my supervisor Dr. Jack Peerlings was decisive in finalising this thesis, with his comments and inputs the work became much easier. Long time passed since the beginning of this thesis, the support of my family and Isabel was decisive during this almost one year. Special mention deserves two mountainous people that with their enthusiasm and passion made this report worth, Pedro de Coladas and Manuelín d’Ordeiro. To all of them, thanks. Pedro Fiz Rocha Correa Arnhem, April 2013. Master Thesis │Pedro Fiz Rocha 2 Land and Livestock Management in the Mountains of Maghreb Summary There is still little known about the effects of global change. Dryland Mountains are the ideal laboratory to isolate and study the variables influencing both the climate change effects and the direct human impacts. This study tries to delve into one of the most fragile kind of ecosystems all over the world. Which are the main factors these fragile ecosystems deal with? And how policies attach the situation? The UNFAO implemented some projects in the area to face the effects of global change. Pastoral communities are the natural keepers of these ecosystems, and remain among the most politically and economic marginalized groups. Transhumant cultures find themselves facing insecurity in multiple dimensions, including land, political, legal, food, environmental and physical insecurity. Pastoral marginalization comes from global processes involving structural adjustment, policy modernization and economic liberalization. These global processes boosted the sedentarization of nomadic and semi-nomadic populations together with their herds, generating conflicts between land uses and sustainability. Common property resources (traditionally managed by customary law) are commonplace in the Atlas Mountains, and unclear private user rights for individual farms encourage short-term resource exploitation rather than long-term conservation. Moreover, changes in land tenure alter the behaviour of individuals and local communities, leading to land degradation (e.g. overgrazing following the settlement of nomads). Key constraints stemming from the lack of tenure, promotion of privatization, food insecurity and minimal health and educational services must be addressed to ensure that the synergistic relationship between livestock-based livelihoods and environment could be productive and sustainable. Key words: Dryland Mountain Ecosystem, agro-pastoralism, Atlas range, land tenure, Berbers, climate change. Master Thesis │Pedro Fiz Rocha 3 Land and Livestock Management in the Mountains of Maghreb List of figures No Title Page 2.1 The main Mountain Ranges in the Maghreb 2.2 Berber distribution map 2.3 Main Mountain agglomerations in the Atlas range and sub ranges 2.4 Tunisian farm characteristics 2.5 Tunisian farm characteristics 3.1 Some comparative data of Maghreb countries 3.2 Map of Morocco regions 3.3 Tunisian regions 3.4 Map of Algeria. 3.5 Trade in Agriculture products 3.6 Food needs coverage by product 4.1 Projects site distribution 4.2 Juniperus thurifera 4.3 Juniperus ocycedrus 4.4 Atriplex 4.5 Agdal 4.6 Khettara in the dessert 4.7 Khettara operation 4.8 Wadi 4.9 Hamada crossed by agdal Master Thesis │Pedro Fiz Rocha 4 Land and Livestock Management in the Mountains of Maghreb Table of contents Preface .......................................................................................................................................... 2 Summary ....................................................................................................................................... 3 List of figures ................................................................................................................................. 4 1 Introduction .......................................................................................................................... 7 1.1 Background of the research ................................................................................................ 7 1.2 Research Objectives .......................................................................................................... 10 1.3 Theoretical framework ...................................................................................................... 10 1. Outline of the thesis ........................................................................................................... 12 2. Maghreb Description ............................................................................................................... 13 2.1 Society and economy ........................................................................................................ 13 2.2 Migration ........................................................................................................................... 15 2.3 Maghreb Mountains: uses and characteristics ................................................................. 16 2.4 Agro-pastoralism ............................................................................................................... 17 2.5 Land property and management ...................................................................................... 18 2.5.1 Traditional land management .................................................................................... 18 2.5.2 Land tenure and structure ......................................................................................... 19 3. Mountain Policy Tools ............................................................................................................. 22 3.1 General overview .............................................................................................................. 22 3.2 General overview on Mountain policy tools in the Maghreb ........................................... 24 3.3 Morocco ............................................................................................................................ 25 3.3.1 Policy .......................................................................................................................... 25 3.3.2. Morocco Policy analysis ............................................................................................ 27 3.4. Tunisia .............................................................................................................................. 29 3.4.1. Policy ......................................................................................................................... 29 3.4.2. Tunisian Policy analysis ............................................................................................. 31 3.5 Algeria ............................................................................................................................... 33 3.5.1 Policy .......................................................................................................................... 33 3.5.2 Algerian Policy analysis .............................................................................................. 35 4.-UNFAO projects in Maghreb Mountains ................................................................................. 38 4.1 Ecosystem Based Adaptation ............................................................................................ 38 4.1.1 General background ................................................................................................... 38 4.1.2 Ecosystem Base Adaptation in Azilal - High Atlas ...................................................... 40 4.2 Climate-Smart Agriculture ................................................................................................. 45 Master Thesis │Pedro Fiz Rocha 5 Land and Livestock Management in the Mountains of Maghreb 4.3 Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems ............................................................ 45 4.3.1 General background ................................................................................................... 45 4.3.2Imilchil-Amellagou mountain oasis Pilot Project ........................................................ 47 4.4 GLOCHAMORE research strategy ...................................................................................... 52 4.4.1 General background ..................................................................................................