Terraced Agroforestry Systems in West Anti-Atlas (Morocco): Incidence of Climate Change and Prospects for Sustainable Development

Abstract

The Moroccan Anti-Atlas region contains all the “ingredients” of a hostile environment including an arid climate, a highly rugged topography, a low vegetation cover due to insufficient rainfall, and inexorable soil erosion. These harsh conditions incited local peasants to adopt simple but ingenious agricultural practices that fit the prevailing rigours and ensure their livelihood survival: Terraced Agroforestry System (TAS). TAS, one of the most ancestral agricultural practices, becomes a dominant feature of the Anti-Atlas landscape. This study aims to explore the Anti-Atlas TAS as a resilient approach to counter climate change impacts and ensure a sustainable development of this region. To this end, a prospective study was conducted to survey the indigenous peasants, to assess the status of TAS, to describe its biodiversity trends, and ultimately to ensure its sustainable development. The primary results revealed that the Anti-Atlas TAS are based essentially on the Argan tree (Argania spinosa L.) as the predominant vegetation crown layer. Accordingly, goats represented the main integrated livestock. The related annual crops are mainly represented by local varieties of cereals and legumes. Other dryland fruit trees, such as almond, fig, olive, and date palm are also sparsely planted. Beyond their purely aesthetic and economic role, this agro-cultural heritage contributes greatly to the conservation of several local varieties and their associated fauna. Furthermore, the results allows us to identify some serious climatic and social challenges faced by the persisting TAS in the Anti-Atlas region. In this regards, the regional climate change scenarios predict warmer and dryer conditions over the studied region, meanwhile the new generation of local peasants increasingly lacks interest to maintain TAS and prefers to seek new opportunities in the Souss-Massa plain valley. Consequently, this paper investigates major issues threatened social, economic, and ecological balances and provides a combination of adaptation solutions to help revive the agro-cultural heritage of TAS from the process of extinction.