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- It may be the gateway to the vast Sahara desert, but that does not mean it鈥檚 free of that modern scourge of the environment 鈥� the rubbish humanity discards
M鈥橦AMID EL GHIZLANE:It may be the gateway to the vast Sahara desert, but that does not mean it鈥檚 free of that modern scourge of the environment 鈥� the rubbish humanity discards.
In southern Morocco, volunteers are hunting for waste embedded in the sand, and they do not have to look far.
Bottles, plastic bags 鈥� 鈥渢here are all kinds,鈥� noted one helper who has joined the initiative cleaning up the edge of a village bordering the Sahara.
The initiative marks the 20th International Nomads Festival, which is held in mid-April every year in M鈥橦amid El Ghizlane in Zagora province in southeast Morocco.
Around 50 people, gloved and equipped with rubbish bags, toiled away for five hours 鈥� and collected 400 to 600 kilos of waste, the organizers estimated.
鈥淐lean-up initiatives usually focus on beaches and forests,鈥� festival founder Noureddine Bougrab, who lives in the village of around 6,600 people, told AFP.
鈥淏ut the desert also suffers from pollution.鈥�
The campaign brings together artists, activists and foreign tourists, and is a call for the 鈥渨orld鈥檚 deserts to be protected,鈥� said Bougrab, 46.
He said the clean-up began at the northern entrance of the village, 鈥渨hich was badly affected by pollution,鈥� and extended through to the other end of town and the beginning of the 鈥淕reat Desert.鈥�
The rubbish is 鈥渕ainly linked to the massive production of plastic products, low recycling rates and atmospheric pollutants carried by the wind,鈥� said anthropologist Mustapha Naimi.
Morocco has a population of almost 37 million and they generate about 8.2 million tons of household waste each year, according to the Ministry of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development.
鈥淭his is equivalent to 811 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower 鈥� enough to fill 2,780 Olympic swimming pools with compacted waste,鈥� said Hassan Chouaouta, an international expert in sustainable strategic development.
Of this amount, 鈥渂etween six and seven percent鈥� is recycled, he said.
Their morning alarm went off 鈥渆arly,鈥� according to one volunteer, New York-based French photographer Ronan Le Floch, who said the initiative鈥檚 aim was 鈥渢o show that it鈥檚 important to take care of this type of environment.鈥�
Another helper was Ousmane Ag Oumar, a 35-year-old Malian member of Imarhan Timbuktu, a Tuareg blues group.
He called the waste a direct danger to livestock, which are essential to the subsistence of nomadic communities.
Naimi, the anthropologist, agreed. 鈥淧lastic waste harms the Saharan environment as it contaminates the land, pasture, rivers and nomadic areas,鈥� he said.
Pastoral nomadism is a millennia-old way of life based on seasonal mobility and available pasture for livestock.
But it is on the wane in Morocco, weakened by climate change and with nomadic communities now tending to stay in one place.
The most recent official census of nomads in Morocco dates to 2014, and returned a population of 25,274 鈥� 63 percent lower than a decade earlier in 2004.
Mohammed Mahdi, a professor of rural sociology, said the country鈥檚 nomads had 鈥渘ot benefited from much state support, compared to subsidies granted to agriculture, especially for products intended for export.鈥�
鈥淲e give very little to nomadic herders, and a good number have gone bankrupt and given up,鈥� he said.
Mohamed Oujaa, 50, is leader of The Sand Pigeons, a group that specializes in the 鈥済nawa鈥� music practiced in the Maghreb by the descendants of black slaves.
For him, a clean environment is vital for future generations, and he hopes the initiative will be 鈥渏ust the first in a series of campaigns to clean up the desert.鈥�