The nomadic life no longer tempts young people who dream of stability
Climate fluctuations hammer a nail in the “coffin” of nomads in Morocco
Traveling in southeastern Morocco is no longer what it used to be.
AFP
A woman peeks out from inside a tent in the middle of the desert.
AFP
Children move with their parents in the solution and travel.
AFP
Several families are camping in the middle of the desert, hoping to find a place nearby with water and grass.
AFP
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Moha Oshali, who used to live with his family on the move in southeastern Morocco, feels that “everything has changed around him.”
"I no longer find myself in this world," he says sadly, "even nature has turned against us."
Like the few other nomads who still live according to this traditional pattern, Oshali faces the harshness of drought, which has made obtaining water and pasture for livestock complicated, as well as difficult social conditions.
He and his family had to settle in a deserted area about 60 kilometers from the small town of Al-Rish, near a dry river.
The man, who covers his head with a black scarf and has wrinkles in his face, has set up two tents woven from black wool, colored feed sacks, and the remains of clothes, near the village of Amlako.
Everything revolves around water in the life of the nomads, but “it has become scarce as the temperatures rise, drought hits us without we can do anything about it,” says the man who belongs to the Ait Issa Azem Berber tribe.
Pastoral nomadism depends on movement in pursuit of pasture for livestock, a pattern that has been in place in Morocco for thousands of years, but today it is heading towards extinction.
The number of nomads today does not exceed about 25,000 people, according to the last population census in Morocco in 2014, compared to about 70,000 in 2004, which represents a decline of nearly two-thirds in 10 years.
We are tired
Eddie, Moha Oshali's wife, remembers that the family "could have lived well in the past, but successive years of severe drought complicate our lives more and more.
We can do nothing without water.”
"We are exhausted," adds the 45-year-old with a sigh.
This year, Morocco is witnessing the worst drought in four decades, but the situation is expected to gradually worsen on the horizon of 2050 due to a decrease in rainfall (-11%) and an annual rise in temperature (+1.3 degrees), according to the estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture.
Anthropologist Ahmed Sakatani explains, "Nomads have always been a measure of climatic fluctuations, if today they have lost the ability to endure, despite their accustomed habit to living in harsh conditions, this means that the situation has become dangerous."
"The drying up of the water sources that we observe today, even in areas inhabited by settled villagers, is striking the last nail in the coffin of the nomads," he added.
The impact of climate fluctuations begins first in the migration path.
Under normal circumstances, the Ait Issa Izem nomads would spend the summer in the valley of Imlchiel surrounded by mountains, where the weather is humid, while heading to the more moderate parts of the neighboring province of Errachidia in the winter.
But this path “has become part of the past. Today we only go where we find a little water to save our livestock,” says Moha Oshali, sipping a cup of tea.
untouchables
The drought also has social repercussions on the lives of nomads, as some of them are forced to borrow to buy livestock feed, which is the main source of income for them, as is the case with Ahmed Asni.
"I borrow to buy fodder in order to feed my flock... and not starve to death," says Asni, speaking near a small, almost drying source of water on the road between Amlako and Rashidiya.
But the most prevalent impact of climatic fluctuations remains in stability and the abandonment of travel.
It is the choice that Haddou Udash (67 years) made since 2010, after "I am tired of wrestling for a living. We have become like outcasts in society. I can't imagine what the nomads are suffering today."
Today, he lives in the town of Al-Rish.
The forty-year-old was also placed alone in the city, where his family settled to ensure the children's entry to school.
“It is no longer the same as yesterday,” the man says, while also setting up a tent in Amlako, explaining that he still maintains this pattern, only to please his elderly parents, who “refuse to live in the city.”
Amlako municipality member, Idris Skonti, said that the rural governorate of Amlako had "460 tents for nomads, of which only about 40 remain today."
The struggle for survival
Climate is not the only factor that hastened the deterioration of the nomadic life conditions.
"The scarcity of pastures is also due to the ownership of land in the region and agricultural investments in it," explained the head of the Rahel Association of Ait Issa Izem Moha Haddashi.
"There are agricultural investors who control the areas where nomadic cattle were grazing," he added.
The nomads also face a kind of "hostility" on the part of some villagers who reject the idea of settling in their "areas".
This was regretted by Haddou Udash, saying, “It was not always like this, but we were welcome wherever we went.”
In the face of these difficulties, the nomadic life no longer tempts young people who dream of stability.
Hoda Oshali, 19, who lives in the house of one of her uncles in the town of Al-Rish, and seeks to pursue a vocational training after leaving high school, says that she "hates" traveling, because "she can no longer bear to see her parents suffer and fight for survival."
"The new generation wants to close the arc of travel that makes getting simple things complicated," she concludes.
Morocco is witnessing this year the worst drought in four decades, but the situation is expected to gradually worsen on the horizon of 2050 due to a decrease in rainfall (-11%) and an annual rise in temperature (+1.3 degrees), according to the estimates of the Ministry of Agriculture.
The number of nomads today does not exceed about 25,000 people, according to the last population census in Morocco in 2014, compared to about 70,000 in 2004, which represents a decline of nearly two-thirds in 10 years.
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