Morocco volunteers on Sahara clean-up mission
In southern Morocco, volunteers are hunting for waste embedded in the sand, and they don't have to look far.
Bottles, plastic bags -- "there are all kinds", noted one helper who has come forward to join 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'Hamid El Ghizlane in Zagora province in southeast Morocco.
Some 50 people, gloved and equipped with rubbish bags, toiled away for five hours -- and collected between 400 and 600 kilos of waste, the organisers estimated.
"Clean-up initiatives usually focus on beaches and forests," festival founder Nouredine Bougrab, who lives in the village of some 6,600 people, told AFP.
"But the desert also suffers from pollution."
The campaign brings together artists, activists and foreign tourists, and is a call for the "world's deserts to be protected", said the 46-year-old.
Volunteers, including tourists, cheer in front of bags of waste that they collected, after taking part in a desert cleaning campaign during the Nomads Festival in Mhamid El-Ghizlane in Morocco's southern Sahara desert on April 12, 2025. It may be the gateway to the vast Sahara desert, but that doesn't mean it's free of that modern scourge of the environment: the rubbish humanity discards. (Photo by Abdel Majid BZIOUAT / AFP)
Bougrab said the clean-up began at the northern entrance of the village "which was badly affected by pollution" and extended through to the other end of town and the beginning of the "Great Desert".
The rubbish is "mainly linked to the massive production of plastic products, low recycling rates and atmospheric pollutants carried by the wind", 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.
"This is equivalent to 811 times the weight of the Eiffel Tower -- enough to fill 2,780 Olympic swimming pools with compacted waste," said Hassan Chouaouta, an international expert in sustainable strategic development.
Of this amount, "between six and seven percent" is recycled, he said.
- Ancient way of life -
Their morning alarm went off "early", according to one volunteer, New York-based French photographer Ronald Le Floch who said the initiative's aim was "to show that it's important to take care of this type of environment".
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.
Anthropologist Naimi agreed: "Plastic waste harms the Saharan environment as it contaminates the land, pasture, rivers and nomadic areas," 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 nomadic population of 25,274 -- 63 percent lower than a decade earlier in 2004.
Mohammed Mahdi, a professor of rural sociology, said the country's nomads have "not benefited from much state support, compared to subsidies granted to agriculture, especially for products intended for export".
"We give very little to nomadic herders, and a good number have gone bankrupt and given up," he said.
Mohamed Oujaa,50, is leader of The Sand Pigeons group who specialise in the "gnawa" music practised 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 "just the first in a series of campaigns to clean up the desert". —AFP
Hashtags
Try Our AI Features
Explore what Daily8 AI can do for you:
Comments
No comments yet...
Related Articles
Observer
5 days ago
- Observer
Tourism boom sparks backlash in historic heart of Athens
Surrounded by a hubbub of blaring music, restaurant terraces and rumbling suitcase wheels slaloming between overflowing litter bins, Giorgos Zafeiriou believes surging tourism has made his historic Athens neighbourhood unrecognisable. The Greek capital's Plaka district "is threatened by overtourism", said Zafeiriou, who has lived there for more than three decades and leads its residents' association. This year, 10 million people are expected to visit Athens, an increase of two million from 2024 which reflects the city's growing popularity as a tourist destination since the Covid-19 pandemic ended. Despite its label as the cradle of Western civilisation, Athens was previously regarded as a mere stopping point between the airport and the port of Piraeus, from where tourists explore Greece's myriad of picturesque islands. Nicknamed "the neighbourhood of the gods", Plaka is nestled below the ancient Acropolis hill, a world heritage site hosting the millennia-old Parthenon temple which welcomed almost 4.5 million visitors last year. Plaka is now awash with tourists who navigate its warren of narrow streets lined with cafes, taverns, souvenir shops, small Byzantine churches and relics from Antiquity and the Ottoman era. Plaka "is Europe's oldest neighbourhood which has been inhabited continuously since Antiquity", said Lydia Carras, head of the Ellet association working to preserve the environment and cultural heritage. "We cannot see it lose its soul," she added. Tourism boom sparks backlash in historic heart of Athens - 'Saturated with tourists' - Tourism is a pillar of the Greek economy, which endured years of painful austerity following the 2008 global financial crash and the ensuing eurozone debt crisis. For souvenir shop seller Konstantinos Marinakis, "Greece is finally doing better thanks to the good health of tourism which allowed the economy to recover and create jobs." But the flourishing sector has generated a backlash in Europe's most sought-after locations, with locals complaining of soaring housing prices and the impact on their neighbourhoods. Protesters have targeted tourists with water pistols in Spain's Barcelona, while the Italian city of Venice has introduced a charge in a bid to control visitor numbers. Mayor Haris Doukas told AFP with pride that Athens was now one of the world's 10 most-visited cities, but acknowledged "areas like Plaka which are saturated with tourists". "We are not yet at the stage of Barcelona, but we must act before it is too late," he said. An "intervention unit" for Plaka was recently created to enforce rules with the support of the police. Any resident who spots a restaurant terrace encroaching on public space or cars parked on the pavement can report the offenders to this team. "Between 1960 and 1980, Plaka was overwhelmed by discos and bouzoukias," and "many residents had already left," explained Carras, referring to clubs that play traditional Greek music. A 1993 presidential decree shut the clubs, protected homes and specified the use of each building in the neighbourhood, with hotels only allowed on certain streets. Tourism boom sparks backlash in historic heart of Athens - Rules 'dodged' - But "these rules have been dodged", with "entire houses converted into several apartments" advertised on short-term rental platforms, said Dimitris Melissas, a lawyer specialising in urban planning. Plaka's population of 2,000 can be swamped by up to four times as many tourists in the summer, added Melissas, although no official statistics exist because the census measures Athens as a whole. Representing Ellet, the lawyer has taken a case over the legality of 16 buildings converted entirely into seasonal rentals to the Council of State, Greece's top administrative court. He argued they are actually hotel premises in disguise because they have receptions or serve breakfast on terraces. A decision, which could set an important legal precedent, is expected by the end of September. The conservative government has banned new registrations of apartments on short-term rental platforms for at least a year in central Athens, where more than 12,000 seasonal lets existed in 2024, fuelling rent rises. "But when I still read adverts in newspapers to invest in apartments that can be converted into Airbnbs, I doubt the effectiveness of this measure," said Melissas. "The problem in Greece is not voting laws but enforcing them." —AFP
Times of Oman
5 days ago
- Times of Oman
US to require bonds of up to $15,000 for some tourists
Some tourists visiting the US will soon be required to sign bonds of up to $15,000 (€13,000) under a new pilot program launching in two weeks, a government notice said. The program proposed by the State Department is aimed at curbing the number of visitors who overstay their visas. Consular officials will have three options for visa applicants subjected to the bonds: $5,000, $10,000 or $15,000, but will generally be expected to require at least $10,000, the notice said. The bond requirements for visitors coming to the US have been proposed at a time when the Trump administration is cracking down on undocumented migration. What do we know about the new program? The program gives US consular officials the discretion to impose bonds on visitors from countries with high rates of visa overstays, the State Department said in the notice, which will be published Tuesday in the US Federal Register. The bonds will also apply to people from countries that do not provide adequate screening and verification information, it added. The program, which will take effect on August 20, will last about a year. It will apply to B-1 or B-2 nonimmigrant visas, and those asked to pay bonds must enter and depart from the United States from a list of pre-selected airports. "The pilot reinforces the Trump Administration's commitment to enforcing US immigration laws and safeguarding US national security," a State Department spokesperson told the AFP news agency. Who are affected? Neither the notice nor the spokesperson specified which countries would be impacted by the new rule. But it will not impact people from all countries. Travelers from countries in the Visa Waiver Program, which enables visa-free travel for business or tourism purposes for up to 90 days, will be exempted from the bond requirements. The countries affected will be listed once the program takes effect, and the bond requirement could be waived depending on an applicant's individual circumstances, according to the notice.
Observer
30-07-2025
- Observer
Underwater photography workshop held in Khasab
KHASAB: The Musandam Governor's Office on Wednesday organised a professional underwater photography workshop in the Wilayat of Khasab. The workshop saw the participation of numerous divers and photographers interested in documenting marine life, reflecting a convergence of art, environment and tourism. The workshop is part of the governorate's preparations for the upcoming Musandam International Diving Festival, scheduled from August 25 to 28. It aims to qualify participants for the photography competition accompanying the festival by equipping them with the latest skills and techniques in underwater photography. This will enhance their ability to capture professional images that reflect the beauty of Oman's marine environment. The workshop was led by Emirati photographer Ali Khalifa bin Thalith, Secretary-General of the Hamdan bin Mohammed International Photography Award. He stated that the workshop is a significant milestone in ongoing efforts to support and empower photographers in exploring unique natural environments through their lenses. He highlighted Musandam's astonishing marine diversity and rich waters as an ideal setting for developing specialised photography skills, especially underwater. He added that the workshop aims to deepen participants' understanding of the fundamentals of lighting, composition and advanced techniques for capturing hidden beauty in the depths. It also seeks to instil an artistic sense that translates the experience into a visual message promoting environmental awareness. It is worth noting that Musandam Governorate is one of Oman's most prominent tourist destinations, where towering mountain terrains blend with Sea of Oman waters rich in coral reefs and marine life, making it an ideal environment for diving and underwater photography. Through these events, the governorate aims to strengthen its position on the global eco-tourism map and support efforts to conserve marine biodiversity. — AFP
