Nomadic lifestyle threatened by climate change

«The number of nomads had fallen by 63% from the previous decade», according to the High Commission for Planning, and the main reason is climate change. The American online media platform USA Today published a reportage on this regard focusing on the village of M'Hamid El Ghizlane (Zagora region) .

Gasni Hamadi, as teacher of Arabic and French at a primary school in the village was a nomad. He abandoned his old way of living after spending decades with his family as nomadic. To put it in other words, in 1995 they had 100 camels, now they have only ten left. The 43-year-old man saw his herd die one by one because of the extreme climatic condition.

Mohammed Boulfrifi for his part left nomadism when he saw that his goats suffered so much from malnutrition «that their ribs were visible», states the 37-year-old man to USA Today. Animals are essential for the life of nomads since they provide milk, meat and skin and are used as means of transportation. «Half the village came from the desert before — they were nomadic. Half. Or more than half», says Mohammed Boulfrifi.

In order to get back to the lifestyle they love, they turn to tourism because they cannot read or write. They conduct treks in the desert. «There is the military or tourism. And people, they prefer to be in tourism,» he said. «The people here, they like open air and to be free».