Climate Change in Morocco

Whilst driving through Morocco you quickly notice every river bed is empty

And every lake is dry

I started to ask people about it

North of the Atlas Mountains they said they haven’t had rain for 6 months, and this year in September when the rain should’ve come they instead had an unusually warm 2 months.

In the mountains they said they haven’t had proper snow for 3 years. Usually the snow melts in spring and fills the rivers.

South of the mountains they said they haven’t had any rain for 10 months and haven’t had proper rain for around 10 years.

Everyone also mentioned the extremely high temperatures they had in the summer – it was around 50°c for an extended period.

The people are becoming desperate. Their fruit trees and date palms are dying. They can’t water their crops.

2 out of 3 people who live in rural Morocco rely on small scale farming.

Morocco has experienced drought before, but these droughts are becoming more frequent and more severe.

Here is a link to an interesting article on how Morocco is beginning to manage this problem