New publications: Placing the High Atlas on the Global Map

The High Atlas Cultural Landscapes Programme is a conservation and development programme in the Moroccan High Atlas that supports rural communities to revitalise traditional practices, sustain livelihoods and restore nature. The first significant project focused on the conservation of medicinal plant roots and was foundational for our Programme as it built strong relationships of trust and collaboration between partner communities. It also allowed us to grow our knowledge about the flora of the High Atlas, a subject sorely understudied at the time. Over the past decade, the Programme has expanded and evolved in ways that we could never have imagined. As our understanding grew of these unique mountain ecosystems and how they have been moulded and maintained by Amazigh people over millennia, so did our sense that this collective endeavour is truly pioneering.

Established in 2013 by Global Diversity Foundation and the Moroccan Biodiversity and Livelihoods Association, the Programme collaborates with over 35 municipalities, associations and cooperatives in the High Atlas, as well as 35 national and 30 international partners.

We invite you to celebrate this journey through these two publications:

We are grateful for the financial support of our donors: MAVA-Fondation pour la Nature, the UK Darwin Initiative, Open Society Foundations, Critical Ecosystem Partnership Fund, Sigrid Rausing Fund, United Nations Development Program, Mohamed bin Zayed Species Conservation Fund, Chapman Impact Fund and many generous private donors who have supported us over the years.

As our understanding grew of these unique mountain ecosystems and how they have been moulded and maintained by Amazigh people over millennia, so did our sense that this collective endeavour is truly pioneering.