Marrakesh palm groves up against tourism in Morocco

The vast palm groves of Marrakesh in southern Morocco are in danger from urbanisation, massive tourist projects and even golf courses, so a conservation programme is in hand to save them.

Ten centuries after they came to be, these palm groves, which are among the most prized sites in the north African kingdom, are subject to the combined ravages of mankind and of the climate.

The oasis with its hundreds of thousands of palms used to stretch over 16,000 hectares, but it has lost 30 per cent of its surface area in the past 20 years, according to experts.

The experts point to the nestling in the heart of the groves of big tourist attractions at the expense of the environment. These sites swallow up lots of water, upset the ecological balance and lead to the degradation of the palms.

“The tourist projects, for all the good sides of what they generate, take enormous resources. This has a negative effect on the ecological balance,” said Nour-Eddine Laftouhi, a hydrogeologist at the Marrakesh faculty of sciences. “Personally, I consider the irrational spread of golf courses to be a crime,” he added.

Nicknamed “the ochre city” for the predominant colour of its stonework, Marrakesh is the most popular place in Morocco with tourists and indeed among Moroccans taking a break. Fortunately for the nature-lover and hiker, the snowcapped mountains that surround the town and which can be seen from the city centre, make for good picture postcards and walks.

But Marrakesh today has 10 golf courses, two of them in the palm groves, and construction companies are waiting for authorisation to create about 10 more, which would use a great deal of water.

The tourist appeal of Marrakesh has led the Club Med to push into the palm grove with its golf course and a centre hosting three swimming pools.

Such activities are a stark contrast with the very name of the city, which was founded in 1062 by the first ruler of the Almoravid dynasty, Yusef Ibn Tashfin, and named for divine delights rather than worldly pleasures.

“Marrakesh” comes from the Berber word amou” which means country and from Akouch, which means God, thus making the city the land of God or the holy land.

Such concepts evaporate at a time when the city has almost one million inhabitants, with an impressive number of hotels, a multitude of swimming pools and numerous riyadhs, the traditional homes built around an interior courtyard.