{"page":"\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/resources-572d6a42.css\" /\u003e\n\u003clink rel=\"stylesheet\" href=\"https://lessonplanet.com/assets/packs/css/lp_boclips_stylesheets-f4d0de30.css\" media=\"all\" /\u003e\n\u003cdiv data-title='Palm groves dying as country expands' data-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c225d8eafeecae157824' data-video-url='/boclips/videos/5c54c225d8eafeecae157824' id='bo_player_modal'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='boclips-resource-page modal-dialog panel-container'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='react-notifications-root'\u003e\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-header'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-type'\u003e\n\u003ci aria-hidden='true' class='fai fa-regular fa-circle-play'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\nVideo\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ch1 class='rp-title' id='video-title'\u003e\nPalm groves dying as country expands\n\u003c/h1\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-actions'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='mr-1'\u003e\n\u003ca class=\"btn btn-success\" data-posthog-event=\"Signup: LP Signup Activity\" data-posthog-location=\"body_link_boclips\" data-remote=\"true\" href=\"/subscription/new\"\u003e\u003cspan\u003e\u003cspan\u003eGet Free Access\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan class=\"\"\u003e for 10 Days\u003c/span\u003e\u003cspan\u003e!\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\u003c/a\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-body'\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-info'\u003e\n\u003cdiv aria-label='Hide resource details' class='rp-hide-info' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u0026times;\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Expand resource details' class='rp-expand-info fai fa-solid fa-up-right-and-down-left-from-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003ci aria-label='Compress resource details' class='rp-compress-info fai fa-solid fa-down-left-and-up-right-to-center' role='button' tabindex='0'\u003e\u003c/i\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-rating'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='resource-pool'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-label'\u003ePublisher:\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='pool-name'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='text'\u003e\u003ca data-publisher-id=\"30356011\" href=\"/search?publisher_ids%5B%5D=30356011\"\u003eCurated Video\u003c/a\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv class='rp-description'\u003e\n\u003cspan class='short-description'\u003eEast Palm Grove, Marrakech - 20 April, 20081. Pan from dried palm grove to palm trees trunks on ground2. Close up of palm trees trunk on the ground3. Wide of the palm grove 4. Various set ups of Abdellilah Meddich from the Observatory of...\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003cspan class='full-description hide'\u003eEast Palm Grove, Marrakech - 20 April, 2008\u003cbr/\u003e1. Pan from dried palm grove to palm trees trunks on ground\u003cbr/\u003e2. Close up of palm trees trunk on the ground\u003cbr/\u003e3. Wide of the palm grove \u003cbr/\u003e4. Various set ups of Abdellilah Meddich from the Observatory of the Palm Grove of Marrakech checking young palm tree\u003cbr/\u003e5. SOUNDBITE (French) Dr. Eng. Abdellilah Meddich, Observatory of the Palm Grove of Marrakech : \u003cbr/\u003e\"For the past three decades the palm grove has been affected by many factors, linked or not to the human beings : there was a problem of drought, a problem of aging of the plantation, a lack of maintenance and also the disappearance of the agriculture as it used to be done ages ago. All those factors have damaged this wonderful landscape.\"\u003cbr/\u003eDoaur Abiad, Marrakech - Recent\u003cbr/\u003e6. Pan from the palm grove to a small village, Douar Abiad, in the palm grove\u003cbr/\u003e7. Various of goats eating grass on a trailer\u003cbr/\u003e8. Various of a street in the village Douar Abiad \u003cbr/\u003e9. School children bringing young palm trees to be planted\u003cbr/\u003e10. Children planting palm trees in the school yard of the village\u003cbr/\u003e11. Set up of Fatima Lemkhaouen, from the NGO (non-governmental organisation) Amal Palmeraie\u003cbr/\u003e12. Girls watering palm\u003cbr/\u003e13. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Fatima Lemkhaouen, from NGO Amal Palmeraie: \u003cbr/\u003e\"It is said that if the palm grove dies, its habitants will die too. The palm grove is the heart of Marrakech.\"\u003cbr/\u003eWest Palm Grove, Marrakech - 21 April, 2008\u003cbr/\u003e14. Pan of the west palm grove with farming plantation\u003cbr/\u003e15. Various of artichokes\u003cbr/\u003e16. Various of local farmer working\u003cbr/\u003e17. SOUNDBITE (Arabic) Local farmer (no name given) \u003cbr/\u003e\"They (the authorities) are coming and are forcing us to leave the land. They don't leave us in our land to protect the trees and the nature. They are forcing us. This region is not like before, it used to be the best part of Marrakech for the agriculture, for the palm trees, for everything. We are poor but with the farming we can survive.\"\u003cbr/\u003eDouar Abiad, Marrakech - Recent\u003cbr/\u003e18. Various of exterior and swimming pool of Rhoul Palace\u003cbr/\u003e19. Pierre Herve, manager of the Rhoul Palace walking in the garden\u003cbr/\u003e20. SOUNDBITE (French) Pierre Herve, Rhoul Palace Hotel manager:\u003cbr/\u003e\"All those farms still exists, they haven't completely disappeared, they are maybe not so close to Marrakech anymore. At the same time, we can't ask to a country in development not to pursue its development. If this development has to be made through the tourism and the luxury real estate, we can't ask for the farmers to stay and so stop the economical development.\"\u003cbr/\u003e21. Tourist bus reading \"Marrakech Tour\" carrying tourists and passing through palm grove\u003cbr/\u003e22. Various of tourist riding a camel in palm grove\u003cbr/\u003e23.  Various of sunset in the palm grove\u003cbr/\u003eThe Moroccan city of Marrakech has become a popular holiday destination in recent years.\u003cbr/\u003eAirlines fly thousands of European tourists into the city each year.\u003cbr/\u003eBut tourism and the resulting development of the city is threatening its fragile ecosystem and the traditional way of life of its locals.\u003cbr/\u003eSituated a few kilometres out of Marrakech, the city's Palm Grove is an oasis in an arid area. \u003cbr/\u003eA network of hundreds of miles of 'khetara,' or man-made canals and cisterns, brought water from the hills for plants to survive in the desert climate of southern Morocco.\u003cbr/\u003eThis system has been maintained since the grove was first planted in the 11th century by the Almoravides dynasty who ruled Spain and Northern Africa. \u003cbr/\u003eUntouched for a thousand years, this ecosystem has collapsed in the past decade.\u003cbr/\u003eThe combined effect of global warning, drought and pumping for extensive agriculture has drastically lowered water reserves. \u003cbr/\u003eWhile palm trees could until the 1990s soak up water though their roots some 10 meters underground, levels are now beyond reach at over 60 meters.\u003cbr/\u003eSimultaneously, Marrakech became at top tourism destination, and a plot in the palm grove now goes for up to euro 1 million (1.5 million US Dollars) per hectare, pressing absentee landowners to sell to developers. \u003cbr/\u003eDrawn by the eclectic charm of the city, warm winters and magnificent landscapes tourists are arriving in ever-increasing numbers and the land and it's uses are changing.\u003cbr/\u003eBut with the massive invasion of foreign investment, the grove's ecosystem is collapsing. \u003cbr/\u003eMost of the palm trees are in an advance state of degradation. The irrigation pipes are no longer maintained and most of the palm trees have dried out under the desert sun.\u003cbr/\u003eAbdellilah Meddich's childhood memories of the famous palm grove of Marrakech are of a \"magical\" place, a lush desert oasis of flowers, animals and farmers who tended tree-shaded plots.\u003cbr/\u003eMeddich is now a forestry engineer overseeing a plan to plant more palms.\u003cbr/\u003eHe says there are many reasons why the palms are dying.\u003cbr/\u003eWater is in very short supply here in the suburb of Doaur Abiad near Marrakech. \u003cbr/\u003eResidents who have no electricity, sanitation or running water, live within a stone's throw of multimillion-euro (dollar) villas that wealthy expatriates have built among the dying palm trees of this once-abundant oasis.\u003cbr/\u003eThe pace of the disappearance of the palm grove is staggering.\u003cbr/\u003eFrench colonial rulers measured the palm grove at 16,000 hectares in 1929. \u003cbr/\u003eThe latest complete survey, in 1998, counted 12,000 hectares. \u003cbr/\u003eExperts say nearly half the grove has since vanished.\u003cbr/\u003eConcerned by the dying trees, locals of the area have set up an NGO (non-governmental organisation) called Amal Palmeraie (Hope for the Palm Grove), an association which aims to protect this unique ecosystem. \u003cbr/\u003eLocal children are taught how to plant and maintain the palms.\u003cbr/\u003eFatima Lemkhaouen and her family of two dozen brothers, in-laws and children live crammed in one of the few Douar, or traditional\u003cbr/\u003ehamlets, still standing in the palm grove. \u003cbr/\u003eLemkhaouen, who works with Amal-Palmeraie, says she thinks the palm grove is the very heart of Marrakech.\u003cbr/\u003ePeople like Fatima have lived for generations in the grove, farming some four hectares of land according to an age-old technique known as the \"three-layered crops\": wheat and vegetables on the arid soil, fruit trees at a man's height, and dates from the palm trees providing shade above. \u003cbr/\u003eBut as the prices of land steadily increases so the farmers are being driven out and the precious agricultural land is bought up for villas and golf courses. \u003cbr/\u003eSome locals are still able to keep farming using traditional practices. But their future is also uncertain. \u003cbr/\u003eA network of hundreds of miles of \"Khettarras\", man-made canals and cisterns, brought water from the hills for plants to survive in the desert climate.\u003cbr/\u003eHowever drought and heavy pumping for extensive agriculture in the hills around the grove have drastically lowered water reserves. \u003cbr/\u003eThe water table _ a decade ago just 30 feet underground _ is now at some 65 yards, beyond the reach of the trees' roots and anything but the deepest of wells.\u003cbr/\u003eOne farmer working in the western part of the palm grove says he is not sure how long he will be able to continue farming there.\u003cbr/\u003eAs they do not own the land, the people of this small village live in fear of being driven out by the landlords. \u003cbr/\u003eJet-setters, Paris glitterati and some 16,000 other foreigners now have second homes in and around Marrakech, multiplying some land prices by 100 times their original price in a decade.\u003cbr/\u003eHotel space has also grown tenfold in the same period, and the three golf courses in the palm grove are currently expanding from 18 to 27 holes.\u003cbr/\u003ePierre Herve is the manager of the Rhoul Palace hotel, a luxury development. \u003cbr/\u003eHe says progress in Marrakech is inevitable.\u003cbr/\u003eThe king has set a goal of 10 million tourists visiting Morocco by 2010. Some 7 million came last year, of which Marrakech welcomed 1.6 million, according to the mayor's office. \u003cbr/\u003eA combined effort by Marrakech municipality, local and national authorities as well as private partners has committed 96 million Dihrams ($13million US Dollars) to replant over 400,000 palm trees by 2012. \u003cbr/\u003eThe plan, which was launched by Morocco's King Mohammed VI and is headed by one of his sisters, has already increased the number of palm trees from around 100,000 in 2006 to over 260,000. \u003cbr/\u003eSaving the grove is partly pegged to the female palm trees, which are more vulnerable to drought than male ones but  carry date fruits, and hence the seeds for more trees. \u003cbr/\u003ePalm trees, however, grow only by a meter each decade, and the small ones being replanted remain vulnerable. \u003cbr/\u003eMeanwhile, the three centuries old 30-metre high ones are continuing to die out.\u003cbr/\u003e\u003c/span\u003e\n\u003c/div\u003e\n\u003cdiv 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