Technology

Subsurface Water Retention Technology

Preparation of the planting bed

Positioning the subsurface water retention element

Preparation of the replanting ground to accommodate the plant

Positioning the young Argan plant

Validation of the effectiveness of the water retention strategy

Working group for the application of the technology

About

The argan ecosystem suffers from continuous degradation due to climate change and anthropogenic activities, including overgrazing. The assessement of the impact of pastoralism activity on different levels of the argan forest ecosytem is of a great interest since it can provide more insight on the close interactions between the different stakeholders and also their ineractions with the ecosystem services.

Objectives of the project

This study aims to elucidate the best practice of pastoralism to be adopted in the argan forest ecosystem to sustain the balance between forest resources and population needs. In this context, there are three different sites in terms of intensity of pastoralism: a preserved site, a semi-preserved site, and a non-preserved site. Many plant and soil traits are investigated to meet the objective of this study.

Ecological context

This technology could be useful in forests suffering from overgrazing to limit the impact of this activity and sustain the forest resources.

Main constrains

The implementation of management practices in pastoralism is sometimes subject to unforeseen constraints by:
– Goats invasions in the preserved area;
– Very difficult to measure physiological parameters (small leaves) and impossible on dry season since leaves are lost;
– Contiuous conflict between argan owners and goats owners;
– Grazing systems represent a real economic activity for the local population, which does not help to preserve the forest in the long term.

The implementation of groundwater retention technology may require a slight high investment. This may represent a financial constraint for some communities or regions with limited resources.

Index

Index 1

Workers needed: technical competencies needed, highly skilled workers are needed to make the technological solution work

Index 2

Ease of use: a long period of learning is required to use the technological solution

Index 3

Adaptability: it will not require too much time to be applied

Index 4

Effectiveness: The solution address the challenge / problem

Index 5

Reliability: The innovation is stable enough that no further changes need to be made in the future

Index 6

Cost: Perceived investment needed for the implementation of the innovation is high

Index 7

Greenhouse emissions: impact of technology on greenhouse emissions

Index 8

Water availability: the impact of technology on water availability

Index 9

Water quality: the impact of technology on water quality

Main business opportunities

The management of pastoralism in the argan ecosystem may promote the production as well as the quality of argan oil, which can generate job offers, especially for women, in the argan oil cooperatives, therefore improving the income of the local population and the local and national economies.

Socio-economic context

SWRT is a stable approach to soil water conservation using water-saving membranes. This technology can be used for socio-economic reasons, such as:
– Maximizing agricultural production with a minimum of resources such as water and energy.
– Improving soil water retention capacity in the plant root zone.
maximizing the reduction of irrigation losses and increase water use efficiency.
– Improve water resource management and strengthen community resilience to climate change;

Information to maximize the adoption

– Involving the different stakeholders to improve the potential success of the implementation of the best management of pastoral activities.
– Effective sensibilization of the local population to the extent of the adaption of suitable pastoralism management practices
– Reducing the intensity of conflicts between the argan tree owners and the goat owners
– Improving farmers’ motivation and skills
– More raising of local awareness of the importance of the argan tree
– Setting up structures dedicated to argan research and development
– Strengthen marketing networks and find potentially interested customers

– Availability of biodegradable plastic in the market
– Acceptable installation costs
– End-users must be trained in the basic principles of groundwater retention, installation methods and maintenance practices.
– Suitable for semi-arid and arid areas
– Stakeholders will be interested in groundwater retention technology if it is effective in addressing water access issues.

Indicators

The indicators are key metrics within the SALAM-MED project, allowing an objective assessment of the environmental, economic and social sustainability aspects for each technology in the different Living Labs. This analysis is essential to validate the effectiveness of the solutions developed and will be the starting point for the future use of the results obtained, thus contributing to significant progress in research and innovation for sustainability.

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Living Labs for testing and implementing this technology

Living Labs as a crossroads for the development of sustainable and resilient technologies for environmental, economic and social progress.

Morocco

Technology responsabile

University of Cadi Ayyad

Tech Responsible contacts

Mohamed Ait-El-Mokhtar mohamed.aitelmokhtar@gmail.com

Sain Wahbi
wahbi@ucam.ac.ma

References

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