In Morocco, the oases, once a source of pride for their vastness and natural wealth, are rapidly disappearing under the pressures of drought and climate change. Dehydrated, devastated by fires, and progressively abandoned, they are gravely threatened by both climatic phenomena and human activities, with alarming social and ecological consequences. Covering 15% of the national territory and hosting about two million people, the oases have seen two-thirds of their surfaces disappear in the last hundred years, according to data from the Ministry of Agriculture. The number of date palms has plummeted from 15 million to six million.

The change is evident in regions like the Draa Valley in the southeastern part of the country, where the landscape has been profoundly transformed. Bridges that once spanned the Draa River now connect the banks of a dry riverbed, while paved roads cut through what remains of the once lush and thriving oases. The oases rely on an agricultural system centered around the date palm, which not only produces fruit but also provides shade and protects the underlying crops, preserving the moisture necessary for the growth of fruit trees, vegetables, grains, and fodder. This diversity of crops has historically granted the oases extraordinary resilience and adaptability to climate change, but today these communities face increasingly dramatic challenges.

In the desert and semi-arid regions of Morocco, such as the Draa Valley, water was traditionally channeled through underground tunnels called khattara, which tapped into groundwater reserves for irrigation. However, today this system can no longer meet the growing demand for water. Water scarcity has forced many local communities to dig ever-deeper wells, often illegally. The water extracted from these deeper layers is much saltier than that from the shallower aquifers, leading to soil salinization and compromising the fertility of the land, with serious repercussions for crops and the survival of local communities.