New York – The United Nations has awarded on Thursday in Bonn (Germany) a climate change prize to a Moroccan fog-water harvesting project, considered to be The world’s largest operational fog-water harvesting system.
On the edge of Morocco’s Sahara Desert, more than 400 people from five villages will have running water in their homes.
No wells or springs or new oases. Instead, their water is in constant flow from the sky.
The desert dwellers are the benefactors of the world’s largest operational fog-water harvesting system which is the winner of a United Nations climate change award.
Dar Si Hmad, an NGO based in Morocco, designed and installed the fog-water harvesting system in the village of Ait Baamrane in Southwest Morocco. Before the project, most women spent more than three hours a day fetching water from a distant and off times depleted wells.
“Berber women bore the laborious task of carrying water from distant wells – a burden that greatly limited opportunities for young women,” said Dr. Jamila Bargach, Executive Director of Dar Si Hamd.
Fog harvesting uses specialized mesh, hung between poles, to trap the water droplets in fog. The wind pushes fog through the mesh, where droplets are trapped, condense, fall and amass in a container placed at the base of the unit. Drop-by-drop, they constitute a substantial amount of water.
The project includes 600 square meters of specialize mesh netting, seven storage reservoirs, 6 solar panels and over 10,000 meters of piping.
“The fog project should not simply be reduced to the story of technical and success: there are more complex and intertwined stories to tell,” said Bargach. “One narrative is that of curiosity and aspiration; one of motivation and quest for dignity; and one of rigor and determination.”
The project has been awarded the prize under the Momentum for Change Women for Results focus area for its women-led climate adaptation initiative, providing an environmentally-friendly water source to combat the effects desertification.
“It is impressive to see so many original and creative ways to tackle climate change,” said UNFCCC Spokesman Nick Nuttal. “It’s also great to see a winner from Morocco, this year’s host of the United Nations Climate Change Conference.”
