Laayoune – Maroc Environment 2050 launched late last month an online petition demanding the government to reduce the indiscriminate planting of palm trees across Morocco, saying that the trees should only be planted in oasis areas.
The online petition is addressed to both the Minister of National Planning, Urban Development, Housing, and Urban Policy, Fatima-Zahra Mansouri; and the Minister of Energy Transition and Sustainable Development, Leila Benali.
Calling for an urgent institutional intervention to save Moroccan cities from the indiscriminate planting of palm trees, Maroc Environment 2050 provided several reasons why palm trees should only be planted in oases or desert like atmospheres.
Morocco is currently experiencing an environmental emergency, which is characterized by a lack of trees, the country’s most severe drought in three decades, forest fires, and the uprooting of trees within towns. For Maroc Environment 2050, these are not optimal conditions for the planting of palm trees.
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The petition also cited the high cost of planting and caring for palm trees, particularly the huge ones.
Palm trees planted outside their suitable environment tend to wither away due to the inhospitable climate, the petition added, noting that the regions south of Marrakech and Feguig, a city just south of Oujda are the only areas which permit the planting of palm trees without much risk.
The NGO went further in its reasoning, hinting that unless they are grouped together, palm trees cannot supply cities with the necessary shade, nor can they perform the same ecological functions as other trees, such as absorbing carbon dioxide and producing oxygen.
Salima Belemkaddem, the president of Maroc Environment 2050, said in comments to the press that she will not be satisfied with an electronic campaign.
Because “the environment does not wait,” Belemkaddem made clear her intention to take the protest directly to the offices of the ministers mentioned in Maroc Environment 2050’s petition.
