Kulturaustausch: Desert oases in Morocco under threat

Interview by Gundula Haage

Mr. Kilito, for your photo series “Before it is gone”, you worked for multiple years on oases in Morocco. Why oases?

For me, oases are very poetic places. Large parts of Morocco are extremely barren and dry. When you drive through the country, it can happen that you see nothing but desert for hours. But then, all of a sudden, a patch of green appears on the horizon, the colour of life. And a few minutes later, you are in the middle of this incredible ecosystem, surrounded by water, palm trees and fruit.

For me, it’s like entering paradise every time. Absurdly, for a long time I had no idea how beautiful oases are. People from abroad often have romantic images of Morocco in mind and think of camels, oases and desert travel. I live in Casablanca. And like many Moroccans, I didn’t know much outside the city.

“Nothing but desert for hours - but then, all of a sudden, a patch of green appears on the horizon”

That changed when I was allowed to live in an oasis for a while as part of an art residency in 2016. And once I was living there, I was blown away by these incredible ecosystems.

What is so special about this ecosystem?

Oases provide the perfect setting for one of the most sustainable ways of life and economy for people in the desert. The outstanding feature of oases is that there is water there. At some point, people settled in these places. They began to plant palm trees and developed an irrigation system.

Palm trees are extremely important because they can root very deeply and grow up to forty meters high. When palm trees stand close together, their leaves form a shady canopy. Protected from the scorching sun, other, smaller plants can also thrive and provide a home for animals and a livelihood for people.

The very special mix of flora and fauna that has developed in oases over the centuries is unique in the world. This is why oases in Morocco have always been places of flourishing life and exchange.

What role have they played in Moroccan history?

The great ruling dynasties of Morocco originated from oases. In addition, oases were always important hubs of trade routes and played a major role in cultural exchange and encounters.

They were places of knowledge. Quite rightly, many people who live there are still very proud of them today. I wanted to document these places photographically before it is too late, because the existence of these green islands in the desert is under threat. Due to climate change, resource conflicts and the fact that more and more young people are moving away.

Beekeeper Hayat stands outside in front of beehives in a white protective suit. — Beekeeper Hayat looks after the endangered yellow Saharan bees in Skoura.

Photo: M'hammed Kilito

Why are they moving away?

Many consider rural life in oases to be backward and conservative and seek their fortune in larger cities. Some young people I met during my research are considering an illegal crossing to the Canary Islands because they are experiencing the effects of global warming first hand, because there is a lack of water and because there is a lack of sustainable jobs.

This makes the dangerous journey to Europe seem attractive. But if all the young people leave, at some point there will be no one left to maintain and care for the oasis.

“There is a lack of water and of sustainable jobs. Many consider rural life in oases to be backward and conservative and seek their fortune in larger cities”

According to the Moroccan Ministry of Agriculture, the country has already lost two-thirds of its 14 million palm trees. Is this also an effect of climate change?

The death of palm trees is indeed dramatic. It has various causes, but they are all connected. Climate change probably plays the biggest role and has made itself felt in Morocco in recent years with extreme periods of drought. 2022 was the driest year on record in the last forty years. It didn't rain a bit.

When droughts last that long, even the palm trees die and with them the basis for all other vegetation. At the same time, the groundwater table sinks. In many places, this is compounded by human mismanagement. Traditionally, oases were an example of sustainable management. They were limited in size by the available water resources.

However, this changed when it became possible to dig very deep wells. Since then, more and more agriculture has been practiced, which is not at all suited to the climatic conditions. Those who have enough money drill their wells as deep as they want, some reach 120 meters into the earth. In this way, water is supposedly available in abundance to irrigate greenhouses with avocados, bananas or watermelons - all plants that need an extremely large amount of water.

The rich landowners use their wells to extract all the groundwater. Poorer farmers, whose wells may only reach ten meters deep, are left with nothing. I have seen many oases disappear in this way. First the palm trees wither, then the desert sand gradually swallows up all life. In my photo series, I show ghost villages. We call them kasbahs. But I also met many impressive people who are doing everything they can to preserve the oasis culture.

Do you have an example of how oasis dwellers are fighting against desertification?

Many people are switching to sustainable forms of agriculture or using new techniques such as drip irrigation. In the traditional canals, a lot of water was always lost through evaporation. At the same time, there are more and more educational programs explaining to young people why sustainable farming is necessary.

“I also met many impressive people who are doing everything they can to preserve the oasis culture”

One of my protagonists, Hicham, is a good example of this: he moved to France and after toiling for a year in poorly paid jobs under difficult circumstances, he decided to return to his home town of Guelmim, on the edge of the Sahara.

Today he is a happy young man, teaches at a school and educates young people about how they can have a future for themselves in their home town. One of the best examples for me is Skoura.

Some young men are bathing in a pond surrounded by rocks and dense bushes — Young men take a dive at the Oued Sayad dam near the Taghjijt oasis in southern Morocco

Photo: M’hammed Kilito

What kind of oasis is that?

I met some very impressive women there. To explain why this is special, I need to take a moment: For me as a man from Casablanca, it was difficult at the beginning to find female protagonists for my pictures.

Oases are usually far away from the cities and in many places the patriarchy is very strong. There were times when I stayed with a friend for over two weeks and never once saw his mother, sister or aunt - even though we all lived in the same house. In the Skoura oasis, however, it was completely different.

Many of the women there are beekeepers. They look after the yellow Sahara bee, which is an essential pollinator for the oasis ecosystem. By keeping bees, these women earn their own money and are more independent from the men in their families. Some of them have bought motorcycles and can do whatever they want.

Hayat, for example, one of my protagonists, is also a beekeeper. She is now divorced from her husband and runs a well-run small guesthouse in the oasis. She has become a role model for other women there. I want to tell such stories about the interactions between people and their environment with my pictures.

“By keeping bees, these women earn their own money and are more independent from the men in their families”

Your project is still ongoing. What keeps you coming back to oases?

The people and their stories just won’t let me go. But I don’t want my pictures to be a monument to a perishing world. My aim is to document even more positive examples of how people are fighting to preserve their oases. That’s why I’m now also researching other parts of the Sahara, for example in Saudi Arabia and Tunisia.

Oases are affected by climate change everywhere. Perhaps there are new solutions elsewhere to the problems that are becoming so apparent here in Morocco.