Global Diversity Foundation

Since January 2016, Global Diversity Foundation has been involved in the implementation of the project Integrated Approach to Plant Conservation in the Moroccan High Atlas. This 2-year project, funded by the MAVA Foundation, seeks to catalyze positive change in the Moroccan High Atlas mountains where biocultural landscapes are under growing pressur... e from a number of environmental, political and economic drivers. GDF is working in collaboration with PhD candidate Irene Teixidor Toneu and Dr. Ugo D'Ambrosio (GEN Coordinator for European Events) to fulfil the second main objective of the project, which is to: Document, disseminate, promote and coordinate regional initiatives on cultural practices of conservation (CPCs) and community-based resource and landscape management systems. Irene and Ugo have been working closely with community researchers in Imegdale and Ait M'Hamed communes in the High Atlas mountains (Amazigh territory) to carry out in-depth interviews on the range of cultural practices for conservation. These interviews include questions on the identity of practitioners, description of local practices that could have a socio-environmental impact, implications for biocultural diversity, and the ways in which these practices have been affected by social or political factors.Read More