2024: Adaptive Agricultural Landscapes in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco
The High Atlas Mountains in North Africa are a global hotspot for both biodiversity and extreme climate change. Indigenous Amazigh communities are suffering through a multi-year drought that climate change projections suggest could be the “new normal.” Cornell researchers will collaborate with Moroccan university partners and indigenous communities to identify targeted interventions to aid agricultural resilience. These include enhanced cropping systems design, sensible water allocation strategies, and efforts to match crop genetic traits to stress-prone environments. By collaborating with public and civil society organizations, researchers hope to increase food security and sustainably enhance rural livelihoods in the region.
Investigators: Andrew McDonald (Cornell CALS/School of Integrative Plant Science), Kurt Waldman (Cornell CALS/Global Development), Alison Power (Arts and Sciences/Ecology and Evolutionary Biology)