The Selfish Environmentalist: religion in Morocco and caring for the land

In the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco, abandonment of religious beliefs is transforming the wild.

High Atlas Mountains, Morocco (Photo/Jerzy Strzelecki)

For Morocco’s Amazig people, who long looked to their saints for guidance on how to manage their land, a loss of religion spells big changes for nature. Locals are shifting from a communal outlook to a more self-serving one, a switch that bears consequences for people and ecosystems alike, according to a new study in the journal Human Ecology. The study indicates that when people manage the land for themselves rather than the good of all, what’s here today could be gone, or at least different, tomorrow.

Historically, beliefs in local Islamic Saints encouraged a communal mindset when it came to managing resources in the High Atlas Mountains of Morocco. For instance, in spring, the Amazig would often set some pastures off-limits, saving them for harder times, a practice known as Agdal.

But as the Amazig abandon tradition, a new environment begins to take shape. Pablo Dominguez from the Universitat Autònoma de Barcelona in Spain and his colleagues observed and interviewed families from 80 households in Warzazt, Morocco, from 2003 to 2008. They found a close relationship between the loss of traditional religious beliefs and expansion of farmland and introduction of new sheep species.

The impacts of these practices are not yet fully understood, but one thing’s for certain, this study takes a fresh tack on natural resource management, emphasizing the ways religion plays a pivotal role in how cultures use and change their environment.

rJerzy Strzelecki

Peruvian Amazon braces for second coming of oil and gas, and it’s a big one

The second wave of oil and natural gas exploration is headed for the Peruvian Amazon, a boom so massive it threatens an unprecedented amount of rain forest in the region.

“More of the Peruvian Amazon has recently been leased to oil and gas companies than at any other time on record,” states a press release by the Universitat Autonoma de Barcelona.

Exploitation of the Amazon’s natural riches is nothing new. More than a billion barrels of oil have been extracted there since the 1940s. And now an old practice returns with vigor as a new report reveals oil and gas leasing is on track to take over about 70 percent of the Peruvian Amazon, endangering biodiversity and indigenous cultures alike.

Martí Orta, a researcher with the Institut de Ciència i Tecnologia Ambientals in Spain, and Matt Finer with the U.S.-based Save America’s Forests released the first ever complete history and projection of hydrocarbon exploration in the Peruvian Amazon, published this month in the journal Environmental Research Letters. They analyzed 40 years of government energy records and used Geographical Information Systems to show the overlap of energy development with protected and indigenous lands. What they found was nothing short of alarming.

Here’s a little breakdown.

The proposed development has already spurred conflict. In 2009, a deadly clash between indigenous people and government enforcement in Bagua, Peru, was largely attributed to anger over plans to lease or sell indigenous lands without the peoples’ consent.

As unsettling as the study sounds, Orta and Finer don’t just present a picture of gloom and doom for the rainforest and its inhabitants. They name a few policy and grass-roots actions to consider. In particular, Orta and Finer draw attention to the efforts of the Yasuni-ITT Initiative in Equador, which campaigns for international donations that will help stop oil exploration by purchasing protection for threatened rainforest. The authors mention a similar effort could be made for the Peruvian Amazon.

At the very least, I wouldn’t be surprised if this report is cited throughout the policy debates that I am sure will ensue.