The High Atlas Foundation – a Moroccan association committed to promoting sustainable development – plans to launch an environmental project in Dakhla aimed at planting 350,000 trees per year, in addition to a large reforestation operation in the green belt of the city.
This announcement was made during a awareness-raising meeting held on Monday at the “Laglate” primary school in Dakhla, initiated by the High Atlas Foundation in cooperation with its various partners, with the aim of emphasizing reforestation as a means to preserve the environment and contribute to the emergence of a new generation aware of the importance of environmental preservation.
In a statement to the press, the president of the High Atlas Foundation, Yossef Ben-Meir, indicated that a nursery will soon be established in Dakhla, capable of producing 350,000 trees per year, adding that the Foundation, which has launched numerous projects, particularly in the field of sustainable agriculture, has set up nine nurseries across different regions of the Kingdom.
These nurseries, he continued, produce more than 3.2 million trees per year, expressing his hope that they could produce five million seedlings per year starting next year.
For his part, the director of the Foundation, Chemsedine Ouled Sidi Baba, indicated that this association, due to its long experience in the field of sustainable development, aims, in cooperation with its partners, particularly the Wilaya of the Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region, to launch the nursery project and conduct a large reforestation operation in Dakhla, including the green belt of the city which extends over an area of 60 hectares.
The Dakhla-Oued Eddahab region has distinctive environmental characteristics, hence the need to take into account the prevailing weather and climatic conditions in the region when planting trees, he noted.
For her part, the regional coordinator of programs related to the environment and sustainable development at the Regional Academy of Education and Training (AREF) of Dakhla-Oued Eddahab, Aslima Amrez, noted that the choice of a primary education institution to announce the reforestation projects in Dakhla is of great importance, as it will contribute to raising awareness among the younger generations in particular and the population in general.
This awareness-raising meeting, which was attended by educational staff and representatives of civil society, was marked by the planting of trees in the schoolyard.
The meeting was also punctuated by a musical performance given by Burkinabé artist Stella Aïcha Sagnon, who brilliantly performed Moroccan patriotic songs.