From rural to urban areas: New trends and challenges for the commons in Morocco

Romagny Bruno, Aderghal Mohamed, Auclair Laurent, Ilbert Hélène, Lemeilleur Sylvaine. 2023. From rural to urban areas: New trends and challenges for the commons in Morocco. Journal of North African Studies, 28 (1), n.spéc. Commoning the Future’: Sustaining and Contesting the Public Good in North Africa : 57-74.

https://doi.org/10.1080/13629387.2021.2020480

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Résumé : The concept of commons is part of the long history of the Moroccan peasantry. Traditionally, many natural resources, such as water for irrigation, collective lands and common pastures or the forests were governed by community principles derived from customary rules, like in the 'agdal' system for example. However, these collective systems have been greatly weakened over the years. Firstly, these organisations, inherited from the traditional hierarchical system of local politics, had produced sometimes unjust and inefficient systems of resource distribution to the advantage of the most powerful. Secondly, rural communities were gradually stripped of their prerogatives to the benefit of the State, which was already ensuring through local power a levy on these same resources. Then, with liberalisation, it is the private sector that has benefited from transformations in public policies supporting the market logic and productivist-oriented modes of organisation. In this context of declining traditional natural commons, new forms of commons such as Protected Geographical Indications or Participatory Guarantee Systems are appearing through collective action, knowledge and know-how as a resource, especially in the field of food quality. Nevertheless, in a country such as Morocco, where public policies place little value on issues of ownership, involvement, and more generally on local collective initiatives, we question the role of the Moroccan government in supporting these new initiatives. While recognition of the commons is not an end in itself, it is essential to rethink the role of the State, particularly to guarantee the rights of ownership and use of resources shared by certain communities and to avoid the excesses that led to the crisis of the traditional commons.

Mots-clés Agrovoc : histoire naturelle, gouvernance, communauté rurale, histoire, savoirs autochtones, pâturages, forêt, zone urbaine, ressource forestière, secteur agroindustriel, ressource en eau, zone rurale, ressource naturelle, irrigation