In Morocco, a crusade against palm trees

The “Mouvement Maroc Environnement 2050” continues its crusade against the planting of palm trees in the urban areas of Marrakech, Tangier, Agadir and other Moroccan cities.

While it had already launched pressure campaigns since 2021 to stop the planting of palm trees in urban centers, including awareness campaigns on social networks and memoranda addressed to the authorities in the cities, where it has observed a proliferation of these trees in recent years, the “Mouvement Maroc Environnement 2050” says it notes that the phenomenon persists. The random planting of palm trees has spread from cities in the southeast of the country through Marrakech and these trees are now planted in several coastal cities, from Tangier in the north to Agadir in the center of the kingdom, the association says. However, palm trees are “expensive” and “do not provide us with the necessary shade or the ecological services that trees provide, such as absorbing carbon dioxide, purifying the air, producing oxygen, protecting against floods, stabilizing the soil and preventing erosion,” it laments.