Oussama Himmy

PhD topic: Agricultural land abandonment in the Moroccan Anti-Atlas Mountains: an integrated assessment of spatial patterns, socio-economic drivers, and soil legacies

Summary: The Anti-Atlas Mountains of southern Morocco host some of the oldest terraced agroecosystems in North Africa, sustained for centuries by Amazigh communities through sophisticated water-harvesting and slope-management practices. In recent decades, these traditional systems have come under mounting pressure from recurrent drought, rural outmigration, shifting labour markets, and transformations in household livelihoods, resulting in widespread abandonment of cultivated terraces across the region. The extent, timing, and consequences of this abandonment remain poorly documented, despite clear implications for rural livelihoods, biodiversity, soil and water resources, and the cultural heritage embedded in terraced landscapes.

This PhD project examines agricultural land abandonment in the Aït Baha–Tanalt corridor of Chtouka Aït Baha Province, a study area of terraced slopes, valley-floor oases, and rocky uplands inhabited by Amazigh farming communities. The research is organised around three integrated studies. The first maps the extent and timing of abandonment over the past four decades using satellite imagery and deep learning. The second examines how climatic, demographic, economic, and policy factors have jointly shaped observed abandonment trajectories, drawing on fieldwork in selected oases. The third assesses the soil legacy of abandonment and its implications for recultivation potential.

The project is funded by the German Academic Exchange Service (DAAD). It places the Moroccan case within wider debates on dryland mountain agriculture, land-use transitions, and the sustainability of traditional agroecosystems under climatic and socio-economic stress. By linking long-term satellite observations with analysis of socio-economic drivers and field-based soil assessment, the research aims to provide a coherent account of how and why terraced agriculture is being abandoned in the Anti-Atlas, and what scope remains for recovery. Findings are expected to inform researchers, development practitioners, and policymakers concerned with rural livelihoods, soil and water conservation, and the future of mountain agriculture in the Mediterranean and North African drylands.

Languages: Arabic, French, English, German (A2)

Short portrait:

• 2024- present: University of Kassel, PhD candidate. in Agricultural Sciences
• 2020-2022: University of Hassan II, M.Sc. in GIS and land management
• 2018-2019: University of Cadi Ayyad, B.Sc. in Applied Geology
• 2016-2018: Institute of Mining of Marrakech, STD in Applied Geology