Although Morocco has only recently joined the Community Development and Knowledge Management for the Satoyama Initiative Programme (COMDEKS) in its fourth phase, the country’s journey toward a landscape-focused approach began a decade ago. Since 2015, the Small Grants Programme (SGP) in Morocco has focused on socio-ecological landscapes – mosaics of natural and human-modified ecosystems shaped by ecological, historical, and cultural processes.

High Atlas mountain landscape, Morocco

In 2024, Morocco joined COMDEKS Phase 4 building on lessons learned from earlier SGP experiences and leveraging its established landscape-focused strategies and network of partners. A call for proposals selected the Research Group for the Protection of Birds in Morocco (GREPOM) as the national catalytic NGO to lead the initiative. GREPOM’s expertise in biodiversity conservation and environmental policy made it an ideal choice to coordinate this effort, develop the COMDEKS landscape strategy, and promote collaboration between local and national actors.

The development of the COMDEKS strategy in Morocco involved participatory consultations with the SGP National Steering Committee, institutional stakeholders, national NGOs, and local community-based organizations (CBOs). Webinars and interviews refined the selection criteria for landscapes, focusing on biodiversity hotspots outside official protected areas. The criteria also prioritized areas with potential for supporting Indigenous and Community Conserved Areas (ICCA) and traditional conservation practices, and in alignment with national priorities for biodiversity conservation, climate resilience, and poverty reduction.

As a result of this process, three landscapes emerged as priorities:

1. High Atlas Mountain Range: a unique region rich in biodiversity and with a high rate of endemism, particularly in the areas of Oued Lakhdar and Oued Ahansal. With over 15 ICCA communities and three ongoing SGP projects, this region holds the potential to become Morocco’s first community conservation area and inspire broader dialogue on ICCAs.

2. Cedars Biosphere Reserve: centered around Aguelman N’Tournassine in Ifrane National Park, this ecologically important area suffers from rangeland degradation and offers opportunities to replicate successful community management models that can unite stakeholders around a landscape management plan.

3. Oued Laou Watershed: located along one of the last sparsely urbanized areas on the Moroccan Mediterranean coast, this landscape combines agriculture and traditional fishing with great landscape diversity and rich agro-ecosystems, with significant genetic resources that must be the focus of conservation efforts.

In February 2025, the SGP Morocco National Steering Committee approved seven new projects under Phase 4, six within the Oued Lakhdar Ahansal landscape (High Atlas Central) and one within the Tifounassine Lake (Middle Atlas). Projects are focusing on rangeland and wetland rehabilitation, community-based ecotourism activities, reintroducing traditional Agdal practices, biochar and green charcoal production, sustainable livestock management, youth empowerment, agro-ecology and traditional seed and nursery production. The other target landscapes will be prioritized in upcoming national Calls for Proposals in the coming months.

In the medium term, Morocco’s strategy focuses on empowering community organizations to rehabilitate and sustain socio-ecological production landscapes. This approach contributes to Morocco’s national biodiversity strategies, ensuring that these landscapes can thrive for generations to come. The initiative’s long-term vision aligns with the Satoyama Initiative’s key principles, aiming to enhance landscape resilience, conserve natural and cultural heritage, and promote sustainable resource use.

Societies in harmony with nature
Launched in 2011 as a flagship programme of the Satoyama Initiative, COMDEKS is a global effort to promote the sustainable use of natural resources in landscapes and seascapes with local communities whose livelihoods and cultural heritage depend on them. It provides small-scale finance through SGP directly to local communities, Indigenous Peoples and civil society to implement locally-led projects that improve livelihoods and well-being, conserve biodiversity, address climate change, build resilience and support local cultures and traditional practices. Launched in 2022, COMDEKS Phase 4 is funded by the Ministry of the Environment Japan and the Keidanren Nature Conservation Council, and is implemented by the SGP.

SGP Morocco