Land, water and development in the High Atlas and Anti Atlas mountains of Morocco

The High Atlas and Anti Atlas in Morocco provide excellent examples of mountain areas undergoing rapid transformation as a result of integration into the market economy. There is a need to monitor regularly the environmental and social changes taking place and it is argued that Rapid Rural Appraisal techniques can be adapted for this purpose. Information collected from sixteen sites provides the basis for preliminary evaluation status of these localities and reveals the diversity of response to the pressures generated by links to the national and international economy. The study also suggests how the monitoring exercise might be improved to provide a sophisticated but robust procedure for tracking the evolution of these areas.