Water in the Desert: Dar Si Hmad’s Fog-Harvesting Program

The Anti-Atlas mountains located in southwest Morocco is an extremely arid region with limited freshwater resources, a situation that has been aggravated by global climate change trends. This has posed a significant challenge to the Amazigh, an Indigenous population that has been historically marginalized throughout North Africa, who occupy these lands. In 2006, Dar Si Hmad (DSH), a local NGO, began to harvest fresh water from an abundant source that surrounded these mountains for most of the year: fog. Using fog harvesting technology, they have been able to supply individual households within the Anti-Atlas Mountains’ Aït Baamrane region with fresh drinking water. This case study focuses on how DSH has been able to achieve the sustainable community uptake and expansion of its fog collection and water management system. We are specifically concerned with this organization’s usage of various tools for the purpose of cultural preservation and acceptance, the facilitation of local and external cooperation, and the empowerment of women in the community.