Desertification In Irrigated Areas in Mediterranean Environments, Case of Tadla’s Irrigated Perimeter

Abstract

Increasingly, desertification within the Mediterranean region's irrigated areas is largely attributable to climate change and unsustainable agronomic, hydrological, and environmental factors. The case study presented in the Tadla irrigated perimeter, in the semi-arid southern central Moroccan region, illustrates this phenomenon. Over the past several decades, a rise in climate variability, increased frequency of drought conditions, and higher overall temperature ranges have profoundly reduced the amount of available water to farmers. There is increasing stress on both surface and groundwater resources. The irrigated perimeter of Tadla suffers from a maj or environmental problem that manifests itself in the phenomenon of climate change which represents a desertification that affects the irrigated area, this is reflected in a very alarming way at the level of the lowering of the piezometric levels either of the groundwater and also the deep groundwater which is not renewable and also the salinity of the soils which becomes very acute; This is leading to an environmental disaster, with a general water shortage threatening agriculture, drinking water supplies and a general reduction in agricultural production. The objective of this study is to identify how desertification is treated within the context of the Tadla irrigated area; to describe how climate change influences vulnerability and resilience in Mediterranean agricultural-hydrology systems through irrigation practices; and to understand how this relationship has developed over time.