Morocco

Tinghir and the few villages which grew in its orbit belong to the oasis system of the valleys of Draa, Dadès and Todra. These villages are located along Todra Valley.

The environment is marked by a very strong aridity and it is the presence of the water which fixes the populations. The climatic conditions are severe. Since men’s settlement was closely related to the pres-ence of water, the oases have developed for centuries irrigation techniques and adapted them to various hydraulic resources. The town of Tinghir and the rural municipalities in its orbit, shelter approximately 100,000 inhabitants, including 36,000 in the city. The population is still marked by its rural character since more than 60 percent lived in rural environments in 1994 (57,7 percent in 2004). The population is very young: the age group under 15 years represents more than 20 percent and the one concerned by our study (15-45 years) is 40.7 percent.

Economic activity is still be marked by the relative weight of agriculture (24 percent of the total active pop-ulation and up to 37 percent in rural environment). But, sectors of commerce, administration and build-ing/construction also employ a good part of the population. Other new activities, in particular tourism, bring an essential additional resource. Through an increasingly active associative movement, several pro-jects are led to the local level and are supported by the State or the international agencies: construction of roads and bridges, installation and management of generators, drinking water supply, rehabilitation of schools, courses to eliminate illiteracy, campaigns against the endemic diseases, etc. The region records the strongest percentages of families living under the vulnerability and poverty lines (respectively 22,8 percent and 21,1 percent), which reveals the difficult living conditions in the oasis milieu.

The poverty in the oases areas was one of the causes to an early high outmigration from the area since the 1960s. A large part of the local economy depends on the contributions of the migrants. Most of the households in the area have at least a member of their family working abroad who gets more or less substantial income to them. It was between 1960 and 1974 that the emigration trend from this area and that of Tinghir reached its peak, following a series of labor agreement signed between Morocco and the countries of Europe. The total of the emigrants originated from the province of Ouarzazate was estimated at 18,000 people, half of which would return to the circle of Boumalne, whose current province comprise Tinghir with record rates of 58 emigrants by douar in the valley of Todra.

The central plateau is characterized by the presence of an economic and social elite made up of two groups: (I) local notabilities of ethnic origin establishing their power of domination based on tribal alliances and/or notables reproduced through electoral means to maintain the control of the territory, and (II) the category of the contractors related to urban, industrial and agro financial capitalism. The control of local resources by these groups and the local populations allowed for only low numbers of emigration. Despite the drought of the 80s, the failures of the agricultural development actions, the budgetary restraints im-posed by the Structural Adjustment program (SAP) together with the tight capacity of the State regarding employment, the intensity of the international emigration will not reach the degrees reached in other spaces and the region almost does not appear in the specialized literature dealing with the Moroccan international emigration.

The total population of the rural municipalities and urban centres of Aguelmous, Moulay Bouaazza and Oulmes, forming the zone of the central Plateau, counts 64,191 inhabitants of which 40,6 percent are urban. Urbanization is an essential aspect of the demographic evolution, in that while on a general level manpower had increased by 2,2% compared to 1994, the urban population saw an increase of 17,8 per-cent. Compared with the Moroccan countryside in general, the demographic behaviour in the area of the central Plateau is marked by a low fertility rate (2, 9 in 2004). The gender ratio of males is 96,9 for the 15 to 55 years old yet 105,6 for those younger than 15 years. While in urban centres the male rate is 89,1 (even 69,5 in the active segment of the population), in rural areas, the rates are respectively 107 for the general population, and 118,3 for the between 15 to 55 year olds. At the same time, women are often the head of household, and the divorced and widowed women count for 21,1 percent of the total heads of household in the centres of Aguelmous, Moulay Bouaazza and Oulmes.

The economic system in the area of the central plateau is still dominated by the activities of dependant production on the natural resources; either they are agro pastoral activities, silvi-cultural activities, or ex-tractive ones, mines and mineral water resources. A system close to the mining economy, where the activities are far from being remunerative in terms of wages, and where the product generates an added-value after transformations by the urban economy. Yet, the phenomenon of poverty is revealed through the insufficient incomes, whether in the form of agro pastoral exploitation or perceived wages.

International emigration did not represent itself as a solution to a multitude of schooled young people until at a later period around the end of the 80’s.It centred on internal emigration, starting from the douars of the local centres towards the cities and then the departure abroad. The region thus fell under a migratory practice having been initiated in Tadla and having been stimulated by the facilities of settlement presented by Spain and Italy during the 90’s. Emigration in the central Plateau is not an issue which was taken seriously by public authorities, however emigration and the positive outcomes it generates when it is successful, do occupy an important space in the discourse of young people.

The geographical position of the “Tingitane Peninsula” (of Tingis, the Roman name of Tangier) has largely contributed to create its identity, particularly through the major role of the bridge it had played throughout the history between the two straits’ banks. It is this strategic position which gives it today a developmental potential which makes it one of the most promising areas of Morocco in terms of economic growth, outside the middle Atlantic coast around Casablanca. Long before the arrival of important h2ish communities that populated the h2ish zone of occupation and the multitude of nationalities which had settled in Tangier during the period of international status, the area received important flows of internal migrations. They were mostly the Rifans coming from central and eastern Rif during the XIX century as well as tribes of Eastern Rif engaged in the armies of The Alaouites sultans who carried out the fight to take back the cities of the North-West occupied by the h2ish, the Portuguese and the English.

Nowadays, because of its strategic position and the political will to relaunch the North of Morocco at the economic level, a dynamic/process was engaged since the beginning of this century through important structure projects such as the port complex Tangier-Med, the Off-Shore zone, road and rail infrastructures, the future high-speed train (HSP or the TGV), the urban upgrading of the city, the development of industrial and tourist zones. The role of the crossroads and the open zone on the outside world is therefore reinforced and the Tingitane peninsula is from now on a refuge zone for candidates considering clandestine immigration towards Spain and Europe who do not only come from Morocco but also from other African countries. The area receives also transfers and investments from emigrants living in the area as well as those originating from other regions. Most of the incomers are settled in city centres, which explains the remarkable urban growth witnessed in cities like Tangier, Asilah or Ksar el Kébir.

According to the 2004 census, the population of Tanger-Tetouan reached the 2, 460,220 inhabitants, or 8.15 percent of the Moroccan population, including 58.24 percent in urban areas. The population density is of 213 per km ² (176 in 1994) against 42 inhabitants / km ² (37 in 1994) for the whole of Morocco.

This population is characterized by the dominance of a class of an active and very young population. The class of ages between 15 and 59 makes 64 percent of the total population of the city. This explains the large size of the active faction of job seekers. However, the illiteracy rate is high in the city of Tangier 27 percent, with variations depending on the districts: Beni Makda higher (35.7 percent) and lowest in Charf Souani (21 percent). The distribution of the workforce by economic activity shows the preponderant weight of industry 32.78 percent, commerce 17.03 percent, 12.56 percent services, public administration (11.73 percent) and Public and building works (11.34 percent). A large informal sector occupies a large part of the population (e.g. 15 percent of the population Bni Makada), and most often associated with illegal activities.

But the increase of immigration in Tangier, from different cities and rural areas of Morocco has led to a specific urban culture for the city of Tangier heavily influenced by h2ish heritage, which is reflected in the daily life style. In addition to sub-Saharan migrants in transit and tourists from Europe who settled in the city over a long period of time, the population tends toward a certain palpable cosmopolitanism and cultural diversity.

Based on the previous, the city of Tangier is attracting more and more migrants. According to the Bipolar Study Tangier-Tetouan (2003), 4 of 10 migrants settle in the urban area of Tangier. A 24 percent of migrants in the region reside in the rural areas of Tangiers. According to the latest census of 2004, the net migration was during the period 1994-2004 of 94,331 people over. This was due to the depopulation of rural areas that has received only 856 during the same period. This net migration affects urban growth: the Beni Makada district has received more than 44,593 migrants in ten years, 40.5 percent of newcomers, District of Charf Mghogha 24 percent and 22 percent Tanger Medina (Table 6).

Today, Tangier has become a bridgehead of emigration to Spain. Taking into account the relative weight of migrants in relation to the total population, Tangier and The Tingitane Peninsula topped the list of regions for migrants to Spain. The weight of Tangier and its region in the overall total of identified Moroccan immigrants in Spain (Lopez Garcia and Berriane, 2004) has been increasing for a decade, having risen from 23.3 percent in 1991 to 28 percent in 2001. These percentages are quite high if we know that the demographic weight of the region represents just under 8 percent of the total population of Morocco. The migration is mainly from urban, mainly from Tangier and its region.

The choice of Tounfit in this project is justified by the absence of a fair redistribution and the need to pro-tect the right of access to land resources in its relationship with the migration issue. The mountain’s climate brings in very cold winters (between 300 and 350 mm of rain) and relatively cool summers in the highlands. The forest covers large areas at the heights, oak and cedar to be associated with secondary species. Low formations replace the forest areas. The nature of the climate and the altitudinal distribution of vegetation types explain the use of mainly agro and forest resources.

The total population of the research area of Tounfite is 23,588 inhabitants, 5,028 (20.2 percent) of which are in urban areas. It represents a proportion of 4.7 percent of the population of the Province of Khenifra. It is among the mountains where the distribution of the population is not regular. The overall density is relatively low, about 15.3 inhabitants per km ² while the density increases to 2.84 inhabitants per agricultural hectare.

In this difficult area, the population increased from 21,906 inhabitants in 1994 to 23,588 by 2004, repre-senting an overall increase of 8.2 percent in 10 years, less than two points from the 10 percent rate regis-tered at the provincial level. The mortality rates, infant in particular, are strong: 194 per thousand in the town of Anemzi. These indicators reflect a profile that contrasts with the demographic transition registered at the national, regional and provincial levels. The gender distribution of the population reflects a relative gender balance, with a slight predominance of women 50.1 percent, against 49.9 percent of men.

In terms of employment, the rate of assets compared to total population is 23.5 percent, but the em-ployed represent only 20.02 percent. In this group women are underrepresented because they represent just 13.6 percent of the workforce and 12.9 percent of the employed labour force. These proportions are relatively higher in urban areas, 16.7 percent and 28.6 percent. In the rural area, the self-employed and family workers constitute the bulk of the employed 81.3 percent, against only 61.1 percent in urban areas. The region is marked by poverty rates and high vulnerability, 35 percent and 23.8 percent, against 18.2 percent and 20.8 percent, respectively, at provincial level. This is reflected in indices of human development in all instances lower than the provincial average of 0.45 or 0.15 for the least developed joint and 0.42 for the most favoured.

This statement reveals the paradox of an area with potential natural resources but where most people have no means of access to their operations. Revenues of multiple activities or emigration constitute an alternative to a cyclical few families, but fail to induce a dynamic capable of reducing structural poverty affecting the majority of families. The eccentric location, combined with a precarious socio-economic status of the population and a weak state presence in the development, are all factors that have kept the region at the margins of modernity and the social and cultural change.

Even if all the socioeconomic indicators used to classify the region of Tounfit as repulsive, migration flows have not been provided a scale to cause its dramatic depopulation, as it is the case in some of the Rif Mountains or the Anti Atlas. This is a peculiarity which might have characterized the region at least until the 80s from the last century. However, there appears to be a circular mobility for working men in the construction sites of northern towns, which women joined later going to work in the modern fields of export crops in the agricultural regions of Tadla, Lower Moulouya and Souss. The first temporary emigration has seen two developments: i) the tendency towards the final determination in regional or remote towns, ii) the illegal emigration of young men and women to Europe.