The High Atlas Foundation (HAF), a non-profit organization based in Marrakech and dedicated to sustainable development in Morocco, planted over 2,300 organic fruit trees alongside local community members, women’s cooperatives, school children, and various partner organizations in 26 communities around the Kingdom during its ninth Annual Tree Planting Day, which took place on Monday, January 16, 2023.
The trees were transplanted from the 15 HAF-supported community nurseries with farming communities at various locations in the Marrakech-Safi, Souss-Massa, Draa-Tafilalet, Beni Mellal-Khenifra, Fes-Meknes, Oriental, Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima, Casablanca-Settat and Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab regions.
In recognition of Dr. Martin Luther King Jr. Day and the commitment to service, community, and peace, HAF has hosted Tree Planting Day since 2014, when it celebrated its one millionth sapling planted in Morocco since the organization’s establishment in 2000. Since then, HAF has planted more than three million additional trees with farming families, schools, and other groups.
This tree planting season, which began in December 2022 and ends in March 2023, the High Atlas Foundation is collaborating with farming communities around Morocco to transplant 1.7 million fruit tree saplings and plant another 2.2 million seeds in the 15 nurseries. Over four million trees have been planted in Morocco to date, including over 88,000 so far in 2023. For more information on how farming communities can benefit from the tree planting initiative this year, visit the HAF website.
“We just have now—just this season—it’s all we can count on, so whatever we can do, wherever we are, let’s maximize this special moment and plant where we are–in the mountains, in the desert, in every direction, ecosystem, biozone–with all the varieties we can,” said HAF President Yossef Ben-Meir. “Let’s plant together in all the diversity of this wonderful country.”
