Pastoral Adaptation to Prolonged Drought in Southeastern Morocco: Household Strategies Among Amazigh Nomadic Communities
UNPFII Research Brief Submitted to PreventionWeb, March 2026
Author: Stephanie Zabriskie
ORCID: 0009-0000-9273-1529
Affiliation: Humanculture (Indigenous-led nonprofit organization)
Capacity: Founder and Executive Director
Region: Africa
Associated Platforms: Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)
Abstract
Between approximately 2018 and 2025, southeastern Morocco experienced one of its most severe drought periods in recent decades, placing acute stress on Amazigh nomadic pastoral households whose livelihoods depend on seasonal mobility across desert landscapes. This research brief documents household-level adaptation strategies observed in the Merzouga area, where pastoral families reorganized their movements around reliable municipal water access points while maintaining nomadic housing, social organization, and pastoral identity. Key adaptations included the daily collection of water by women traveling by foot or donkey, a strategic shift from camel herding toward more drought-resilient goat herding, and informal supplementation of livestock feed using organic remnants from nearby desert camp operations. These practices reflect deeply embedded risk knowledge within nomadic pastoral systems — knowledge that enables communities to recognize ecological thresholds and reorganize spatially without abandoning pastoral life entirely. Although Morocco’s government declared the drought over following the 2025–2026 rainfall season, seven years of groundwater depletion and forage loss cannot be reversed in a single season, and households continue to maintain proximity to reliable water infrastructure while monitoring ecological recovery. This case is analyzed in relation to the Sendai Framework for Disaster Risk Reduction 2015–2030, with particular attention to community-held disaster risk knowledge, women’s central role in household water security, and the implications of pastoral adaptation for gender-responsive drought preparedness policy in dryland regions.
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