The Common, Political Marginalization and Water Conflicts for Survival in a Moroccan Oasis

Studies on oases worldwide reveal that the natural resources in these areas are decreasing sharply. In Morocco, ecology policies and technological evolution have led to the emergence of agriculture dynamics, which, in turn, have resulted in the spread of modern, elite owned farming lands that are encroaching on traditional oasis space.

This article explains how the shift in resource use practices has led to the depletion of the waters of the traditional irrigation systems ‘‘Khattaras”, but also to legitimate pluralism of access to water, and -most of all- infringed upon the survival needs of marginalized small farmers and sapped their negotiation capacity. The changes in forms of agriculture and the tough competition over resources have triggered water conflicts and stimulated the emergence of many ecology protest movements by local actors. The latter are due to the undermining of the traditional water rights governed by common property customary laws on access to water within oasis communities.This reality has had a great impact on access to water and has even led to ethnic conflicts.

The results of this study first show the importance of conflicts over upstream and downstream water resources depending on the hierarchy in the space of the oasis-Aljorf (vertical conflicts), which has led to breakdowns in social ties between beneficiaries who sometimes belong to the same tribe (horizontal conflicts). However, this also reveals that the drilling techniques have become a resources ‘ownership’ instrument for elites that contribute to the creation of a new space.