Latifa Oumlil

Perma Atlas Foundation – Amsterdam, Netherlands and Morocco, Africa

A notable permaculturalist and educator currently working on an Earth Repair project in Anguelz, Morocco, Latifa Oumlil is the founder of the Perma Atlas Foundation which has significantly aided in the “re-greening” of the Atlas Mountains. This program enables the local population to cope with prolonged droughts and gigantic flash floods caused by global climate change. 

In the Ounila Valley of Morocco lies the village of Anguelz, with 1200 inhabitants, located on the upper parts of the river Assif Aounil. It is located on an altitude of 1800 meters in the dry eastern regions of the High Atlas. Because of climate change the droughts in the region are intensified, and rainfall becomes even more unpredictable. The slopes above the villages erode even further, also because traditional sustainable methods were replaced by modern agricultural techniques and a more individualistic lifestyle. In recent years, there were various occasions of floods and landslides with great damage after a heavy downpour. The region struggled with poverty resulting in an increase in immigration out of the region.

Latifa was born in Anguelz, and as a child moved to the Netherlands where she has been living for over 40 years. With a background as a social worker, she is dedicated to help out the village. Overall, guided with Latifa’s help, Perma Atlas stimulates the local communities to shape their confidence and take responsibility for their own future and the future of their environment. This means they are actively learning about, collaborating around, and restructuring their environment such that it is able to support their existence through sustainable methods.

You can find many elements of permaculture in the old Berber traditions in the High Atlas. Meanwhile, an eroded mountain simply does not have vegetation left and cannot catch or retain water. Thereby growth of plants now is further reduced, and the rich nutritious top layer of the soil is flushed away. Building dams (aka gabions) in water trenches (chaba) and small channels (swales) on the slopes counter further erosion. The education and application of these and more permaculture ideals are actively proving remediation is plausible in even the less hopeful, arid and desolate regions of the globe.

Along with the Perma Atlas Foundation, Latifa has aided significantly in this restoration, particularly of the Atlas Mountains. Thus enabling the local population to cope with prolonged droughts and gigantic flash floods caused by global climate change. Meanwhile, the Foundation provides on-site weekend workshops with village members, actively teaching permaculture and restoration principles, encouraging and supporting a group design process for the project. The Foundation has nearly completed its 2-hectare demonstration site, and expects to have a school building complete very soon!

Website: Perma Atlas

Facebook: https://www.facebook.com/Angeulz
LinkedIn: https://www.linkedin.com/in/latifa-oumlil-5413a094/, https://www.linkedin.com/company/perma-atlas/about/
Twitter: https://twitter.com/LatifaOumlil

Video: Earth Restoration in Morocco