Morocco’s proposed 1,000 MW offshore wind project near Essaouira promises climate leadership and renewable energy for this Magreb country, but along this stretch of Atlantic coast, wind is more than energy. The coastline is culture, economy, and identity.

The post Essaouira Offshore Wind and what it means for surfers, music festivals and the wild appeared first on Green Prophet.

There’s feasting at home on the night and the next day, and to make sure everyone gets good things to eat, families send out packages of treats to friends and neighbors. Traditional goodies are hamentaschen, and other treats like our chocolate nut clusters .

The post Haman’s Fingers, A Moroccan Purim Specialty appeared first on Green Prophet.

Walking well-trodden mountain pathways, eating fresh local food, and learning about the transformative work embedded in the Kasbah’s approach to tourism has now been imparted to our children. We hope, in turn, these experiences will serve to inform their contributions in the world as they continue to grow. Don’t wait, Morocco is on everyone’s bucket list. Growth and change are inevitable. 

The post Travel Morocco with teens at the Kasbah du Toubkal’s magical mountain retreat appeared first on Green Prophet.

Across the Arab world, croplands face a perfect storm of stressors. Excessive fertilizers and pesticides erode soil ecology. Poor drainage and over-irrigation drive salinization, leaving fields crusted with salt. Rising temperatures, dwindling groundwater, and more frequent sand-and-dust storms—all amplified by climate change—compound the crisis.

The post Arab agricultural land is on the brink appeared first on Green Prophet.

A prolonged drought in Morocco is causing serious problems for the agricultural sector. Local Authorities predict that the 2024 wheat harvest will be reduced by almost 50 per cent. The Arab Spring happened during a drought and raising wheat prices. Can we expect upheaval in the Magreb connected to this prolonged drought? This image above, […]

The post Morocco loses half its wheat crop this year from drought appeared first on Green Prophet.

As a way to cut down on the illegal drug trade, Morocco decides to pardon cannabis growers making their practices legal.

The post Morocco pardons 5,000 cannabis farmer convicts appeared first on Green Prophet.

In recent years, the Middle East has emerged as a significant player in renewable energy, embracing the potential of wind power to diversify its energy mix and reduce reliance on fossil fuels.

The post The wind farms of the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Researchers estimate age of star dune called Lala Lallia, Morocco

The post The secret of Earth’s incredible moving star sand dunes appeared first on Green Prophet.

Recipes for breads from Morocco, Yemen, Iraq, The Emirates, Yemen, Israel and Jordan.

The post A Journey into Middle Eastern Bread Traditions appeared first on Green Prophet.

To improve water governance, Sweden, the FAO and the Moroccan government install water meters to stop water theft by Moroccan farmers. result: it works.

The post Moroccan farms and aquifer saved by water metering appeared first on Green Prophet.

Orcas are sinking sinks off the coast of Morocco. A hurt killer whale is teaching other whales payback.

The post A pod of orcas sink another boat, a mid-sized yacht from Poland appeared first on Green Prophet.

Sand is the most important building resource and it is being mined illegally at sea.

The post Deep sea mining for concrete appeared first on Green Prophet.

At the base of Toubkal in the Atlas Mountains. We visited this kasbah a decade ago. And it has taken some damage from the earthquake but all residents and guests were safe.

The post Why was the Morocco quake so deadly? appeared first on Green Prophet.

This herbed and spiced fish stew needs only a few minutes of preparation, then half an hour to cook. Use organic vegetables if available. Any firm, white fish fillet works well for this recipe.

The post Moroccan Fish Stew, Perfect for the Heat of Summer appeared first on Green Prophet.

Looking for adventure and sustainable travel? Run an ultra-marathon in the sand, or a half marathon around a Holy City. Marathon the Mideast.

The post The 10 best desert marathons appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Sunimplant team developed a concept for the preservation of the environment and cultural heritage in the rural region of the High Rif in north of Morocco.

The post Hemp solar house highlights vernacular building potential in Morocco appeared first on Green Prophet.

A joint study found that mountain ecosystems are becoming increasingly fragile, under pressure from changes to land use and climate, overexploitation, pollution, demographic shifts and other factors which threaten livelihoods and food security.

The post Meet the Mountain People of the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

Re-using and finding new homes for second hand bikes is one thing, but when it comes to old cars, it's another. America, Japan and Europe are shipping non-road worthy cars to Africa where they are creating an enormous amount of air pollution, greenhouse gases and dangers for those driving them. 

The post Clunker cars are choking Africa appeared first on Green Prophet.

You are having an adventure of a lifetime. 

But if you weren't at 5 Star Four Seasons Casablanca or Marrakech - what would you know about the local people in Morocco? A video produced by Greenpeace helps show some of what happens as a byproduct to climate change. The deserts are getting even drier. 

The post At the Four Seasons Casablanca? Learn about desert oases at risk appeared first on Green Prophet.

Hundreds of people in Casablanca joined today Greenpeace sun-shaped human banner reading: “Break Free – Go Solar” with the landmark mosque Hassan II in the background in Casablanca-Morocco. Participants delivered a message in English, Arabic and Amazigh calling on world leaders notably from the Middle East and North Africa to accelerate the transition to renewable […]

The post Moroccans protest: break free from fossil fuels and go solar! appeared first on Green Prophet.

Unlike PV systems, CSP output doesn't dip when skies are momentarily overcast, and they do not need battery back-up to store energy for nighttime use.

The post Noor Complex in Morocco 160MG CSP solar power plant appeared first on Green Prophet.

Moroccan fig trees are a part of Ahmed Hakam. Until he was nine years old, Ahmed never ventured outside of his birth village near the northern city of Ouezzane. He vividly remembers the local fig harvest, when, every year, he, his mother and scores of women and their children from nearby villages would gather to […]

The post Invest in ancient fig cultivars in Morocco, invest in the future appeared first on Green Prophet.

Two cellphones. Three numbers. Thirty to forty phone calls a day. A road trip-based work life, which, for seven years, has been separated from luxuries like regular hours, weekends and sleep. Needless to say, Dr. Abderrahim Ouarghidi, 40, is a busy man. Officially the High Atlas Foundation’s director of programs in Marrakech, Ouarghidi, who focused […]

The post Meet the High Atlas botanical superhero appeared first on Green Prophet.

You might meet snake charmers in the square of Marrakech and also storytellers who tell a good tale. But there is one thing always true about Morocco: the sun always shines. Foreign firms are eager to bank on Morocco’s attractive feed-in tariffs and catch some healthy profits from our sun. Solar energy companies like Martifer […]

The post Morocco heats up with 16 new solar energy plants worth 25 gigawatts appeared first on Green Prophet.

The quinoa craze turned what was once a cheap, nourishing staple diet for Bolivians and Peruvians into an unaffordable grain for many of the poor locally. Read here about the dirty secret of quinoa. The appetite of western culture, and fanatic vegetarianism has increased demand for quinoa stratospherically: in 2013 the price of quinoa tripled […]

The post How vegan demand for agar is killing Morocco’s red seaweed appeared first on Green Prophet.

The companies Acciona and TSK will be meeting in Dubai to discuss the challenges and opportunities of constructing the Noor I CSP plant in Morocco. Meet the Acciona and TSK delegation as they attend the May 6 to 7 solar Menasol event in Dubai. What you can do? Join in on their panel discussion on […]

The post Learn from Morocco at sunny solar MENASOL conference in Dubai appeared first on Green Prophet.

The train system runs like clockwork in Morocco. It’s fast, easy and safe. So we’re excited to see a new project that makes them sped up to the 21st century in design: Silvio d’Ascia Architecture teamed up with Omar Kobité Architecture & Eric Giudice Architects to design a modern high speed railway station for Kénitra. Kénitra […]

The post Amtrak is a dinosaur next to Kénitra’s high speed railway station in Morocco appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s still chilly in the Middle East – still the season for comfort food. Try driving the cold away with msemmen, a flexible, square-shaped skillet cake (the best of Middle East and North African pancakes!), easily pulled apart into layers so you can stuff it. Msemmen is similar to the Emirati Khameer bread (recipe here), […]

The post Msemmen the Berber pancake recipe appeared first on Green Prophet.

Key investors in renewable energy for the Middle East and North Africa regions will be on hand to discuss the criteria for securing project financing. They will present the case studies of the Shams 1, a 100MW plant in Abu Dhabi and the Noor 1, a 160MW (being constructed in Morocco). Meet the World Bank and […]

The post Menasol Dubai answers key financing questions for Middle East CSP solar projects appeared first on Green Prophet.

Africa’s largest silver mine has been operating in the Atlas mountains since 1969, but the Berber people living in the surrounding villages remain among the most poverty-stricken people in Morocco. Now Movement on the Road ’96 are living in an “occupation” camp to protest a silver mine’s water use and pollution. They are also fighting for a […]

The post Morocco’s Berbers take on Africa’s richest silver mine – and the king appeared first on Green Prophet.

The bone-dry plains of the Western Sahara may be no place to plant a garden, but their extreme solar irradiance values render them ideal for solar farming. Morocco has persuaded foreign investors to underwrite a $9 billion solar power project. This comprises five separate generating facilities, despite criticism from European lenders over the location of […]

The post $9 billion in 2,000 MW solar investment streams into Morocco appeared first on Green Prophet.

Commercial and private real estate development in the United Arab Emirates threaten whales, dugongs, coral reefs and all marine life in the Arabian Gulf. Now some 80 regions in the Arab world are being tracked by satellite to show us how much environmental destruction happening is man-made.  See the photo above and what has changed in […]

The post Amazing “Atlas” tracks Arab world habitat destruction over time [video] appeared first on Green Prophet.

Yousouf Mindkar, director of public health at the Kuwaiti health ministry, said that the routine clinical screening of expatriates coming into the GCC will include tests to identify LGBT people who will then be banned from entering the country.

The post Kuwaiti Gaydar Test to Ban Gays Entry to Arab Countries? appeared first on Green Prophet.

Whether you travel alone or in packs, there is a new range of portable solar solutions by the Swiss company iLAND (said island) that will put crummy little solar panels on your backpack to shame: iLand has developed and now manufactures portable solar power packs for events with thousands and those small enough for one. […]

The post iLAND’s Solar Packs for Peace-keepers, Festivals, Eco-jocks and Alpha Wolves Who Travel with the Sun appeared first on Green Prophet.

It’s hard to monitor vessels that pollute out at sea, so five aircrafts from Algeria, France, Italy, Morocco and Spain got together to keep an eye on the Mediterranean Sea in a recent coordinated aerial surveillance program organized by the Regional Marine Pollution Emergency Response Center for the Mediterranean Sea (REMPEC). During the second such operation organized […]

The post Mediterranean Surveillance Crew Eyes Oil Spills from the Sky appeared first on Green Prophet.

Water scarcity has already become a fact of daily life for Egyptians The world’s driest region, the Middle East* and North Africa (MENA), is getting drier at an alarming rate. And yet, despite massive population growth (the Middle East’s population grew 61 percent from 1990 to 2010 to 205 million people) predictions of so-called “water […]

The post Export Oil, Import Water = Risky Economics for Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

33 exotic Moroccan recipes from the women who make and cook with argan oil. The argan tree is a Berber identity icon, and production of its oil is traditionally a woman’s job.  But as with many folkways, interest in argan began to dwindle. It’s a finicky process with low yield. Unless marketed wisely, it’s hardly […]

The post Download Moroccan Recipes Based on Argan Oil appeared first on Green Prophet.

Moroccan flavors blend deliciously in a hearty chickpea soup. Our previous posts on sustainable eating in the Middle East/North Africa region featured rice and chicken kabsa from Saudi Arabia,  Jordan’s traditional mansaf, and wheat berry pudding from Iran. All very delicious – but what about North Africa? Regional, seasonal, fresh and harvested under fair conditions. […]

The post Eat Like A Sustainable Moroccan – Chickpea and Spinach Soup RECIPE appeared first on Green Prophet.

They took their pilot run from Europe to Morocco, now the Swiss solar plane will fly across America. Sometime next summer, an airplane with the wingspan of an Airbus A340 but weighing not much more than a Toyota will fly from San Francisco to Washington, D.C., and on to New York. The history-making cross-country trip […]

The post Would You Fly By Sun and a Solar Impulse? appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Sahara.  It’s the world’s hottest desert and almost as large as China or the United States, so travelers have good reason to be wary of wandering into it alone.  But adventurer Tom Thumb has organized another retreat in 2013 for those who want to experience the Sahara. The Road Junky Sahara Retreat will be held […]

The post Eco Travel Morocco at Holistic Meditation Retreat in the Sahara appeared first on Green Prophet.

The Medicinal Plants Association in Egypt helps preserve biodiversity and is one of the 25 winners of the Equator Prize 2012. Policy making within the realm of “development” is often burdened by an excessively westernized design resulting in unintended consequences on the welfare of local populations. For example, a previous Green Prophet article “Morocco’s Berbers […]

The post Egypt and Morocco’s Equator Prize Winners Preserve Environment through Tradition appeared first on Green Prophet.

A small swarm of locusts can eat the food of 35,000 people but they can also eradicate a wheat field in no time. 

The post Locust swarm alert appeared first on Green Prophet.

The most hearty and satisfying dish from Morocco that is budget friendly and delicious.

The post Moroccan stuffed potatoes are called mafroum appeared first on Green Prophet.

Saudi Arabia gives Morocco a sunny boost, but Joseph looks at Morocco’s bigger renewable energy picture: an aim to use 42% renewables by 2020. With worries growing that Morocco’s ambitious solar energy plans are on the decline (Morocco has plans to generate 2GW of solar energy by 2020 under the Morocco Solar Plan), Saudi Arabia’s […]

The post Morocco’s Hydroelectric, Wind and Solar on Track for 2020’s 42% Green Goal appeared first on Green Prophet.

Live long enough and we all know heartbreak, but what happens when a well-loved sustainable project walks away? Looking for day trips to explore modern Middle East architecture, I stumbled across Jordan’s The Aqaba House (TAH). This ambitious little house was the first modern home fully based on green building principles specific to its Aqaba location.  Oriented […]

The post Recycling Yourself When Green Projects Go Bust appeared first on Green Prophet.

You can visit travel websites for all-inclusive holidays where you can find week-long or two-week sun holidays in Sharm, Sinai; You can also find loads of ways to  hang out in Agadir, Morocco at exclusive resorts; but not every all-inclusive option can give you the right eco spirit you are aiming for.

The post Wild ways to travel the Middle East appeared first on Green Prophet.

The post Solar Plane Proves Night Flights Possible – Returns to Spain appeared first on Green Prophet.

Toni Polo, founder of Radio Groovalizacion explains how music and migration are shaping contemporary culture in the Middle East and North Arfica. As an avid “world music” listener – although I don’t like this term but I still haven’t found a better one- it is always an immense pleasure to discover hidden musical gems. One organization […]

The post Radio Groovalizacion Communicates Middle East Migration Through Music appeared first on Green Prophet.

ACWA rumored to win the contract to build a 160 MW CSP project in in the south of Morocco.

The post Morocco solar energy deals led by Saudi Arabia appeared first on Green Prophet.

She might travel on a budget, but this backpacker can spend double the amount of money of the average non-budget traveller, and she’ll probably have more fun. It’s easy to look down on the lowly backpackers when you are a country looking to earn lots of income from tourism. Many Middle Eastern countries rely seriously […]

The post Cheap Travellers and Surprising $ Stats for Tourism Industries appeared first on Green Prophet.