Sharing lessons learnt on the socio-economic sustainability of cultural practices that enhance High Atlas biodiversity
September 09, 2022Over the past five years, the Moroccan Biodiversity & Livelihoods Association (MBLA) have deeply explored a central hypothesis of the High Atlas Cultural Landscape programme: that Amazigh knowledge and practice contribute immensely to biodiversity conservation in the High Atlas, but can only be sustained if there are economic and social benefits for the community members who are the environmental stewards of the region.
In collaboration with its partner Global Diversity Foundation, MBLA has implemented diverse initiatives to promote increased production and successful commercialization of High Atlas biodiversity-friendly local products that sustain viable livelihoods.
With support from MAVA Foundation through a learning and sharing grant, MBLA produced a number of technical and visual publications to share lessons learned from their program and how to improve online local product commercialization, marketing and promotion to sustain biodiversity-friendly livelihoods. These outputs also contribute to the objectives of the Alliance for Mediterranean Nature and Culture (AMNC) by enhancing knowledge about the links between cultural practices and biodiversity, communicating and promoting the cultural landscapes approach and ensuring economic and financial sustainability of cultural practices-based economies.
The learning products are all available on MBLA’s publications page, and include a technical publication, a visual story book, online itineraries for ecotourism, infographics on plant products and interactive case studies on local product commercialization and cooperatives.