Associations Between Climate, Ecosystems, and Ecosystem Services in the Pre-Sahara

Abstract

This chapter focuses on the richness and wide variety of Sub-Saharan ecosystems particularly in the region of Tafilalet, Morocco. The Tafilalet ecosystems provide an extensive list of goods (see below) to the region, as well as “ecosystem services” for the inhabitants. However, in the last 30 years, these ecosystems are threatened by conjugated impacts of climate change and human overuse of the nature resources. The primary objective of this chapter is to evaluate both the damage inflicted on Tafilalet ecosystems and the associated ecosystem services due to climate change. Adaptation to climate change is of paramount importance to keep the survival of the diversity of Tafilalet ecosystems including agro-ecosystems, forests, and inland waters. Adaptation is a process to reduce the vulnerability of people to prevent displacement and conflict for scarce ecosystem services. The findings of this chapter show that a large number of ecosystem services of the region are limited by climatic conditions that affect the resilience of the whole oasis of Tafilalet.