Dar Si Hmad, a women-led NGO in Morocco, which has installed the world’s largest operational fogwater harvesting system, has been granted the 2016 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC) Momentum for Change Award.
The project has been rewarded for its innovative solution to persistent water stress where fog is abundant, a technique inspired from ancient water practices. It provides accessible potable water to more than 400 people in five villages, most of them women and children.
According to UN experts, the Moroccan fog harvesting project is a successful model of a locally-driven, participatory climate change adaptation initiative, providing an environmentally friendly water source to combat the effects of desertification.
The project includes 600 m2 of nets to harvest fresh water from fog, 7 reservoirs of 539 m3 storage capacity, 6 solar panels and 10,000 meters of piping.
It helped to install pre-paid water meters in 52 homes in 5 villages, serving more than 400 rural residents, most of them women.
Starting in January 2017, this project, which seeks to encourage income-generating activities, will be upgraded to CloudFisher, next generation fog-collection technology, and will connect 8 more villages to the grid.
The UN award provides a public platform to highlight broad-ranging climate change actions that are already achieving real results on the ground.
By shining light on the most inspiring and transformational mitigation and adaptation activities, known as ‘Lighthouse Activities’, the “Momentum for Change” award aims to strengthen motivation, spur innovation and catalyze further change towards a low-emission, high-resilient future.
The Moroccan project gained international recognition as the North African country braces to host the 22nd UN conference on climate change (COP22) in Marrakech next November.
