“Imider has a speech”, this was the name of a video released by local “Imider” activists in a desperate attempt to echo their cause to the world and make their voice heard around the globe. The video has gone viral on social media over the past few days.
“Imider”, a small village located 300 Kms south of Marrakech, where the COP22 was held from Nov 7th to 18th, is witnessing the longest sit-in in the history of the region. The sit-in, held since august 20th 2011, to protest against a silver mining company that settled near the village, has been ignored by the Moroccan authorities.
Speaking to France24 news channel, Moha Taouja, a local activist said, “the water tank that provides water to the silver mine company takes 24 liters every second. This overuse of water has influenced the traditional irrigation process, resulting in having a number of dry wells.”
Moha Taouja continued, “the silver mine produces several dangerous toxic materials, such as mercury, zinc, cyanide among others, which has [negative] effects on our agricultural produce.”
“Given the fact that most of the local population rely on agricultural for their living, we simply demand that the company should reconsider its policies and take the necessary precautions in order to put an end to this situation and protect our lands from an eminent destruction,” Moha Taouja added.
Lately, as stated by Moha, farmlands belonging to the locals of Imider began to suffer from several nefarious effects. Those damages are caused by the water used in the irrigation process, which contains, since the advent of the silver company to the region, toxic materials.
The conditions of living of the Imider population is a concrete example of how tragic changes in the adjacent environment can have a negative effect on an ecosystem. The Imider case is very critical and shall not receive anymore a deaf ear from the Moroccan authorities. An urgent intervention from the international community is also required in order to avoid an eminent humanitarian disaster in Morocco, a country that is striving to be the Mecca of renewable energies and green technology.
