Protecting the Environment in Morocco

Photo: Todd Cooper/Eugene Weekly

“Being here is like a dream,” says Samira Idllalène who arrived Monday for an ELAW Fellowship.

Samira is a law professor at Cadi Ayyad University and our first partner from Morocco.  She is an expert in marine law and speaks English, French, Arabic, and her native Amazigh.

Reporter Camilla Mortensen writes about Samira in today’s Eugene Weekly:

Fracking is coming to Morocco.  Americans might associate the North African country on the shores of the Atlantic Ocean and the Mediterranean Sea with the black-and-white romance of Casablanca, but Morocco faces some of the same modern environmental issues as we do in the U.S…

Samira consults with several Moroccan NGOs.  They collaborate on issues tied to proposed fracking operations, beach resorts built on lands protected by the Ramsar Convention, and more.

Samira discovered the ELAW Fellows Program online and is thrilled to find a network of like-minded grassroots advocates who will help her make progress using legal tools to protect communities and the environment back home.

Samira is meeting one-on-one with ELAW Staff Attorneys and Staff Scientists as well as local experts in coastal protection.  On Saturday, she will be joined by ELAW Staff Scientist Heidi Weiskel on a panel at the Public Interest Environmental Law Conference at the University of Oregon School of Law:

Balancing Coastal Development and Protection: International Lessons
Saturday, March 5th, from 10:35-11:50 in LAW 281

Welcome Samira!

Bern Johnson
Executive Director

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