UNESCO - MAB Biosphere Reserves Directory
The landscape of ‘Arganeraie’ biosphere reserve features dry lowlands with plains and running hills in Souss Massa National Park. It is well known that the belt made up of the Argan forests, protects the lands from the creeping desert. The biosphere lies amidst the High Atlas and Anti-Atlas mountain chains and the coastlines of the Atlantic Ocean. The mix of plants consists of the Argan trees in the Mediterranean ecosystem, the endemic Barbary thuya in woodlands and Spanish juniper in semi-forested ecosystems. Local communities manage the Argan trees, which have a high economic value with multiple natural products used in food and medicine, beauty care and aromas. The area holds the Anti-Atlas occidental, Ida Outanane or the city of honey, Massa and the Souss Massa National Park, Atlantic coastline, Oasis of Tiout Mountain and the city of Taroudant.