planète sable, arte tv

This evening, on Arte TV, will be aired, for the first time, the documentary serie on desertification directed by Thierry Berrod. One of the 5 episodes will be consecrated to the Sahara desert and we explain the project we proposed from Marsad Drâa, rammed earth dwellings as barriers against desertification (made by Inssaf Bourhim and Najelae Chairich) and the research on dune barriers we are developing in Tissardmine.

dwellings-dune barrier projet

We explained the project made by Inssaf and Najlae in the same plot, in Amezrou. Later we went to other locations in the Fezouata palm grove, to show the consequences of desertification. Finally, we were in M'hamid El Ghizlane where the sand in "erasing" a village built during the 80s. 

dune barrier construction in Tissardmine 

In order to test the viability of the dwelling proposal, we built a curved rammed earth wall in Tissardmine (Rissani) during the documentary shooting.

As a continuation of the project proposed by Inssaf Bourhim, Najlae Chairich and Elvis Osey (supervised by Carlos Perez Marin), where some buildings made of earth were deployed in the palm grove in order to stop the advance of the dunes.

We are still watching and studying the interactivity between the dune and the barrier...

One of our researches is on desertification. In Tissardmine (Rissani, Morocco), we have the opportunity to study the behaviour of small dunes that arrive to the village. Thanks to Google Earth we can follow the path of dunes.

Another way to study dunes is being there and watching what happens when wind arrives.