About The Global Diversity Foundation

All profits from Diversity Excursions Ltd. are donated to The Global Diversity Foundation (GDF), which was created in the United Kingdom in 1999 with the support of professionals from various academic disciplines. Our goal is to promote agricultural, biological and cultural diversity around the world. We focus on the most critical issues facing global diversity, and seek practical solutions inspired by the work of colleagues from diverse countries and institutions. Biocultural diversity is the legacy of a long history of interaction between local peoples and their natural environment. This co-evolution of culture and nature has given us a wealth of unique ecosystems, languages and lifestyles that enrich our lives and ensure our survival. The challenges facing global diversity are numerous: species extinction, deforestation, language loss and rapid cultural change, among others. Public awareness of these problems has increased in recent years, providing an incentive to seek solutions.

The Global Diversity Foundation

promoting agricultural, biological and cultural diversity around the world

The Global Diversity Foundation is participating in several initiatives to document, monitor and promote biocultural diversity in southern Morocco. Through Community Initiatives,  we work in collaboration with governmental agencies, non-governmental organizations and international foundations to support ongoing conservation and community development projects. With Maghrebio, a Moroccan NGO that focuses on organic agriculture and nutrition, GDF promotes continued cultivation and exchange of traditional agricultural crops in communities of the High Atlas mountains. At a boarding school in the Ourika valley, we are providing educational materials and opportunities for Tachelhit speaking girls, including a database and herbarium of the edible, medicinal and other useful plants of the region. We have established a garden at the boarding school for the cultivation of local varieties of fruits and vegetables as well as locally important medicinal plants.

In Marrakech, we are participating in a project initiated by the ARCH Foundation on the ‘Regreening of the Medina’, including a baseline study on the remaining trees in the historical center of Marrakech and reestablishment of daliya (grapevine trellises) on some streets and squares. With ARCH and Maghrebio, we are restoring a fruit orchard and vegetable garden for the Ibn Abi Sofra primary school, set in the former Agdal Bahmed garden. With financial support from Oenobiol – a French nutraceutical company – we are teaching the schoolchildren about urban gardening, and ensuring a sufficient production of organic fruits and vegetables to improve their diet. The children harvested their first vegetables in December 2003. We are now planning to improve the school cafeteria and to provide cooking classes for the childrens' mothers, with an emphasis on preparing vegetables from the garden.

In our Research Projects, we seek to understand the interaction of culture and nature in southern Morocco. The Global Diversity Foundation supports researchers and students who study biocultural diversity in the Argan and Oasis du Sud Biosphere Reserves, Toubkal National Park, and the Essaouira and Marrakech Medina World Heritage Sites. These colleagues focus on the continuity of local knowledge of the environment, the sustainability of wild animal and plant resources and the viability of community development initiatives. During the summer of 2002, GDF supported three postgraduate students from the University of Kent at Canterbury. Assisted by interns from the University of Marrakech, they carried out field projects on the transformation of ryad gardens in the Marrakech Medina, the harvest of wild thyme (Thymus spp.) in the High Atlas mountains and the production and commercialization of medicinal plants, including walnut bark (Juglans regia). We provided travel grants to another six students during the summer of 2003 and nine students in 2004.

In our Training Programme, we educate a wide variety of people on the importance of conserving and promoting biocultural diversity. We launched our project on "Conservation Assessment and Monitoring of Wildlife Trade in southern Morocco" with a training workshop for students from the University of Kent and Cadi Ayyad University in April 2003. The project is a joint initiative of GDF, the Natural History Museum of Marrakech, the Moroccan Department of Water and Forests and the University of Kent. With support from the National Geographic Conservation Trust, we are carrying out an inventory of the animals and plants - some of them endangered species - that are sold to local people and tourists in marketplaces throughout southern Morocco. We are currently working on a conservation assessment of the species in trade, and an analysis of medicinal plant mixtures. In the future, we will provide training courses for governmental officials, guides, shop owners and others who have an interest in wildlife trade.

The Global Diversity Foundation, Charity Commission for England and Wales Registered, No. 1080731

Companies House Registered: 37 St. Margarets Street, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2TU, UK, No. 3830136

Diversity Excursions Ltd., Registered: 37 St. Margarets Street, Canterbury, Kent CT1 2TU, UK, No. 3924051