Restoring the argan ecosystem: an integrated analysis of degradation drivers, restoration strategies, and implementation gaps

Résumé

The Arganeraie ecosystem ( Argania spinosa L. Skeels), a key ecological, cultural, and socio-economic pillar of Morocco’s Anti-Atlas Mountains and a UNESCO Biosphere Reserve, is facing severe decline characterized by rising mortality and the failure of natural regeneration. This degradation results from the combined effects of climate change, prolonged drought, soil degradation, overgrazing, unsustainable harvesting, and governance challenges. In this context, this review develops a structured analytical framework to assess argan forest degradation aspects and restoration strategies across ecological, technical, and institutional dimensions. It systematically organizes degradation drivers into interacting categories and critically evaluates both traditional and modern interventions in terms of effectiveness, scalability, and ecological trade-offs. Field-based practices, including silvicultural management and soil-water interventions, currently provide the most reliable outcomes for regeneration, while biotechnological approaches offer significant potential for the multiplication of elite genotypes but remain limited. By comparing intervention pathways across performance, feasibility, and long-term sustainability, the review highlights a persistent translational gap between experimental innovation and large-scale implementation. It demonstrates that successful restoration depends on the alignment of ecological processes, technological feasibility, and governance coherence, rather than isolated technical solutions, and provides a basis for more integrated and adaptive restoration strategies under increasing environmental constraints.

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