IRES Track 1: US-Morocco Collaborative Research for Socially and Environmentally Sustainable Women's Argan Oil Production

University Of South Florida, Tampa FL

Investigators

Abstract

Population growth and changing climates have made it difficult to ensure equitable access to food, water, and economic security across the globe, particularly for women and vulnerable communities. In southern Morocco, rural women engage in the production of argan oil that is extracted from the nuts of an indigenous tree. As both an edible and cosmetic product in high demand on the world market, argan provides a source of food and income to local communities and benefits the environment by conserving argan trees that prevent erosion and desertification. Through an interdisciplinary field school over three summers, U.S. students will conduct research with Moroccan faculty and students to investigate environmental and socioeconomic aspects of women’s argan production. This project provides professional development opportunities for 18 U.S. students in undergraduate and graduate programs in Environmental Engineering and Systems and Anthropology at UC Merced and USF. USF and UC Merced have partnered with Dar Si Hmad for Development, Education and Culture and Université Ibn Zohr in Agadir, Morocco to provide international research experience for students. The skills and experience students gain through this project will be applicable to other food and livelihood systems in the United States and throughout the world. The overall goal of this collaborative USF-UC Merced IRES project is to train an interdisciplinary workforce to research and design socially and environmentally sustainable and equitable systems. Specific objectives of USF-UC Merced IRES are to: (1) Provide interdisciplinary summer research opportunities between environmental engineers and scientists and anthropologists, (2) Educate students in environmental and social life cycle assessment (E-LCA and S-LCA) and thinking to better design systems, (3) Train students in household livelihood systems approaches and ethnographic and qualitative research methods, (4) Exchange research findings with host communities and partner institutions to improve the environmental sustainability and socioeconomic benefits of argan oil production as a model for other food systems, (5) Increase the amount of underrepresented minorities, women, and lower income students that participate in international research and improve the long-term global competency of the U.S. workforce, and (6) Strengthen collaboration between the United States and international institutions in Morocco. This award reflects NSF's statutory mission and has been deemed worthy of support through evaluation using the Foundation's intellectual merit and broader impacts review criteria.