UAB delegates visit Marrakesh and foster collaborations with Morocco
The visit took place from 18 to 21 June to Marrakesh and the Zat Valley in the High Atlas Mountains, as part of the European project Geoparks, led by the UAB Department of Geology.
The visit to Morocco served to show the UAB's involvement in projects in which the university seeks to position itself as a pioneering centre in international cooperation from a European perspective, especially in the north of Africa, a region in which the UAB traditionally has had a large presence and where it aims to conduct more actions in the future.
The UAB delegation, led by Rector Arboix, met with the rector of the Cadi Ayyad University (UCA), a leading institution in Morocco, with the aim of strengthening the collaboration between the two universities. A UCA delegation will be visiting the UAB in the coming months in order to specify joint actions to be taken by the two institutions.
The Geoparks project, which is now in its final phase, has given way to the development of a series of initiatives aimed at studying the potential of the Zat Valley, at the base of the Altas Mountains, as the possible location of a new geopark, created using a European model and endorsed by the UNESCO, but adapting it to the characteristics of this North African region. The studies conducted by the UAB in collaboration with other members of the project's consortium, will allow to set the bases for the possible creation of this Moroccan geopark, the first in this country.