Mondouri, head of the Moroccan Environment Ministry's desertification program, was standing in a Royal Gazelle Reserve about 25 miles (40 kilometers) outside of Marrakech. The hill was green with cacti and eucalyptus trees, among which about 140 gazelles grazed. The surrounding hills remained fallow, their oxidized rust-colored earth groomed for a planting that may never come. Farmers in this region have all but given up growing crops in one of the worst droughts ever to hit the area; it has not rained here in more than three years.

"Once there were sugar cane fields here and we used to export sugar cane. Now it's semi-desert, all arid," said Mondouri. But around the small villages scattered across the arid plains and nestled in the hills are green patches: cacti. These cacti, introduced by the Environment Ministry under Mondouri's program 15 years ago, have helped to save the cattle-and the people-from thirst and starvation for the past three years.

"We used to just give it to the cattle during the dry season," said Thami Hadduchi, 42, who owns 100 sheep and two cows in Mhazil Oulad Salh, a village of just 100 families not far from the reserve. "But for the past few years it is the only thing that we can feed them. Hay would be cheaper, but without the nutrients in the cacti they would die."

Mohammed Lighe, 70, has lived in Mhazil Oulad Salh all of his life, his eight children born to six wives. "Without the cacti my cattle would have died years ago," he said. Lighe owns 15 sheep. "In droughts past there was no other option; you just watched your cattle, and livelihood, die."

But cacti and eucalyptus, two of the most popular plants used by the ministry, are not the only two drought-resistant plants. East of Marrakech, on the road to Agadir, the hills are spotted with argon trees. These trees produce nuts that can be pressed into oil; the remnant of the nut is then fed to cattle. Their wood is smoothed and formed into a range of products, from large cabinets to tiny bowls.

These products not only fill local houses but are also sold in the Essaouira markets, where tourists flock to the beaches of this ancient city. Next to the old walls of the Medina, where the Portuguese once fought off pirates and later where Margaret Thatcher was born, stands and shops are filled with items made from the argon wood.

"The argon wood is very important to the region," said Mohamed Bouaichi, chief engineer for the region from the Ministry of Water and Forests. "It is a huge source of income for the people--that and the argon oil."

In the town of Tamanar, up the coast from Essaouira, a cooperative of women has been set up to produce oil, not only for cooking and cattle feed, but for cosmetic uses as well. Their products have become so popular that they have begun to export them to France, Italy, Germany, Spain and Canada.

"At first the men of the town didn't like the idea of the women working," said Amina Edel Cadi, 26, President of the Amal Argan Oil Cooperative. Edel Cadi said she is divorced and that if it weren't for this cooperative she would have been forced to move to a city to find work to support herself and her 5-year-old daughter. "But now they see it as a source of income without which the town's economy might have collapsed at the beginning of the drought."

The desert trees also provide other sources of income farther south. Outside of Agadir, research laboratories are exploring new medical and cosmetic uses for the plants.

Morocco is effectively split into three zones: the semi-humid northern part, a semi-arid middle where Marrakech is located, and an arid southern area dominated by the Sahara. While rain has never been plentiful in the area around Marrakech, it has never been so parched as it is now.

"Since we've been recording rainfall--I'm not talking about glacial research; I mean Moroccans with their own eyes over the past 200 300 years-there has been a drying out of our country. This is climate change," said Mondouri, adding: "This is why it is so important for us to show the world when they come here"-for the upcoming seventh conference of the parties to the Framework Convention on Climate Change (COP7)-"the important uses of these desert trees, as well as the importance of fighting the desertification in Morocco."

This, he said, is why he is planning a trip on November 4, open to all COP7 participants, to view some of the plantations. He said participants will get the chance to plant their own tree, labeled with their name, and then climb the hill in the gazelle reserve to see for themselves the striking difference these desert trees can make.

"We hope that some of the developed world will see this and help us to expand the programs," said Mondouri. "We want to change the surface of middle and southern Morocco, so that in five, 10 years time, when people come back, they will no longer recognize Marrakech as an oasis: It will be a city amidst green."