Global changes profoundly impact forest ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. Barbary Macaques (Macaca Sylvanus) is specialized to forest habitats, with 75% of the population inhabiting in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco. In this region, the important transformations in the agrarian systems with the emergence of irrigated orchards at the border of forest have raised conflicts between humans and macaques. We hypothesize that recurring droughts and overgrazing by sheep may diminish the viability of Barbary macaque populations due to a decrease in available food resources. Additionally, we expect that increased incursions into orchards may be driven by dwindling resources in the forest. On the human side, the emergence of the orchards was driven by a, necessary, desire of economic development, but had adverse consequences. The overexploitation of resources and unsuitable crops lead to an ecological, social and economic situation of concern reducing significantly the resources for everyone, especially water, in a context of drought and global warming. This phenomenon can be analyzed within the framework of the Plantationocene (Tsing and Haraway, 2014) describing the significant influence of large-scale plantation agriculture on human societies and landscapes, driven by the exploitation of humans, non-humans and resources through colonialism and capitalism.

Global changes profoundly impact forest ecosystems and the ecosystem services they provide. Barbary Macaques (Macaca Sylvanus) is specialized to forest habitats, with 75% of the population inhabiting in the Middle Atlas Mountains of Morocco. In this region, the important transformations in the agrarian systems with the emergence of irrigated orchards at the border of forest have raised conflicts between humans and macaques. We hypothesize that recurring droughts and overgrazing by sheep may diminish the viability of Barbary macaque populations due to a decrease in available food resources. Additionally, we expect that increased incursions into orchards may be driven by dwindling resources in the forest. On the human side, the emergence of the orchards was driven by a, necessary, desire of economic development, but had adverse consequences. The overexploitation of resources and unsuitable crops lead to an ecological, social and economic situation of concern reducing significantly the resources for everyone, especially water, in a context of drought and global warming. This phenomenon can be analyzed within the framework of the Plantationocene (Tsing and Haraway, 2014) describing the significant influence of large-scale plantation agriculture on human societies and landscapes, driven by the exploitation of humans, non-humans and resources through colonialism and capitalism.