Who gains from saving nature
Ledger 1 : 33 — For each dollar financing nature-based solutions in 2023, about $33 financed activities harmful to nature. (UNEP)
Cases / Genetic resources and benefit-sharing · Morocco · 2019–2025

Intermediaries take over Morocco's argan oil trade as drought cuts output

Short record: the main facts, with sources. A full case file has not been prepared.

Nature's voice · report
No measurement of the harm done to me here is on record.
Did nature suffer? Not measured.
Not on record
  • The record does not name which of my species, waters, soils or forests were harmed.
What the record lacks: 4 none on record · 1 not measured See the gaps

A 2023 Human Ecology study reported that intermediaries have taken over Morocco's argan oil trade, and drought has cut argan output by 51%. For nature, the stake is the argan trees and the cooperatives that depend on them.

What?
Intermediaries have taken over the argan oil trade in Morocco, a 2023 Human Ecology study reported. Human Ecology
Where?
Morocco's argan-growing areas; the brand is produced in Israel Hespress English
When?
Output figures cover 2019–2025; the study is dated 2023; the revenue figure is for 2024. SNRT News
Who?
Gained
  • Intermediaries (not named) — control of the argan oil trade Human Ecology
  • MoroccanOil — USD 60.6 million revenue in 2024, per Hespress English Hespress English
Lost
  • Argan cooperatives — compete with large cosmetics firms for raw material; argan output fell 51% in drought SNRT News
Harmed
None on record
Why?
Not stated in the sources reviewed.
How?
Intermediaries capture value in the trade; a brand built on Moroccan argan is produced in Israel. Human Ecology
6 of 6 questions answered from the record

What happened

The record, in order.

Human Ecology (2023) reported that intermediaries have taken over the argan oil trade in Morocco.

SNRT News reported that argan output fell 51% in drought between 2019 and 2025, as cooperatives competed with large cosmetics firms for raw material; it counted 4,525 cooperatives.

Hespress English reported in May 2024 that the Israeli brand MoroccanOil earned USD 60.6 million in 2024, and that roughly 20,000 argan trees grow in Israel.

    In court and with insurers

    Every proceeding and every insurer decision on record.

    Lawsuits and rulings

    No court case on record. No court has ruled on this case.

    Insurers

    No insurer decision on record.

    What we don't know

    Undisclosed, unproven, untried: recorded as data.

    Nature

    • Not measured Harm to nature: The record holds no measurement of harm to nature.

    Record

    • None on record Hespress's headline gives the business as USD 62 million; its text gives USD 60.6 million for 2024.
    • None on record No benefit-sharing arrangement with Amazigh women's cooperatives was found in the sources reviewed.
    • None on record The intermediaries are not named in the sources reviewed.
    • None on record The share of trade value that reaches cooperatives is not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Did the harm stop?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Who paid?

    Not stated in the sources reviewed.

    Sources

    Voices on record: — Company or project— Government and regulators— Courts✓ Press and investigations— Communities and civil society✓ Researchers

    Press and investigations

    Researchers

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    Related matters, and cases linked to this one through the same organisations, with the role each played in both.
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