WMOD00318

• Title: A Cooperative Project Between the Kingdom of Morocco and the United States
• Date: 9/1/1989
• Country: United States, Morocco
• Weather Modification - Doc Type: Report

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modification projects. Following receipt of this request for assistance with Programme Al Ghait,
USAID turned to the National Academy of Science (NAS) for advice on how to proceed. The NAS
convened a meeting of experts on weather modification in Washington, D.C., in August 1983 to
consider how the U.S. Government (USG) should respond to requests from foreign governments
for assistance with weather modification projects. The NAS provided a cautious assessment of the
possibilities for success in such projects, but did not rule out entirely the chance of a useful result.
The request was then cleared by the National Security Council.

With support from USAID under a Participating Agency Service Agreement (PASA) with the u.s.
Bureau of Reclamation (Reclamation), a team of four American scientists led by Dr. Bernard
Silverman of Reclamation visited Morocco in November 1983 to investigate the possibilities for
cloud seeding in that country. After a thorough review of the facilities and evaluation of the
potential for weather modification in Morocco, the team prepared a "Weather Modification
Assessment for the Kingdom of Morocco" (Silverman et aI., 1983); they concluded that a winter
cloud seeding demonstration program over a portion of the High Atlas Mountains appeared
worthwhile. On the basis of the assessment, negotiations went forward for continued Reclamation
participation in Programme Al Ghait.

In May 1984 the Kingdom of Morocco, acting through its Ministry of Transportation (the parent
agency of DMN), and the United States of America, acting through USAID, signed a Project Grant
Agreement for a multiyear winter snowpack augmentation project in Morocco. The agreement
provided six million dollars ($6,000,000) in USAID funds and a matching amount from the GOM
in services, personnel, and materials for the execution of a winter cloud seeding demonstration
project in the High Atlas Mountains.

USAID implemented the project through a second PASA with Reclamation. Under the terms of
the P ASA, Reclamation provided overall scientific management and administered USAID's
$6,000,000 program. In partial fulfillment of the requirement to provide scientific management,
Dr. David Matthews was stationed in Casablanca, Morocco, as a Resident Scientific Advisor (RSA)
from August 1984 through August 1988 to coordinate the technical assistance effort. In addition,
modern meteorological and communications equipment, as well as technical training in how to use
and maintain the equipment, was provided under the program. The program also included training
for Moroccan meteorologists in the technology of weather modification and collaboration between
Reclamation and GOM scientists on the project evaluation. The first operational field season began
in November 1984, and operations have continually become more technically sophisticated and
extensive.

1.4 Goal and Objectives of Programme AI Ghait

With the signing of the Project Grant Agreement, Programme Al Ghait became a joint project
between the United States and Morocco, with the goal to increase manageable water resources in
Morocco through the implementation of a scientifically based weather modification project on a
demonstration basis. The purpose of the project was to assist the development within the GOM
of an ability to design, plan, implement, monitor, and evaluate scientifically based weather
modification programs in Morocco (Lintner and Silverman, 1984).

In late April and early May 1985, an external evaluation of the project was conducted by a team
of three U.S. experts in weather modification from outside Reclamation. One of the key findings