Nadia Ait Oufella

Moroccan environmental scientist pioneering Sahara desert restoration

Nadia Ait Oufella (b. 1982) is transforming North Africa's arid landscapes through her innovative Green Sahara Initiative. As a researcher at Rabat's Hassan II University, she discovered drought-resistant crop varieties that thrive in desert conditions. Her 2005 invention of the Solar Water Harvester system captures atmospheric moisture to irrigate crops, now used across 12 Moroccan villages. She co-founded the Sahara Eco-Innovation Lab, which trains 200+ youth annually in sustainable agriculture. Her 2019 book 《Desert Reborn》 became a UNDP reference manual. Ait Oufella's work has turned 150,000+ hectares of degraded land into productive farmland, winning the 2020 Goldman Environmental Prize. She currently leads the Green Berber Belt project to create a 1,000km anti-desertification barrier using native acacia species.