The Imouzzer Kandar plateau, located in the Middle Atlas of Morocco, has experienced significant land use changes over the past decades, characterized by the expansion of agricultural lands and the regression of forests and wetlands. This study aimed to detect these changes and assess their impact on the wetlands of the Imouzzer Kandar plateau. To achieve this, three Landsat satellite images from 1984, 1998, and 2018 were analyzed using the diachronic method, employing a supervised classification with the Nearest Neighbour Classifier within a Geographic Information System (GIS) framework. The classification accuracy for the three dates reached 92%, providing reliable and actionable insights. Over the 34-year period, approximately 44% of the study area, equivalent to 32,097 hectares, underwent land use changes. The confusion matrix revealed a substantial increase in agricultural and rangeland areas, coupled with a decrease in forest cover and lake area within the Dayet Aoua watershed. Most wetlands, approximately 152.37 hectares, have been converted into rangeland. The analysis further highlighted the irreversible expansion of agricultural land at the expense of areas of wetlands, with 33.34% of this expansion, about 88.20 hectares, being replaced by water-intensive agriculture.

In the Middle Atlas region of Morocco, the expansion of irrigated agriculture has led to escalating pressure on groundwater resources, particularly in the Dayet Aoua watersheda zone experiencing both hydrological vulnerability and socio-economic transformation. This study explored how well-owning farmers perceive and manage groundwater in a context marked by increasing resource scarcity, institutional gaps, and climate variability. Based on a structured survey of 80 farmers and supported by statistical analysis, including chi-square tests, the research examined the technical characteristics of wells, water use practices, and farmers’ awareness of groundwater over-exploitation. The findings reveal a significant disconnect between widespread recognition of groundwater as a limited resource (over 90%) and the persistence of unsustainable extraction behaviours, driven by economic dependence, energy subsidies, and the absence of regulatory enforcement. Furthermore, the study identifies socio-technical inequalities in access to groundwater infrastructure and highlights the influence of infrastructure type on farmers' perceptions. The results underscore the need for integrated, participatory groundwater governance that accounts for local knowledge, institutional shortcomings, and differentiated user capacities. By linking perceptions to practice, this study contributes to the broader discourse on sustainable water resource management in semi-arid agricultural systems.