OTED addresses climate adaptation projects at the territorial level
Droughts, desertification, floods… climate change is underway and many territories are already suffering the consequences. The impacts will be increasing and complex as they interact with other social, economic and environmental stressors.
Faced with these upheavals, the adaptation of territories is a major challenge. The latter will suffer the consequences of climate change in different ways depending on their geographical location, pushing many sectors of activity to adapt: agriculture, tourism, industry, buildings and infrastructure.
In this sense, the citizens’ initiative OTED organized, this Thursday, April 14, a webinar which addressed questions on the model of territorial resilience, in which many experts who came to discuss the subject took part, including Quentin Ballin, Head of project team, agriculture, rural development and biodiversity division, French development agency, Mouna Mseffer, journalist and co-author of “Morocco: climate justice, social emergencies”, Doctor Ibrahim Hafidi, director general of the national agency for the development of oasis and argan zones (ANDZOA), Faissal sehbaoui, managing director of AgriEdge, Ahmed Baroudi, managing director of the energy investment company and Nadia Lamili, project manager at OCP Group.
“Each territory is therefore called upon to build its resilience. Resilience refers to the ability of a organization, group or structure to adapt to a changing environment. It is a question of continuing to live with these new climatic conditions by taking decisions and actions both at the level of public policies and of the private sectors and third places. Which solutions require the development of engineering plans specific to each territory because there is rarely a single solution, but a composition, a reorganization and local responses calling on innovation »explained Nadia Lamili, project manager at OCP.
According to Dr Ibrahim Hafidi, each territory is called upon to establish a diagnosis of vulnerability that will allow it to identify the risks linked to climate change and to identify the changes to be made. According to experts, climate risk results from the intersection between the hazard climatic (increase in temperatures, floods, multiplication of events extremes, etc.), the exposure of populations and the vulnerability of the territory.
Regarding the oasis areas, Dr. Hafidi reminded that the volume of public investments in the oasis and argan areas amounted to 105 billion dirhams, exceeding the amount provided for by the development strategy (2012-2020). ) which is 92 billion dirhams. The same source points out that this strategy has made it possible to improve all the socio-economic indicators in the target regions.
He underlined, in this respect, that the programs of the strategy have contributed to the opening up of these geographical areas which represent 35% of the surface of Morocco and which occupies 15% of the total population of the Kingdom, as well as to the improvement in the schooling rate, which has reached 100%, and in the rate of access to drinking water and health services.
For his part, Faissal Sehbaoui, Managing Director of AgriEdge, looked into the phenomenon of drought, particularly in the agricultural sector, affirming that the rational management of water resources is more necessary than ever.
“New technologies that combine digital and artificial intelligence deserve special attention. “Said Faissal Sehbaoui.
“Several digital solutions developed by startups make it possible to rationalize irrigation water in such a way as to provide the right quantity at the right time and thus avoid the waste very common in other irrigation practices. “Incentive policies for the use of digital irrigation management solutions are more than necessary” he believes.
Indeed, adaptation to climate change implies a detailed knowledge of the magnitude of the changes, their nature, their impacts, territories and the role of institutional actors, economic, users, civil society, NGOs…
In this sense, the National Climate Plan (PCN) 2030, produced by the Ministry of Energy, Mines and the Environment, provides for the implementation of Regional Climate Plans (PCR) adapted to the Regionalization policy. In 2020, studies for the development of 7 Regional Climate Plans were launched for the benefit of the regions of Beni Mellal Khenifra, Tangier-Tétouan-Al Hoceima, Casablanca-Settat, Draa-Tafilalet, Oriental, Guelmim-Oued Noun and Laayoune-Sakia EL Hamra. But this vision is not yet sufficiently taken into account in local policies.
The National Climate Plan 2030 calls, as a priority, to ensure the adaptation of key sectors and resources to climate change. “Efforts to adapt to climate change will focus on water resources, the agricultural sector, fisheries resources, sensitive ecosystems, biodiversity and the health and well-being of citizens”, it is indicated in this report.
In terms of mitigation efforts, although Morocco is a low-carbon country, a national low-carbon strategy for Horizon 2050 was carried out in 2021 and provides for a central role for territorial climate plans. ” Due to their proximity to citizens, Regions and cities promote the decompartmentalization of institutional logics, the awareness and mobilization of private actors and citizens, the appropriate consideration of the aspirations of populations and local specificities and vulnerabilities. intrinsic climate change, as well as the participation of citizens, young people and women in the decision-making process and the building of consensus “, we read in this report.
Recall that Morocco is committed to the Low Carbon path through the Determined Contributions at the National Level (CDN) which are at the heart of the Paris Agreement and which embody the efforts made by each country to reduce its national emissions and adapt to the effects of change climatic.
At this level, the Morocco NDC which aims to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by 42% at horizon 2030, was considered in line with the trajectory of reducing global warming of the planet by 1.5°C.
.