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Join on Telegram Rabat – Presenting the results of its recent climate resilience program, the World Bank (WB) says that Morocco is among countries with a high level of exposure to climate disaster.
Climate-induced disasters including floods, earthquakes, and drought currently cost Morocco more than half a billion every year, notes a new report from the WB. As the world descends into the fallout of climate change, Morocco is set to experience more severe adverse weather events at a higher frequency, the report says.
In a report published earlier this year, the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) lamented that, much like other countries, Morocco is already experiencing the fallout of climate change.
Unless the government swiftly moves to adopt climate mitigation policies, Morocco is on the path to losing 3% of its GDP by 2050, the IPCC report warned, adding that the North African country would be especially vulnerable to severe episodes of droughts, resulting in lower agriculture production, and water scarcity.
Morocco’s foothill regions including cities like Marrakech, Casablanca, the Safi coast, and south of Agadir, are expected to be exposed to a decline in water reserves and crop productivity, according to converging research results.
Climate change would especially affect Morocco’s water resources as surface water resources are set to shrink by about 10-63% by 2050, indicates the IPCC report.
In addition to the direct effect on the country’s biodiversity and economy, research suggests that in the best-case scenarios, 10% of Morocco’s population would fall victim to climate migration, while in a worst-case scenario that figure could increase to more than half the population.
Morocco’s long coastlines are also vulnerable to rising sea levels, putting ecological habitats and economic and touristic activities in grave peril. Low-lying land in northern Morocco is especially at risk of flooding, the World Bank says in a 2021 publication.
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