Morocco’s Fez to Host Third International Conference on Water, Climate

Rabat – The Moroccan city of Fez will host on July 6-7 the third International Conference on Water and Climate (CIEC), reports and official statements have indicated.

The meeting, co-organized by the Ministry of Equipment and Water, the International Network of Basin Organizations (RIOB), and the World Water Council (CME), is held under the theme of “Basin management: Key to adapting and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.”

The aim is to discuss the implementation of integrated water resources management (GIRE) and to highlight international experiences in meeting the challenges posed by climate instability, according to the organizers.

The event will also be “an opportunity to highlight basin organizations as key players in all aspects of water resource management,” the RIOB said in a press release.

Around 500 participants from various countries are expected to attend the event, which will focus on the following five themes: “innovation and technologies for water saving, groundwater management, water governance, water resources mobilization, and commitments by and for basins,” added the press statement.

These themes are taken from a speech King Mohammed VI gave in October last year on the occasion of the Opening of the Second Legislative Year of the 11th Legislative Term, the organizers noted in the press release, adding that the royal speech highlighted that Morocco accords great importance to water challenges.

The first and second editions of the CIEC were held in the Moroccan capital city of Rabat in 2016 and the French city Marseille in 2017 respectively.

Morocco is on the World Bank’s list of countries with the fewest water resources per capita. The country’s average water resources per capita stood at 645 cubic meters in 2015, much below the global “water poverty line” of 1000 cubic meters.

Data indicate that 88% of the country’s water use is accounted for by agriculture alone.

By 2050, the country’s water supplies are expected to decrease to 500 cubic meters per capita, approaching the international standard for “extreme water scarcity.”

Morocco’s agriculture ministry announced in September 2022 that it is terminating irrigation subsidies on the production of a number of water-intensive crops, including avocado, watermelon, and citrus fruit.

This decision was made in response to mounting worries about the country’s water supplies.

In an effort to address this challenge, the country has placed this issue under a 2020–2050 plan to expand the water systems for home and agricultural usage, for which it has invested MAD 383 billion ($37.6 billion) over 30 years.

The strategy also includes safeguards against hazards to the water supply posed by the environment.