World Water Day: Morocco Delivers Hassan II Great World Water Prize

Rabat – Hamed Diané Seméga, the High Commissioner of Organization for the Development of the Senegal River (OMVS) is the seventh person to have won the annual Hassan II Great World Water Prize.

Morocco’s Minister of Equipment and Water Nizar Baraka presented the award to Diané Seméga on March 21 on the sidelines of the ninth World Water Forum in Dakar.

Headed by Baraka, the prize’s jury chose OMVS as the award recipient because of its commitment to water security and sustainable development, and food security in Mali, Mauritania, and Senegal.

Co-funded by Morocco and the World Water Council in 2000, Hassan II Great World Water Prize is awarded every three years during the World Water Forum opening ceremony to celebrate projects work on water security and sustainable management of water resources.

King Mohammed VI increased the prize’s value from $100,000 to $500,000, for this year’s awards

Baraka is also heading the Moroccan delegation to World Water Forum In Dakar which will participate in numerous meetings and ministerial conferences from March 21 to 26.

On March 24, the Moroccan delegation will organize a plenary under the theme, “Strengthening Rural Development.”

The forum provides Baraka with the opportunity to hold bilateral meetings and start conversations between participants that address water-related issues.

This year marks the first time the forum has been hosted by a sub-Saharan country, Senegal. The region faces serious water scarcity and climate change challenges threatening the livelihood of the people and biodiversity. In 2019, the UN reported that only 24% of sub-Saharan Africans had access to safe drinking water.

Morocco is also no stranger to water scarcity problems and the north African kingdom has suffered extreme water stress, Baraka said earlier this month.

Due to poor rainfall, there was a significant decline in dam filling rates from 62% in 2018 to 12.7% in 2022. Climate change further exacerbates the situation as 108 billion cubic meters of precipitation evaporates.

Lack of rainfall could lead to a 30% annual loss in water resources by 2050 in Morocco,