Page 10 - Major climate issues Commitments and financing

VIII

Climate change: The three major

n On the eve of COP27, the
draft of the World Bank report

n It proposes concrete and

priority actions to support the
low-carbon and resilient tran-

sition

THE eyes of many officials are
riveted on COP 27, which is being
held this time in Sharm El-Sheikh,
Egypt. An opportunity for the World
Bank to release its latest report on
climate and development in Mo-
rocco. This work is part of the new
series of major diagnostic baseline
reports that integrate climate change
and development considerations.
These documents are intended to
help countries prioritize the most ef-
fective actions to reduce their green-
house gas emissions and boost their
adaptation, while achieving broader
Despite massive investments, the gap between water supply and demand experiences structural deficits in several perimeters. In a longer
development goals. term perspective, reduced water availability and lower agricultural yields could reduce GDP by 6.5% (Ph. AFP)
Everyone will have noticed the
latest global trend: donors have star- n Three priority areas: water stress. Its approach consisted the effectiveness of the infrastruc-
ted to integrate climate issues into The draft has identified three of responding to the challenge of lack ture-based approach. In a longer-term
the development and financing poli- priority areas which are major chal- of water and drought by building ma- perspective, reduced water availabili-
cy. The goal is to be pioneers in the lenges for Morocco. These are the jor infrastructures such as dams. The ty and lower agricultural yields could
greening of the international finan- fight against water scarcity and the idea is to increase its total storage ca- reduce GDP by up to 6.5%. Rain- fed
cial system. In this series of reports, improvement of resilience to floods. pacity and meet drinking water and agriculture is particularly vulnerable
Morocco occupies a prominent The third axis aims to decarbonise irrigation needs. Today, this approach to droughts. It still accounts for 80%
place. It is treated as a pilot country, the economy, by considering a tra- has shown its limits in the face of cli- of the country's cultivated area and
out of around thirty countries world- jectory aiming for carbon neutrality mate change. Despite these massive employs the majority of agricultural
wide, underlines a senior official fa- by 2050. investments, the gap between water workers. Climate-induced changes
miliar with the matter. An issue that Concerning the first axis, Mo- supply and demand registers structu- to this agriculture could lead to the
Rabat will not fail to avail itself of, rocco is on the list of countries in the ral deficits in several perimeters. The rural exodus of 1.9 million people, or

to better position itself at the global world that are the most affected by decline in rainfall has compromised 5.4% of the total population by 2050.
level, on the issues of global war-
ming and environmental protection.
Already, Morocco had hosted the The high cost of floods estimated at more than 4 billion MAD
COP22 in Marrakech and received
the greatest personalities of this THE other focus of the report
world in terms of climate. relates to floods, which represent
Moreover, during his last visit the most frequent climate-related
last September, the Vice-President natural disaster in Morocco. Due to
of the World Bank in charge of the its geographical location, the great
MENA region presented the Mo- variability of rainfall and its topogra-
roccan government with a draft of phy, Morocco is particularly prone
the document. Morocco submitted to flooding. Nearly 20 floods were
its observations and recommenda- thus recorded between 2000 and
tions, and it is this report that will 2021, causing average direct losses
be distributed at COP27. This report estimated at 450 million dollars per
identifies key pathways to reduce year, or more than 4 billion Dirhams.
greenhouse gas emissions and cli- In this area, Morocco has reo-
mate vulnerabilities, including the riented its strategy, moving from a
costs and challenges as well as the post-disaster emergency approach Fight against the Effects of Natural against catastrophic risks, based on
benefits and opportunities of doing to that of prevention, by investing Disasters. This is an innovative me- the coverage of insured households
so. The report proposes concrete and in risk reduction. After the National chanism for co-financing investments through additional premiums re-
priority actions to support the low- Flood Protection Plan of 25 billion aimed at disaster risk reduction. It ceived and managed by private insu-
carbon and resilient transition. DH, it moved to the Fund for the has also set up an insurance scheme rers. o

November-December 2022