Morocco is situated in North-West Africa, with both Mediterranean and Atlantic seaboards. Over the years, its proximity to Europe and its geostrategic position as a gateway into Africa have made it a cultural and linguistic hub, creating diversity in both its population and its trade. Based on its age-old focus on trade, Morocco has chosen a market economy, opening up to the world outside through free trade agreements and attracting foreign investment.
2.1 Economic situation
Over the last 10 years, Morocco has achieved a satisfactory economic performance, as shown in the graph below. The growth rate has never dropped below 3 per cent,3 despite the international crisis of 2008. The implementation of sectoral strategies coupled with major investment, through continuous voluntarist policies, is bearing fruit. In fact, as a ratio of GDP, the rate of investment continues to exceed 35 per cent. It should be noted that in economic history such figures have only been observed in the East Asian countries (China, the Republic of Korea, etc.).
2PLC 99-12.
3 Nominal GDP (DH billions), at current price (base price1998). Source: High Commission for Planning – National Accounts.
12 Figure 1
Evolution of GDP and economic growth (current price, base price 1998)
Source: High Commission for Planning – National Accounts (Morocco).
Economic growth has, however, remained volatile and inadequate in relation to the demand for jobs, which has resulted in a high unemployment rate, especially among graduates and young people, and has contributed to aggravating the level of poverty. The country’s insufficient economic growth can be attributed to the negative contribution of foreign trade, the fact of the growth of imports significantly outpacing that of exports and by continuing low total factor productivity. On the other hand, however, the acceleration of development creates new challenges such as worsening pollution, increased volume of waste, exacerbation of social differences and problems of governance. The structure of GDP seems to have stabilized with the expansion of the tertiary (services) sector (about 56 per cent) and the continuing very strong contribution of the agricultural sector. Each production sector now has a strategic road map, which improves the visibility of national and international economic operators in the sphere of investment.
The implementation of these strategies has had a positive impact on the sectors concerned, enabling the upper limit of public policies to be set while encouraging private sector investment. These results have been achieved with the help of complete restructuring of the financial sector in the 1990s together with the reforms made to liberalize the economy.
The investment charter of 1995 and the many free trade agreements (European Union, United States, Turkey and the Arab countries) signed in the 2000s signalled the beginning of this move towards openness. Coupled with the sectoral strategies, this charter gives the investors visibility and creates the structure for both these sectors and for entire swathes of the Moroccan economy. The volumes of foreign direct investment increased tenfold between 1996 and 2011. In addition, the changes in the institutional framework with a regional
13 approach and “one-stop shops”, the regional investment centres, designed both to facilitate the creation of new business and to establish the Moroccan investment promotion agency (AMDI), have made a substantial contribution to reinforcing the country’s attractiveness for investors.
However, there are still challenges to be faced. The trade deficit continues to widen, thereby worsening the balance of payments deficit. Morocco is struggling to improve the creation of added value. It continues to export low-priced products (agriculture, phosphates, etc.) while its imports are following the opposite trend. The implementation of an inclusive green economy constitutes an opportunity to create sustainable perceivable value on export markets (organic products, environmentally friendly, fair trade, etc.).
Very little consideration is given in the various sectoral strategies to the goals fixed by the cross-cutting thematic strategies such as all the environmental strategies on biodiversity, climate, water, etc. The sectoral system means that more specific action plans can be formulated, but the integration and overall consistency of public policies are under threat. The quest for synergy and increased convergence is essential if sustainable development in Morocco is not to be compromised.
2.2 Environmental situation
2.2.1 Deterioration of the climate situation
The following maps show the deteriorating climate situation in Morocco. The arid and semi-arid areas have made substantial gains while the semi-humid and wetlands areas have seen a considerable reduction in area. This development has had a visible impact on biodiversity, rainfall, agricultural production and subsequent investments to adapt to these changes. The maps also illustrate the profound differences between regions. Availability of water, for example, is very unevenly distributed across the country.
Figure 2
Evolution of the aridity index
Source: National Meteorological Office (Morocco).
14 Given this situation, the State authorities have implemented investment policies in large and medium-scale water infrastructures in an effort to maintain the development of the agricultural sector, which currently employs almost 43 per cent of the working-age population. However, climate change now poses new challenges in a context of advanced regionalization. How can territorial equity be ensured when geographical and climatic disparities are widening? How can agricultural development and sustainability be combined?
2.2.2 Protection, conservation and rehabilitation of biodiversity
Morocco is home to a rich biodiversity of fauna and flora as well as ecosystems, thereby occupying second place in the Mediterranean region. However, this biodiversity is subject to pressures whose consequence is that almost 600 species of animals are threatened, including 40 per cent of species of arthropods, and also 1,700 species of plants of the 7,000 identified. The chief causes of these various threats are demographic pressure and urbanization, inappropriate agricultural practices, deforestation, overgrazing, pollution, overfishing, transport, mass tourism, fires, poaching and invasive species. Climate change is also affecting the degradation of biodiversity and exacerbating its environmental impact. In fact, decreased rainfall (a decline of 4 per cent between 2000 and 2009) and the greater frequency and increased duration of periods of drought are subjecting ecosystems to various stresses and reducing their productivity.
In response to this situation, Morocco has devised solutions to preserve its biodiversity and reduce the threats hanging over it. In the context of the implementation of the Convention on Biological Diversity (CBD), Morocco has established a national committee on biodiversity, responsible for implementing the convention and acting as the coordinator between the departments and institutions concerned. Secondly, a national strategy and a national action plan for biodiversity have been adopted in response to national conservation needs and the rational and sustainable use of biodiversity. It has become necessary to update the strategy and its action plan to incorporate the new circumstances. The Department of the Environment has prepared a proposal to update the national strategy and a programme of work on biodiversity, covering the period 2011–2020. The total cost of the scheduled actions amounts to $1.527 million, cofinanced by the Global Environment Facility (GEF). Other plans and programmes have been initiated for the protection of biodiversity4.
In addition, a documentation centre and a mechanism to distribute information on national biodiversity have been created, with the support of the United Nations Environment Programme (UNEP). They include an information system on Moroccan biodiversity management and a portal to Moroccan biodiversity; work to update this portal is ongoing.
However, the inventories remain incomplete, an area where much still needs to be done. A number of actors are responsible for biodiversity management: ministerial departments, public, semi-public and private institutions, etc., and to date there has been no coordinated and integrated approach with a genuine vision.
It is not within the scope of this report to present every environment along with its problems. However, we believe it is useful to present some soil-related issues, an environment often overlooked by the State authorities.
4The master plan for the development and management of protected areas; the national plan for watershed management; the master plan for reforestation; the master plan to combat forest fires; the national programme to combat desertification; the Halieutis plan for maritime fishing.
15 Soils and sustainable land management
The soil is a limited resource which must be protected. It plays a number of key roles in the environment: maintaining natural vegetation, drainage, water infiltration, etc. The degradation of soil quality is partly responsible for the decline in agricultural yields, dam siltation and the degradation of the natural landscape. Consequently, soil protection helps to reduce the environmental impact of activities, but this requires a thorough knowledge of the situation. But only an area of 22 million hectares, or 31 per cent of the national territory, has been explored. Such a poor level of knowledge has created a major obstacle to the implementation of large-scale national programmes.
Concerning management instruments, it was found that a series of measures related to environmental protection or to other public policy sectors such as agriculture or rural development is being implemented over scattered areas. This diversity or even conflict in the areas of implementation is compounded by inadequate protection and sustainable management of the land. Consequently, this limits the effectiveness of the measures undertaken to mitigate the environmental impact of activities and the protection of these resources.
2.3 Social situation
Currently, Morocco is undergoing many sociocultural changes and economic transformations which have helped to change its demographic and social dynamic. The following table presents some key socioeconomic indicators.
Table 1
Indicators in the field of the fight against poverty Indicator
Poverty rate (%) 8.8
Per capita GDP (in US dollars) 1546
Per capita GDP growth rate (per cent) 1.55
Unemployment rate (per cent) 10.8
Source: High Commission for Planning (Morocco).
Because of improvements in sanitary conditions and greater access to healthcare, life expectancy now stands at 74.8 years, compared with only 47 years in 1962. Consequently, Morocco is in a much better position to control its human development, because of its advanced demographic transition and a natural growth rate of 1.32 per cent in 2010 compared with 2.7 per in the 1960s as a result of the decline in the birth rate and an improved infant mortality rate.
However, there are still sizeable social issues. The demands made by the youth of the country on 20 February 2011 were unequivocal: an improvement in the standard of living, to be achieved by better access to employment (unemployment rate stabilized at 10 per cent and the informal job sector is estimated by the High Commission for Planning (HCP) at almost 80 per cent of total employment), better distribution of wealth and greater social cohesion.
16 One of the main problems remains the contrast between the growing prosperity of its urban sector and the insecurity of its rural sector. One of the direct consequences of this situation is the upswing in the rural exodus phenomenon; this results, first, in pressure on urban structures which are having difficulty in keeping pace, leading to the emergence of shantytowns and unemployment and, second, a loss of interest in the countryside, which is gradually being stripped of its active population, with its community becoming less and less permanently rooted.
Deciding to reverse this trend, the Moroccan State authorities adopted a historic course in the development of the country. In two decades, the various actions rolled out have actually slowed down the exodus by using three levers to open up the rural sector (accessibility, supply of drinking water and electricity).
Table 2
Indicators related to opening up the rural sector in Morocco
Indicator 1995 2012
Served by a rural road (PNRR 1 & 2) 36 per cent 80 per cent Access to drinking water in the rural sector (PAGER) 14 per cent 92 per cent Access to electricity in the rural sector (PERG) 15 per cent 97.4 per cent Source: Ministry of Equipment and Transport (PNRR), National Office for Water and Electricity (PAGER and PERG).
Nevertheless, still not enough has been done, even though the economic development strategies attempt to incorporate the rural element. According to the High Commission for Planning, 17 per cent of the population lives on an income of less than DH 2,000 and 64 per cent of the population on an income of less than DH 5,000, while 8 per cent of the population has an income in excess of DH 12,000. The relative poverty rate dropped from 21 per cent in 1985 to 9 per cent in 2007, which marks a significant improvement, even if poverty remains very much present in the rural sector, as demonstrated by the following figures.
Table 3
Evolution of the relative poverty rate
1985 1998 2001 2007 2008
Urban 13,3 9,5 7,6 4,8 4,7
Rural 26,9 24,1 25,1 14,5 14,2
Total 21 16,2 15,3 9 8,8
Source: High Commission for Planning (Morocco).