Moving from Planning to Action – Setting Priorities In Order to Fast Forward Morocco’s National Adaptation Plan

The National Adaptation Plan (NAP) process in Morocco started in 2016 and is approaching an essential milestone.  While the institutional set-up has been in place for some years, the planning of activities is still ongoing. Similar to other countries the transition from planning to action is one of the most challenging steps – decisions about key focus sectors need to be taken; concrete activities need to be prioritised; climate risks need to be anticipated and forecasted; financial resources need to be mobilised.

Future climate trends in Morocco comprise rising temperatures of 1–1.5°C by 2050 (rate of warming faster in the interior) and a decrease in average precipitation by 10–20 percent across the country, and 30 percent decrease for the Saharan region by 2100. This would lead to an increase in droughts, which would impact the agriculture and fisheries sectors. This in turn would impact the Moroccan economy; as evidenced by the 2016 drought. This was the worst drought in 30 years, reducing crop yields by 70 percent, in part contributing to a deceleration in economic growth of 1.7 percent. In addition, rising sea levels pose a high risk to coastal urban areas and the tourism sector, combined with increases in coastal erosion. What can be done about this?

PlanAdapt, in collaboration with GIZ, supports the Moroccan Government in its efforts that will help to translate planning into action. In particular, PlanAdapt works with the ‘Comité Restreint PNA’ and the Working Group on ‘Adaptation et Vulnérabilité (A/V)’ under the ‘Secrétariat d’Etat Chargé du Développement Durable (SEDD)’. The project will be completed in December 2018.

One of the key elements, apart from the identification and prioritisation of adaptation measures, will be the alignment of the NAP with the Moroccan National Determined Contribution (NDC) to the goals of the UNFCCC ‘Paris Agreement’ and other climate-sensitive national strategies.