The Kingdom of Morocco is acutely vulnerable to climate change and is prone to environmental constraints (water scarcity, land degradation, energy dependence, pollution, natural resource depletion). These increasing pressures are a catalyst for rural migration, further straining urban areas and their limited capacities and resources. Sixty one percent of Moroccans live in urban areas. Eight cities have a population of over 500,000 people, compared to three in 1985. It is expected that two thirds of Morocco’s population will be living in cities by 2020. Morocco’s economic and social development policies have been challenged to create jobs and reduce social and spatial disparities. Given these combined environmental and socio-economic factors, a paradigm shift is required to develop a sustainable and inclusive economy driven by the private sector and civil society. Key challenges are thus to foster inclusive green growth that addresses these risks and issues by creating an enabling environment for investment in environmental goods and services and unlocking financing to support Morocco’s transformation to a green economy.

The National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) is a policy framework adopted by the government in June 2017. It encompasses the vision stated in the National Charter for the Environment and Sustainable Development (CNEDD), and incorporates the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs), Nationally Determined Contributions (NDCs), and Nationally Appropriate Mitigation Actions (NAMAs), as well as the Government of Morocco (GoM’s) recently adopted vision for advanced regionalization. The NSDS is a low-carbon development strategy that aims to coordinate the related objectives of all sectorial strategies and action plans. The agriculture, energy (including transportation), industrial processes, and waste (both solid and liquid) sectors together account for the largest sources of GHG emissions. The NDCs specify an unconditional mitigation target of a 17% reduction in GHG emissions by 2030 compared to a BAU scenario.

Additionally, both rural and urban development issues are emphasized in the NSDS, with a focus on conceptualizing territories as sustainable ecosystems. The NSDS prioritizes environmentally sensitive regions, and improving design, coordination and implementation of territorial interventions and rural-urban linkages. These examples provide a strong foundation for the GGGI Morocco country program, which encompasses green territorial development, the circular and social solidarity economy, and localizing the NSDS.

On November 23, 2015, the government of the Kingdom of Morocco and GGGI organized a partnership inception workshop and began collaborative work with a scoping analysis identifying areas for green growth in the priority sectors of water, waste, energy and agriculture. As a result of this scoping study, the focus of GGGI’s work in Morocco is to support the implementation of Morocco’s National Sustainable Development Strategy (NSDS) and the development of the country’s green territories policy. GGGI is now in the process of finalizing its five-year Country Planning Framework (CPF) in close concertation with Morocco’s key institutional and in-country partners.
On October 24, 2017, during a workshop designed to deliver sustainable development at sub-national level, the Kingdom of Morocco and GGGI signed a Memorandum of Understanding to further strengthen cooperation between the two institutions.

PROJECT OUTPUTS FOR 2018

Two green city and territory implementation projects designed
National trainings on implementation of green cities development and financing green cities
Regional knowledge exchange on green cities development

PROJECT OUTCOMES FOR 2018

Government of Morocco (GoM) or relevant financier leverage finance for green city territorial projects

GGGI supports the Government of Morocco (GoM) in the creation of a model, low-carbon city by developing methodologies, action plans and implementation tools to establish green and socially inclusive cities and territories, and designing green territory projects for financing and implementation. The impact will be to fulfill part of Morocco’s NDC no. 9 which is to develop a model, low-carbon city centered on optimized energy, transport and waste management. To develop green territories, GGGI provides technical assistance to the GoM to improve energy efficiency, sustainable mobility and transportation, increase the rate of recycled materials through sorting-recycling-recovery in order to develop waste-to-resource and waste-to-energy opportunities, and increase the volume of wastewater treatment and reuse . Consequently, local capacities and data collection and analysis, will be strengthened and knowledge on green city development will be increased.