On 2 February 2015 the Secretary General of the Moroccan High Commission for Water, Forests and the Fight against Desertification (HCEFLCD) signed a Memorandum of Understanding with the IUCN Centre for Mediterranean Cooperation for the development and implementation of a project to support the conservation and sustainable management of wetlands in Morocco.

The two institutions agreed to set up a permanent joint working group to develop and coordinate the project.

Designed to strengthen the partnership between the two institutions and to mobilize financial and human resources for wetlands in Morocco, the MoU was signed as part of the celebrations of World Wetlands Day. Mr Abdeladim Lhafi, High Commissioner for Water, Forests and the Fight against Desertification, opened the session and delivered a keynote address in which he stressed the importance of wetland ecosystems and Morocco's efforts to protect the services provided by these areas.

Two panels were then held on the economic value of wetland ecosystem services, in which IUCN-Med participated together with several of its partners, including the Society for Protection of Animals and Nature (SPANA), GREPOM, BirdLife, the Association of Life and Earth Science Teachers (AESVT) and the Ministry of Tourism.

The agreement signed between HCEFLCD and IUCN-Med was one of four agreements signed with HCEFLCD on 2 February. Other agreements were also signed with the Regional Nature Parks Federation of France, the Ministry of Tourism of Morocco, the German International Development Corporation (GIZ) and two small-scale fishing cooperatives. Early in the afternoon, a visit was organized to the Bin El Ouidane dam, during which participants viewed the landscape around the reservoir and listened to presentations about the conservation action plan and the recovery of wetlands at a regional level.

The activities took place in the region of Ben El Ouidane, near the town of Beni Mellal in the High Atlas.
This MoU falls within the general Collaboration Framework signed by the two institutions in 2013.

For further information: Maher Mahjoub

Photo: The cooperation agreement being signed by the Secretary General of the High Commission for Water, Forests and the Fight against Desertification, Abderrahim Houmy, and the Director of IUCN-Med, Antonio Troya. © IUCN