These conditions have caused the Moulouya River, one of Morocco’s biggest rivers, to dry up to the point that it can no longer flow to the Mediterranean Sea.
The largest water basin in the Kingdom, the Sebou basin in the Gharb region, and the Draa Valley in the south of the nation have also seen their water levels drop.
Environmental experts have warned that the drying up of rivers and valleys will result in the loss of fish and agricultural richness in certain regions of Morocco.
Environmental specialists blamed overlapping variables, such as environmental, water, and climatic systems, for the issue of water depletion and the drying up of rivers and valleys as a result of repeated years of drought and water shortages caused by climatic variations in our planet.
The Inaoun River, which contained a number of water sources in the Taounate (north of the country), Taza (east of the country), and Sebou Basin, was used as an example by these experts. Its flow ceased for the first time in more than 40 years.
According to experts, farmers suffered significant material losses as a result of the loss of summer harvests due to the depletion of Inaoun, which originates from the Atlas Mountains in the province of Taza.
drought problem
Researcher Dr. Mustafa Abaa, a specialist in biodiversity, president of the Moroccan Continental Fish Breeding Association, and coordinator of the Sustainable Agriculture and Food Security Committee in the Climate Action Network in the Arab World, stated that Morocco has experienced a string of droughts for the past three years with regard to the issue of drying rivers. Due to the absence of rainfall, this caused several water basins to be exposed to drought at the level of the Kingdoms’ regions.
According to the report (Observatory Economic Status for Morocco 2022), completed by the World Bank Group, the real volume of water held in the nation’s major dams has fallen over the majority of the previous ten years.
Specifically in the southern regions, the high mountains, and the foothills of the southeast, he warned that the occurrence of weak rainy seasons on a more frequent basis could cause the drought to become one of Morocco’s environmental challenges and have a significant long-term impact on the water levels of rivers and valleys at the level of water basins.
The threat of extinction for fisheries living in these aquatic ecosystems, including rare species that live in the waters of continental waters, is one of the effects of the dramatic decline in the water level of the water basins, which followed the lack of snow and rain in recent years and the over-exploitation of surface and ground water in intensive and irrational irrigation and agricultural activities. Particularly in the lakes and rivers of Morocco’s High Atlas Mountains.
campaigns for education
According to environmental researcher Youssef El-Kamri, who focuses on sustainable development and the environment, the succession of dry years, combined with overuse of surface and ground water for agricultural purposes, caused lakes and rivers in the southern and central regions of Morocco to disappear or have unusually low water levels.
The aforementioned causes also had an impact on dams, valleys, Morocco, the Middle Atlas Mountains, and other places.
Al-Kamri urged stepping up awareness campaigns for farmers about the significance of modifying the irrigation pattern now used, switching to other crops with higher returns, and promoting crops that are climate change-adapted.
He also emphasised the importance of including water users in the various management processes for this essential resource, calling for their support through policies and programmes for water use management, whether for domestic, agricultural, or industrial uses that encourage sustainable, efficient, and equitable water resources.
Especially the Moroccan rivers’ drying up Several factors and worst-case scenarios
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