A. Latif Baraka: Heba Press
Morocco has lost significant areas of forest cover over the last two decades, due to human activities and climatic variables, requiring the development of urgent and realistic policies to protect this vital space of life.
Thanks to a recent report published by “Global Forest Watch”, a platform that uses cutting-edge technology to monitor forests on a global scale, it indicates that Morocco’s forests are threatened and are in significant decline.
The report states that Morocco had significant forest cover in 2010, amounting to 381 thousand hectares, equivalent to 98 percent of the country’s total area.
The report adds that Morocco has recently lost 3.51 thousand hectares of forests during the year 2023, due to urban expansion.
In 2000, Morocco had approximately 644,000 hectares of forest cover, equivalent to 1.6 percent of its national land area.
There are perhaps several factors that negatively affect the forest cover, the most important of which is the rapid urban expansion in Morocco. In recent years, important forests have become concrete areas in various Moroccan cities, which calls for the organization of a national debate on this concern, which will have repercussions on the life of the Moroccan citizen in the future.
