HIBAPRESS-RABAT
The Agency for Agricultural Development (ADA) has just successfully obtained its second re-accreditation from the Adaptation Fund (FA). This act of renewal of trust constitutes an effective and solemn recognition of the continuous efforts made by the Department of Agriculture to contribute to the sustainability of the Moroccan agricultural sector and to meet the climate challenges that are becoming increasingly pressing.
The Adaptation Fund, established under the Kyoto Protocol of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), finances projects and programs aimed at strengthening the resilience of the most vulnerable communities to climate change. To be eligible for these funds, each entity must demonstrate its ability to manage projects transparently and efficiently, ensuring good governance, risk management and compliance with international environmental and social safeguard standards. A challenge taken up by the ADA, which earned it the merit of this renewal for a second time. Thanks to this new accreditation, the ADA is now able to mobilize additional funding to develop, in collaboration with the various actors in the agricultural sector as well as with other ministerial departments, new innovative projects in the fields of climate adaptation.
As a reminder, the ADA accreditation in 2012 raised USD 9.97 million in the form of a donation, in favor of oasis populations, in order to finance the Project for Adaptation to Climate Change in Oasis Areas (PACCZO). Launched in 2015, the PACCZO has enabled the strengthening of the resilience of 40,000 beneficiaries, 50% of whom are women and young people, in the Gheris Intermediate and Maïder basins. Recognized as a model project on a national scale and by the FA, the PACCZO has enabled the construction of 60 séguias over a length of 21 km, the rehabilitation of 49 khettaras over a length of 8,800 linear meters, the establishment of 7 artificial groundwater recharge structures, as well as the construction of 25 protective walls, etc. In addition, it supported 45 innovative economic projects in key areas such as agriculture, access to drinking water, the environment, crafts and tourism.
This re-accreditation comes at a crucial time for Morocco, which is increasingly experiencing the effects of water stress and the scarcity of water resources. Thanks to renewed access to FA funding, the Department of Agriculture has an additional asset to help address these challenges and support Moroccan small farmers towards a more resilient future.
