ANEF launches the update of the national study on protected areas in Morocco: An essential milestone for the preservation and management of national biodiversity

HIBAPRESS-RABAT
The National Agency for Water and Forests (ANEF) organized, on Thursday April 25, 2024, the workshop to launch the update of the national study on protected areas in Morocco. This update is of great importance since it will make it possible to update the various data on the protected areas of Morocco and the rich biodiversity they host. This initiative is part of the “Forests of Morocco 2020-2030” strategy, launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI on February 13, 2020.
This update also comes in response to the new objectives of the post-2020 Global Biodiversity Framework (GBF) which were adopted at COP15 of the Convention on Biological Biodiversity. Among the ambitious objectives retained, some are to be achieved by 2030, including in particular:
– Conserve at least 30% of terrestrial and marine areas through protected area systems and other effective area-based conservation measures;
– Restore at least 30% of degraded freshwater, marine and terrestrial ecosystems.
The updating of the national study on protected areas in Morocco is carried out within the framework of the “Ghabati Hayati” program, financed by the AFD and benefits from technical assistance from Expertise France. It aims to improve the management of biodiversity and support an integrated approach to the development of the network of protected areas for the next decade. It will be based on broad consultation and capitalizing on the experiences acquired by the various actors involved over recent years.
As a reminder, the national study of protected areas was carried out in 1994. It made it possible to characterize the natural ecosystems as well as the fauna and flora and to identify a network of 154 Sites of Biological and Ecological Interest (SIBE) covering an area of more than 2.5 million hectares representative of the various Moroccan natural ecosystems. The update of the study, which takes place thirty years later, is launched by ANEF with the main objectives of:
– Update the state of conservation of identified sites and their biodiversity;
– Identify new priority sites for conservation in response to new national and international challenges;
– Include new conservation challenges such as the representativeness of ecosystems, connectivity and the protection of rare and threatened species, as well as the ecological integrity of natural ecosystems;
– Propose new methods of managing protected areas that take into account new conservation priorities and the socio-economic context.
The updated network of protected areas will constitute a new framework for mobilizing technical and financial partnerships, as well as the scientific and technical community, for dynamic monitoring of biodiversity and adaptive management of natural ecosystems.