Morocco-Water Stress: WB official calls for complementary policies as outlined in NMD

The water stress faced by Morocco requires the adoption of complementary policies such as those recommended in the New Development Model (NMD), the World Bank Director of Operations for the Maghreb and Malta, Jesko Hentschel, said Wednesday.

“Recent events have shown that technical solutions are no longer sufficient to protect the economy against climate shocks and underline the need to adopt complementary policies, such as those described in the NMD, which would allow to take into account the true value of water resources and encourage more efficient and reasoned uses,” said Hentschel during a roundtable dedicated to the presentation of the Monitoring Report on the economic situation in Morocco – The economic recovery is running dry.

These reforms include pricing scarcer water resources at an appropriate level, developing efficient water allocation mechanisms, such as a tradable quota system, and producing and publishing accurate and detailed data on water resources and their use, the World Bank said in the report, which identifies resilience as a key element for Morocco’s growth and economic stability.

Morocco will therefore need to accompany infrastructure development efforts with water demand management policies that encourage the sustainable, efficient and equitable use of water resources, noted the report, which offers an analysis of the effects of droughts and water scarcity on Morocco’s macroeconomic situation.