Morocco: Will Climate Change Push People Living In Rural Areas To Migrate?
It has been noted in recent years that the repercussions of climate change in Moroccan villages have caused a lot of victims, after years of drought which led to an unprecedented shortage of water resources. This situation forced many citizens who live in agricultural activities in scattered villages to migrate to cities and metropolitan areas.
The volume of dams in the Kingdom decreased to 26.9 percent until mid-August, compared to 42.1 percent during the same period last year, according to data from the Ministry of Equipment and Water.
A report issued by the World Bank outlined how climate change can affect water availability and crop productivity, predicting that about 13 million people in North Africa will be forced to migrate internally by 2050.
There is no life without water
Environment activists are warning the government of the potential effects of climate change and the impact of water scarcity in particular on the lives of residents in villages and deserts in several regions of the Kingdom.
In this regard, Ahmed Otaleb, a research professor in geography and water issues, says that rural areas, which are the main source of food, today pay a high bill due to climatic changes, and that a significant shortage of water resources has been recorded as a result of the scarcity and irregularity of rainfall. This situation affected the Agricultural or water-dependent activities, and thus the local economy.
In a statement to "Sky News Arabia", Otaleb considered that the environmental factor is the main driver of migration in rural areas and in the southeast of the Kingdom, in particular, noting that the harsh climate and water scarcity are the most prominent manifestations of this factor. According to him, this requires the creation of jobs in these areas by investing in environment-friendly projects that contribute to achieving sustainable development and achieving ecological balance.
The speaker stresses that "human stability in a particular region is mainly related to the availability of water. This requires setting public policies and development plans that invoke the environmental aspect and climate change in order to reach the adaptation of economic activities to the current situation, which is characterized by water scarcity."
The researcher calls for working to encourage agriculture that requires large amounts of water in exchange for preventing intrusive agricultural activities that use water in larger quantities and applying the Water Law articles. This aims to protect water resources from excessive and unreasonable consumption, as well as revitalize natural water sources.
Countrysides turn into urban agglomerations
The dry season, which Morocco has not witnessed for 30 years, with the decline in the availability of water in a number of rural areas in the Kingdom, has affected economic activities, which are a source of livelihood for a large proportion of the population in the rural areas.
Mubarak Tai'i, a professor of rural sociology and development, says that natural factors have always been one of the drivers of migration in Morocco and that human stability or movement has been linked throughout history to sources of water and food.
Tai'i added to Sky News Arabia that in the eighties Morocco witnessed a severe drought that forced many Moroccans within the rural orbit, especially those from the south and east, to migrate in order to settle in another rural or urban area.
The speaker does not expect a migration that Morocco knew 40 years ago, given the evolution of the situation and the dynamism that Moroccan society is currently witnessing, as attention is no longer directed primarily to agricultural activity in most villages several of which have turned into urban communities.
Tai'i stresses that "No matter how severe the situation in the rural world is, and no matter how threatening migration to cities is to the balance in the Moroccan countryside, he excludes the disappearance of villages in the Kingdom, whose agricultural sector is one of the main pillars of its economy." He calls for developing urgent plans to meet the challenges in rural areas. This requires the search for productive alternatives that fit the new climatic conditions and contribute to reducing the spatial and social differences between the rural world and the cities.
