Morocco and the Netherlands: innovative and sustainable partners in water
Both Morocco and the Netherlands face water issues such as increasingly frequent and severe droughts and water shortages. And both countries are striving to improve the efficiency of water use in agriculture and energy.
Water is part of our everyday lives. It supports and sustains us at home and at work, although we often take it for granted. However, climate change poses a wide range of risks to our existence and many of these risks involve too much, too little and too dirty water.
This digital mission aims to bring together representatives from both public and private organisations in Morocco and the Netherlands to discuss common challenges and how we can collaborate on the implementation of integrated approaches to the development, management and use of water resources. Together we can find solutions to save water and recycle wastewater as a resource, now and in the future.
The mission specifically focuses on:
- 1. Integrated management of water resources and circular economy
- 2. Infrastructure and prevention of natural risks
- 3. Water and agriculture, adaptation to climate change
National Water Plan
Morocco’s relatively arid climate means there are few natural sources of this precious resource. Extreme droughts in recent years threaten food production and cause soil salinisation. This negatively impacts crop irrigation and energy generation. Morocco has set out its ambitions to tackle these water challenges in its National Water Plan (2020-2050), and to achieve it, could benefit from the expertise of the Dutch water sector.
As a densely populated low-lying deltaic region with a history of floods and, more recently, droughts, the Netherlands has learned to use the force of water to its advantage. This has given rise to the Netherlands’ triple helix approach involving collaboration between government, businesses and knowledge institutes. It has also resulted in extensive delta technology knowledge on successful climate adaptation and transition to circular economy principles in the water sector. The Netherlands is eager to cooperate and share its knowledge and expertise to improve water quality and management with Morocco.
Integrated water management
The Dutch water sector already has experience of sharing its innovative integrated water management knowledge and technology with Morocco. In recent years, the Netherlands has assisted Morocco by:
- providing training at government-level;
- carrying out expert missions in response to sudden floods;
- organising missions to the Netherlands to expose the best practices related to the collection and reuse of rainwater;
- suppling Dutch water technology for use in agriculture and horticulture.
The Netherlands is committed to addressing these challenges in close cooperation with its international partners. Let’s make Morocco and the Netherlands innovative and sustainable partners in water!
