Abstract
Over the last decades, Morocco has been facing increasingly severe water scarcity. To quantify water use in Morocco, we refer to the water footprint (WF) concept, including both direct and indirect water use. WF considered covers internal WF and exported virtual water (VW). We used the input-output structural decomposition analysis (SDA) to quantitatively analyze the drivers of changes in Morocco’s sectoral WF from 1995 to 2015. The considered mechanisms governing WF changes are the technological, economic system efficiency, and structural effects. The WF growth experienced in Morocco primarily resulted from final demand changes. The technological effect acted as an additional increase factor. Nevertheless, the economic system efficiency effect contributed to the water conservation process. Unfortunately, it was not sufficient to reverse the expansion of Morocco’s WF resulted from other driving factors. Agriculture is the dominant economic sector in WF changes, regardless of any driving factor and any period considered. The study provides insight into Morocco’s water policy limits and helps develop policies towards sustainable water resources planning and management. That is by suggesting that final demand structure adjustment and technological innovation in the agricultural sector should be at the center of Morocco’s strategies in addressing water scarcity.
Highlights
Sustainable water use presents a real challenge for sustainable development in Morocco
This paper addresses the following specific questions: (1) What are the main drivers of water footprint (WF) changes in Morocco over time? What are the most important economic sectors contributing to these changes (3) Are there differences in WF changes among different final demand categories?
The total water use coefficient (TWUC) for one monetary unit of production shown in Table. 1, calculated by multiplying ff by the ll, reflects the water use throughout
Summary
Sustainable water use presents a real challenge for sustainable development in Morocco. To meet the mentioned challenges in terms of the growing water scarcity, the Moroccan government has put emphasis on integrated water resources management in order to ensure a socially and technically efficient allocation of existing resources between the competing consumer groups in a more sustainable way. For this purpose, several initiatives through political and institutional reforms were launched. Several initiatives through political and institutional reforms were launched In this vein, and to improve water resources management, it is highly relevant to examine the impacts of such measures on the water situation
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