Climate Diplomacy Week
On the occasion of the Climate Diplomacy Week, organised from 14 to 18 November 2022 in the margins of COP27, by the European Union in Morocco, 40 young Moroccans representing the whole territory and areas impacted by climate change, participated́ in a thematic workshop in favour of the climate.
This meeting, organised in close collaboration with the Association of Life and Earth Sciences Teachers (AESVT), was held on 14 November 2022 in Casablanca to draft the «Declaration of young Moroccan leaders in favour of the climate», intended for national and international decision-makers participating in the COP 27 in Sharm El-Sheikh, Egypt.
This Declaration includes the recommendations of these young people in the three main themes of climate change: mitigation, adaptation and the cost of climate change.
The Declaration reads as follows:
Mitigation
- Recognising the value of forest areas for the natural balance by granting the necessary means to develop more green areas and urban forests and improving the quality of the air and the well-being of the inhabitants;
- Opening up more to the world for the transfer of technologies and skills to young people most affected by climate change;
- Valuing the Moroccan scientific research and earmarking funding for projects carried out by young people in areas vulnerable to climate change;
- Promoting renewable energies such as biofuels, geothermal energies, and valuing waste by transforming it into energy;
- Applying the laws and decrees relating to the environment (law 36-15 on water, law 28-00 on waste, etc.) and monitoring their application;
- Strengthening citizenship education to improve the social life, reduce incivilities and foster good consumer practices to create more eco-responsible citizens;
- Quantifying the greenhouse gas emissions of the various economic sectors (industry, agriculture, tourism, etc.);
- Encouraging citizens to use public transport or soft, clean and energy-efficient individual transport whenever possible, such as tramways and trains, providing more bike lanes and organising car-free days, etc.);
- Developing renewable energies and finding suitable alternatives for a fair and equitable energy transition.
Adaptation
- Adopting a mode of agriculture that is resilient to climate change and less demanding in terms of water, such as agro-ecology, and by generalising digitalisation through technology transfer as well as by promoting the cultivation of water-saving plant species;
- Optimising the use of water resources through more modern techniques such as rainwater harvesting, underground diffusers or groundwater recharge;
- Respecting environmental specificities by project carrying countries (external investments);
- Ensuring the planting of local (endemic) species in urban green spaces for biodiversity conservation and better water management;
- Increasing forest monitoring and setting up a forest fire warning system;
- Support alternative uses of wood to reduce pressure on the forests;
- Strengthening the planting and regeneration programmes by adapting reforestation and anti-desertification species to the local environment;
- Integrating the scientific research into the adaptation process.
Cost of climate change, green and inclusive transition
Promoting the transfer of knowledge and skills:
- Transfer of knowledge through universities, funded PhD programmes, ERASMUS exchanges, internships...
- Transfer of technology through inter-companies exchange programmes;
- Establishing specific institutes to face related challenges in each region of the Kingdom.
Developing projects and creating jobs for young people to reduce the exodus:
- Investing in adaptation projects, financed by the climate fund that benefit young people;
- Increasing funding programmes for forests;
- Facilitating access to finance;
- Financing adaptation to climate change in African countries, through grants for small farmers (consortium or cooperatives);
Creating and strengthening waste management systems to solve the problems of pollution and environmental degradation;
Involve consultancy firms to study these technologies transfer
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The contents of this Declaration are the sole responsibility of the authors and do not necessarily reflect the views of the European Union.