The year 2025 will be remembered as a turning point in contemporary climate history. Globally, it confirmed the entrance into a new climate regime, marked by a rapid intensification of extreme phenomena and an end to the exceptional nature of weather events. Droughts, heatwaves, wildfires, floods, and thermal anomalies followed one another with unprecedented intensity, reflecting a lasting shift in climatic balances.
After decades of scientific warnings, 2025 marked the time for a direct confrontation with the effects of warming. Temperature records multiplied, oceans experienced unprecedented thermal anomalies, while uncontrollable wildfires ravaged vast areas in Canada and deadly floods struck several Southeast Asian countries. On both shores of the Mediterranean, simultaneous droughts highlighted the generalization of water imbalances.
The symbolic threshold of +1.5 °C of warming compared to the pre-industrial era no longer seems a distant hypothesis. According to Professor Abderrahim Ksiri, president of the Association of Life and Earth Science Teachers, warming is now characterized by a cumulative rather than linear dynamic. This acceleration profoundly disrupts the water cycle, leading to an atmosphere with higher humidity, less frequent but often more intense precipitation, and increased seasonal variability.
These developments have systemic consequences. Climate has now become a central factor in economic, social, and geopolitical tensions. Agricultural markets are subject to increased volatility, population displacements are intensifying, public finances are under pressure, and inequalities are widening between countries that can anticipate and those forced to endure. From the international diplomatic stage to financial circles, the question is no longer whether action is needed, but whether societies still have the time and resources to act.
In this global context, Morocco experienced a series of climatic episodes in 2025 that revealed both its vulnerability and its adaptive capacity. Situated in the Mediterranean arc, the Kingdom is bearing the brunt of climate upheaval. Water stress, stemming from several consecutive years of rainfall deficits, remained a major concern throughout much of the year. Reservoir levels remained low for long months, groundwater continued to deplete, and agriculture, which consumes nearly 85% of water resources, was heavily impacted, particularly in the Souss, Haouz, and Drâa-Tafilalet basins.
The development of water-intensive crops in already deficit areas exacerbated economic and social tensions. Adding to these difficulties were major wildfires during the summer that affected forests in the northern part of the country, especially in Derdara, in the Chefchaouen province, and in Benqarich, near Tétouan. Despite significant mobilization of aerial and ground resources, over 500 hectares were devastated amid heatwaves that locally reached 46 degrees Celsius.
The year was also marked by episodes of localized floods, sometimes deadly, such as those in December in the Safi province. These events highlighted the violence of the new hydrological cycle, characterized by an alternation between long dry spells and intense rainfall, as well as the limitations of certain urban developments and infrastructures in the face of extreme phenomena.
In response to this growing climate pressure, public action intensified in 2025. Authorities accelerated several key projects, including the development of desalination plants, interconnection of hydraulic basins, securing the drinking water supply for major urban areas, and strengthening climate risk prevention and management systems. A specific budget was allocated to enhance aerial surveillance and early warning systems against wildfires.
Under the impetus of high royal directives, climate issues are now addressed as a matter of national sovereignty. The objective is no longer limited to managing emergencies but aims to place the country on a trajectory of medium- and long-term resilience. The national water plan, the low-carbon strategy, and the development of renewable energy are all part of this comprehensive approach.
However, experts believe that engineering and infrastructure alone will not suffice. The main challenge lies in adapting economic and territorial models to climatic constraints. Agriculture, in particular, needs to be rethought based on the actual availability of water resources. According to Abderrahim Ksiri, it has become imperative to halt the development of activities incompatible with local environmental realities.
In this context, Morocco is committed to promoting more resilient and sustainable agriculture. A recent World Bank report highlights the implementation of a multidimensional program aimed at strengthening sustainable agriculture, developing irrigation in the most drought-exposed areas, modernizing irrigation systems, and promoting climate-adapted agricultural technologies, particularly in the regions of Chtouka, Tadla, and Souss-Massa.
At the end of 2025, the conclusion is clear: Morocco is no longer in a phase of anticipation but in a constrained adaptation to an already transformed climate. For 2026, the question is no longer about the reality of climate change but about the collective and political choices that will allow for an effective response. For specialists, a window of opportunity still exists, but it is closing rapidly.
