Morocco exemplifies the urgency of a new approach to water management. As the country experiences one of the longest droughts in its recent history, the challenges extend beyond the technical management of resources. The nineteenth edition of the World Water Congress, held in Marrakech, highlighted the scale of a global crisis that is transforming water into a social, political, and territorial issue.
### A Drought Pandemic Beyond Technical Solutions
Geographer and agronomist Imane Messaoudi-Mattei, interviewed by Challenge, asserts that the era of solely technical solutions is over. “Extreme droughts are becoming the norm,” she emphasizes. According to her, merely improving existing infrastructures is no longer sufficient: water management is becoming an issue of territorial resilience, equity, and even national cohesion.
The discussions in Marrakech revealed that inequalities in access, tensions between usage, and the fragility of aquifers are now at the forefront of conversations. Some countries have integrated this systemic dimension and reformed their policies, while others remain focused on technical modernization, which is often inadequate in light of the crisis’s severity.
### Morocco: Visible Modernization, Invisible Challenges
The Kingdom has invested heavily in desalination, wastewater reuse, and inter-basin transfers to stabilize access to drinking water. These ambitious and costly projects are essential to meet urban and industrial needs.
However, Messaoudi-Mattei warns that the deepest crisis is unfolding in rural areas. Aquifers are depleting, and family farms, reliant on fragile access to water, find themselves on the front lines. Balancing technological modernization with discreet institutional reforms—usage rules, arbitration between agriculture and cities, land inequalities—will ultimately determine the sustainability of solutions.
### Inclusive Governance: Placing Local Actors at the Heart of Decision-Making
The researcher stresses the need to include small and medium-sized farmers in discussions, as they are most affected by the scarcity. “Sustainable drought management cannot be conceived solely from the top down,” she explains. For her, the solution lies in more inclusive water governance, based on dialogue and the participation of local stakeholders.
Faced with a global water crisis that worsens each year, Morocco embodies the necessity for a paradigm shift: from technical solutions to systemic thinking, from mere infrastructure to social and territorial resilience.