Socio-economics and governance of water resources in the Souss-Massa river basin

Abstract

This chapter introduces the water resources management in the Souss-Massa basin from socio-economic and institutional points of view. This basin is very important providing most of the Moroccan agricultural exports and covers more than 10 months of the food system needs in the country. However, the basin faces growing recurrent droughts exacerbated by climate change. Moreover, agriculture intensification based on the intensive use of irrigation decreases the groundwater potential and makes the water resources limited and thus more expensive to extract. Therefore, all development activities will be constrained by the scarcity of water resources in the area if no appropriate institutional and management strategies are applied. The first part of this chapter focuses on the Souss-Massa economic potential in relation to water availability. The second part describes water supply management and governance taking into account adaptation to climate change. The third part suggests a new paradigm based on the ecosystem service approach to support the sustainable decision system addressing water scarcity issues. A special emphasis will be put on the Guerdan and Chtouka perimeters and some relevant innovative solutions to mainstream ecosystem services into macroeconomic policies. The lastpart will discuss the institutional aspects of water management and finally some of the key conclusions and the way forward.