Morocco Human/Environmental Issues

            Every region in the world has a different way of dealing with issues that arise in the handing of certain situations. Morocco is no different than all other areas in the world in the sense that they have to use their best judgment to take on these problems. Two of the largest issues the region has to constantly face are environmental and human rights related.

            “Morocco’s major environmental issues include land degradation/desertification (soil erosion resulting from farming of marginal areas, overgrazing, destruction of vegetation,) water supplies contaminated by raw sewage, siltation of reservoirs, and oil pollution of coastal waters.” (Hogan)

35% of all piped water in Morocco is lost because their water resources are poorly managed. Water stocks are being polluted with waste from cities and factories. Soil erosion is affecting the available areas of cultivatable land.

“The Millennium Development Goals (MDGs) are still the main reference framework for the country’s concerned citizens and civil society organizations. The High Commissioner for Planning claims that with only four years until the 2015 deadline, Morocco’s performance makes it one of the countries that can reach its goals in time. Unfortunately there is little justification for this optimism. The main obstacles are as follows:

-The passage and implementation of environmental protection laws is very slow.

-The impacts of climate change are likely to be serious, and are as yet unpredictable.

-The great pressure on the country’s natural resources.

-Lack of public awareness of these problems and lack of political will to solve them.”
(Social Watch)

Morocco’s 2011 constitutional revisions included updates to laws and standards regarding human rights, but many of these changes were not implemented in the actions of Moroccan law

“Laws that criminalize acts deemed harmful to the king, the monarchy, Islam, or Morocco’s claim over the disputed Western Sahara limited the rights to peaceful expression, assembly, and association. There have been many unfair trials in recent years that have resulted in politically motivated convictions.”

            Climate change and human rights go hand in hand in certain situations. For example, the water problems in Morocco are causing a forced displacement of the residents and impacting their territorial security. CO2 levels are directly related to climate change, and when levels of pollution rise high enough to have a strong effect on the climate, it becomes a human rights issue.

            Eurocentrism is defined as the tendency of individuals and cultures to view themselves as well as their environment around them from the perspectives of their own culture, values and beliefs. This can be extremely damaging to people and cultures that don’t fall into the class they are being grouped into. Noor explains that there are important difference s between each and every group in the world. It is important to remember that all are equal and one cultural perspective is not better than the other. No matter what culture is being discussed, no humans deserve to have their rights taken away because of differences in perspective.

A Thirsty Future. (n.d.). Retrieved October 12, 2015, from http://www.socialwatch.org/node/14006

http://www.eoearth.org/view/article/154688/
https://www.hrw.org/world-report/2014/country-chapters/morocco/western-sahara