ALM UNDP

The provinces of Nador and Berkane on the northeastern Mediterranean coast of Morocco near the Algerian
border are home to a number of traditional rural enclaves where residents depend on fishing, farming, and
livestock raising for their livelihoods. Development pressures, such as tourism, are destroying wetlands,
including three protected by the Ramsar Convention. These act as natural buffer zones against flooding and
erosion. As climate change brings more severe and frequent storms and rising seas, the very assets that
attract tourists and investment are threatened. Farmers and pastoralists, meanwhile, are coping with less
rain, even as the water table grows saline from the incursion of sea water. The rains are more frequently
torrential when they do come, adding to erosion of the fragile mountain soils.