T7

Title: “WATERSHED MANAGEMENT: AN ESSENTIAL COMPONENT OF

SUSTAINABLE WATER MANAGEMENT”

BY: Abdelkrim EL MAJOUDI (Head of water and soil conservation and Forest

Protection Division/ High Commission For Water, Forest and Combating

Desertification)

ABSTRACT

Dams loss storage capacity due to silting is estimated at 75 million m3, or 0.5% per

year. Which is equivalent to irrigate at least 10,000 ha / year. Given this situation, the

HCEFLCD has undertaken between 1990 and 1996, in collaboration with international

organizations and the participation of all national stakeholders, the development of a National

Watershed Management Plan (NWMP) that stays intervention priorities. Within the

framework of this NWMP, many watershed management projects are implemented. These

projects are based on participatory and partnership approach aiming the promotion of a

dynamic integrated local development based on the organization and ownership by the natural

resources users of water and soil conservation practical management (techniques for not only

reducing erosion but also increases of the infiltration process.)

Through their objectives, these projects represent an essential element of the national

water and rural development strategies, in that they help to improve living conditions of rural

populations, while ensuring the natural resources conservation and sustainable development.

They also are essential components in the fight against desertification, as they are concerned

with a central issue of this desertification, namely soil erosion.

KEY WORD:

Climate change, water erosion, Siltation, water and soil conservation technique, water

strategy, National water shed management Plan, Water strategy, Participatory approaches