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The Cost of Environmental Degradation to the Moroccan society has been released through the study conducted by the World Bank. The results showing a slight improvement have been presented this Friday 30th of June at the Ministry of Energy, Mining, Water and Environment. The GOP released on January 2017 indicates that the environmental degradation costs the Moroccan society 3.52% of the national GDP in 2014 which was equivalent to MAD 32.5 Billion.
Comparing the recent figures to the ones provided by the World Bank in 2000, when another COED was conducted to estimate the cost of environmental degradation in Morocco, it can be said that the change was not significant. In fact, the report announces that 14 years ago costs of environmental degradation were limited to 3.7% of the national GDP resulting in a mere 20% improvement.
The study that measures environmental degradation costs relies on three major categories, namely water, air and land. In this regard, this year’s COED points out that water degradation has reached a cost approaching 1.26% of GDP in 2014 being by that the most important driver of deterioration, followed by air pollution which costs the Moroccan society 1.05% of GDP for the same year. Land degradation was also a component of the study which explains that 0.54% of GDP are wasted in that aspect.
Stagnating results
Despite the efforts made by the government to lower the costs of environmental degradation, the World Bank survey sheds light on three levels of losses that affect society, mortality due to air pollution and inappropriate water supply sanitation and hygiene, economy, losses of production from forests and range lands due to clearing and environment as well as reduced recreational value of beaches due to coastal degradation.
Regarding the 2014 results, the authors of the survey, however indicate that «a comparison between the results of the 2000 and 2014 studies indicates that the COED decreased from DH590/capita in 2000 to DH450/capita in 2014, corresponding to a reduction of environmental degradation of more than 20% during this period. It should be stressed that this comparison has only indicative meaning, because: (1) it is partial, by including only the impacts that have been estimated in both studies; (2) even these impacts have been often estimated based on different methodologies, which are difficult to compare».
