This short-term project reached its objectives principally as a result of the exceptional level of cooperation and assistance received from the Ministère délégué chargé des Eaux et Forêt. In particular the consultant would like to extend his appreciation to Mr. M'Hammed El Idrissi, Ingenieur en Chef Des Eaux et Forêt and Chef de la Division de l'Exploitation Forestière for his repeated assistance on a wide range of matters and the continued opportunity to discuss project concepts.
It was obvious that the debate on the issues under investigation was very much en train prior to the commencement of the project - a fact which greatly facilitated its performance. As well, the resource managers and other professionals contacted and working with the consultant during this project demonstrated an informed receptiveness to contemporary forest and environmental resource valuation concepts - without which discussions would have been considerably less fruitful.
This project focused primarily on an analysis of existing data and reports and the presentation of options for improving MCEF financing. The consultant relied heavily upon material produced by earlier projects - in particular; Programme Forestier National, Phase 1 (ONF et al, 1998); Plan national D'amenagement des Bassins Versants, Phase II (Agro Concept, 1994); and La Filiere Bois au Maroc (Union Mondial, et al., 1992), (see References Annex for complete citation) - and acknoweldges the original authors' contributions.
