The focal objective of this project was to propose funding mechanism to meet the budgetary needs of the Ministère délégué chargé des Eaux et Forêt (MCEF). In effect, the key activities consisted of examining existing budgetary requirements, analysing existing funding mechanisms, and identifying improvements and new arrangements.
In the course of identifying opportunities for new funding, consideration was also given to increasing the participation (responsibility and accountability) of rural populations - the most immediate of forest resource beneficiaries. This eventually became a key component overriding many other considerations.
Several issues relating directly (and indirectly) to financing have been dealt with within the Ministry in recent years. Because of the above, project activities were able to focus rapidly on critical issues and the identification of new opportunities for financing. This report condenses many of them together in one document. Perhaps more critically, this report also addresses some critical aspects of the overall policy, institutional and governance structures within which the Ministry and the forest sector reside.
This report continues with Chapter 2 on critical structural and policy issues that significantly influence the productivity of and the revenue generating potential of the sector. A brief review of MCEF financial requirements is presented in Chapter 3. The appropriateness of existing forestry financing approaches, accompanied with samples of funding strategies for a number of forestry programmes, is given in Chapter 4.
Chapter 5 analysis a large number of critical factors that impact directly and indirectly upon the success of Morocco's forest revenue generating capabilities.
It should become clear, reading this report - and particularly Chapter 5 - that many aspects of forest land management and forest sector development are currently inadequately or poorly defined and articulated.
Consistent and effective guidance to both policy makers and resource users is missing. Signals to rural users of "open access" resources actually promote resource degradation. Signals to forest sector operators discourage efficiency and innovation amongst existing operators and discourage new investors. And, signals to Ministry professionals and staff demonstrate a questionable commitment by government to forestry in Morocco.
Chapter 6 provides a number of recommendations that could form the bases of developing a renewed approach to workable policies, structures and mechanisms towards sustainable forest land resource use in Morocco. Several relate to factors critical to improving efficiencies in forest management and raw material transformation - and, therefore, factors critical to maximising the sector's contribution to its own financial self-sufficiency.
