Minister in Charge of Waters and Forests
The Kingdom of Morocco
Mr Amor Ben Romdhane, FAO Representative in Morocco,
Mr Tage Michaelsen, Chief, Forest Conservation, Research and Education Service, Forest Resources Division, Forestry Department, FAO - Rome,
Experts, Colleagues,
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The Government of the Kingdom of Morocco is indeed delighted to be able to host this consultation of forestry education experts organized by FAO in conjunction with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry Responsible for Water and Forests which is today, in Rabat.
I should like, first of all, to say what a great honour it is for me to be able to be with you for the opening of this consultation, and to extent my welcome to all the participants and wish you a pleasant stay in our country.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Over the past decade, the education and research system in general, and agricultural education and research in particular, as a means of galvanizing and fostering growth and scientific and technological production, has been comprehensively reviewed and thoroughly analyzed. This has been done in the light of the issues raised by the new concept of sustainable development and its political, economic, social and indeed its cultural implications, as well as the challenges that must be addressed and the reforms undertaken. Several events have been organized in the process since the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (UNCED). I am thinking in particular of the UNESCO World Conference on Higher Education, in Paris1998, as well as the many studies conducted by FAO, such as the 1997 study on the "Difficulties and Opportunities for Agricultural Education and Training in the 1999s and Beyond", and another very recently published study on "designing and revising forestry training courses in the developing countries and those with economies in transition".
Your consultation is vitally important, in view of the global changes taking place in forestry policies and their implications for the sustainable management of natural resources which have occurred in forestry, as a result of the UNCED recommendations and the developments that followed in its wake. I am thinking in particular of the international conventions on biodiversity, combating desertification and climate change, and the intergovernmental Panel and the intergovernmental Forum on forests.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
Morocco's forests and woodlands cover about 9 million hectares. They comprise about 30 complex and diversified land ecosystems, occupying a very wide range of different bioclimates -- from Saharan, to hyper-moist and high altitude mountain bioclimates.
As an ecological area, and a source of economic wealth and social well being, these environments have always played a vital part in the life of the local people who enjoy statutory usage-rights for harvesting fuel wood and construction timber and for grazing. These forests constitute a major proportion of Morocco's renewable natural resources and our biodiversity.
Moroccan forests are multi-functional and multi-use. These functions, which are often in competition, and sometimes incompatible, can vary in their comparative importance and priority across time and space. Usage-rights problems further complicate their management, and the renewal of forest resources is difficult, unpredictable and often slow.
It follows that forests raise both environmental and socio-economic issues. They not only condition forestry development and environmental protection policies and strategies, but also thinking in terms of education, vocational training and research.
To meet the need for a training and research system that can both address the fundamental issues and meet the rational forest management requirements, educational and research facilities have been created over the past 50 years or more in Morocco. A complementary two-tier system has been chosen: for technicians and for engineers in two higher education establishments at Salé: the Istitut Technique Royal des Eaux et Forêts, established in 1948, and the École Nationale Forestière d'Ingénieurs, with a regionwide catchment area, established in 1968 with the support of UNDP and FAO.
Since the introduction of forestry training, continuous efforts to adapt it to the changed demands of forestry and society have been deployed. Three fundamental trends have emerged in this process. The first hinges around forest management, the second covers various aspects of the environment or, at least, all those that are relevant to safeguarding and managing resources, while the third seeks to go beyond the first two and entrust the responsibility for the forests and the environment to officials with broad multidisciplinary functions, who are capable of adopting an overall approach to the global management of the rural world.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
The strategic analysis recently conducted by the Department of Forests, into the main trends that will emerge over the next 20 years, has brought out the main challenges to the possible future scenarios for Morocco's forests. Far-reaching changes in forestry policy, the thinking underlying it and the procedures for implementing it, are seen to be indispensable. The challenges revolve around the following:
This strategy is based on the sustainable management of forest resources, and is currently the focus of the government's and Moroccan society's concern. It has led to the drafting and implementation of a number of surveys to support strategic planning and action, of which the main ones are:
All these surveys, conducted with the support of the World Bank, FAO, the ADB, the European Union and the EMF, have been made consistent with the National Forestry Programme (PFN) which was recently drawn up and forms the strategic framework for the sustainable development of the forest sector between now and 2020. The PFN is also a response to the recommendations of the UNCED Agenda 21, the Mediterranean Forestry Programme of Action (FPA-MED-1995) of the Intergovernmental Group and the Intergovernmental Forests Forum (1996-2000).
To attain the PFN objectives, three main approaches have been given priority:
PFN was adopted in 1999 as the framework for the strategic planning of the forestry sector and for the implementation of medium and long-term forestry policy.
The Department Responsible for Water and Forests is currently implementing this strategy and the programmes of action stemming from it in specific areas in which the elected representatives and the users have been sensitized, to secure their support for the sustainable management objectives. In these areas, forest protection and development form part of integrated programmes to raise the incomes of the local people, which entail extension activities and negotiations, for which the commitment and the efforts of civil society are increasingly more in demand.
The sustainable and multifunctional management of Morocco's forests cannot therefore be considered in isolation from their geographic, economic and social environment. They must be seen as a component of sustainable development. This new management concept requires the backing of appropriate education, and a structured and effective research effort.
For its implementation, the PFN the institutional capabilities of the forestry sector must be strengthened. Adapting training and research are the strategic levers on which action must be taken in order to effectively implement the action plans stemming from the PFN. In one of its priority programmes for change, "adapting foresters to their new functions", the PFN stresses the definition of the new professional profiles. To do this it envisages revamping a number of outdated training curricula in the forestry schools, and instituting a continuing vocational training plan.
Ladies and Gentlemen,
It is evident that the challenges which the forestry career is bound to address in the coming decades will demand fresh approaches demanding new forestry profiles, as well as new training objectives and curricula.
I am also convinced that because of the topical relevance of the agenda, and the high level and quality of your expertise, this consultation will help to better define the current forestry education environment, and in addition to identifying the elements needed to update the educational curricula will also bring out the mechanisms and tools, particularly those relating to regional and international co-operation, to be used to improve forestry education systems.
I wish this consultation every success, and once again welcome you all, and thank all the authorities and the individuals who have worked so hard to make it possible.
Thank you for your kind attention.
