**4. Conclusion**

254 Current Issues of Water Management

the promotion and proclamation of the right to water. The right to safe water would make it possible to ensure access to water without discrimination, in a sustainable and enduring manner and at a cost that is socially and economically acceptable; to avoid its becoming a threat to the environment, to aquatic systems, to health, to peace and security; to determine responsibilities; to put in place an effective governance and define its operation modes at the international, national and local levels; to mobilise necessary resources, coordinate

Other Moroccan stakeholders, such as numerous NGOs and, in particular, ACME-Maroc (Association for the world contract on water), are functioning in more participatory ways and communicating equally important messages, if more practically demanding, when it comes to political and institutional changes. Thus, the ACME for instance demanded that a public enquiry should be conducted - by the Parliament and the legal profession – to determine in which conditions, and in exchange of what, the decision to delegate the management and distribution of water, sanitation and electricity to private enterprises had been taken. It also demanded the re-opening of enquiries from anti-corruption instances because it suspected that the creation of delegated water management contracts had been corrupted and illegal in their applications. As a very active and militant association (NGO), it somehow characterises what many other NGOs are doing in Morocco – creating an alternative system of governance and expression by the people, calling for more justice and participative processes, demanding more recognition. The ACME approached issues of

a. the constitution of a democratic State must take citizen's fundamental rights into

e. water must be considered as a common good, shared by the national community f. Morocco has adopted in 1995 a Water Law, considering water as a common good, and because this Law must be promoted to a higher level in our legal system (Dahir

g. the adoption of the UN resolution 64/292 on the 28th of July 2010 that declares that the right to access water and sanitation is a human right – resolution which Morocco

h. the adoption of the UN resolution A/HRC/15/L.14 of the Council of Human rights on the 24th of September 2010, re-asserting the right of humans to have access to

i. certain States have already included the right to water and sanitation in their

j. ACME-Morocco demands that the right to access water and sanitation should be included in the Moroccan constitution as well as the notion of water as 'common good', property of the whole national community and protected by it and for it, with

constitutions – for instance Bolivia, Venezuela, Uruguay, Nigeria..

Box 1. ACME's demand to include water rights in the Moroccan constitution

a priority given to meeting the water domestic needs.

b. the right to life is the most fundamental of human rights

n° 1-95-154 du 18 rabii I 1416 -16th of august 1995)

c. the right to life depends on access to water d. water is part of nature, essential to life

partnerships and organise cooperation and solidarity" (Tazi Sadeq, 2005, p.13-15).

Considering that:

account

officially signed

water and sanitation

Through a reflection on the evolution towards a new water ethics in Morocco, this chapter has attempted to explore the practical ecological, technical, and political implications of trying to put into practice concepts such as 'Integrated, sustainable, water management' for a developing, Muslim country. I started by describing the physical constraints this North African country has to deal with, its aridity and the irregularity in precipitation that make finding appropriate and locally adapted water policies a – difficult – necessity. I then gave a few examples of how traditional water management systems used to (and still do, in some regions) deal with water shortages and potential water conflicts, both in rural and in urban environments. I then explained how the French Protectorate, followed by the independence of the country, provided a new uneasy framework (of land tenure and water prioritization) that seemed to both go 'against the tide' (in terms of social structures and geographical specificities) but also open the door to 'modernisation' and economic development, a realm that the newly independent country was keen to embrace. Institutional reforms, new water laws and the creation of new stakeholders (water users associations, etc.) constituted a set of initiatives that intertwined with time and resulted in an emerging and growing need and wish to function within a new developmental and more environmentally friendly paradigm. This new paradigm includes notions such as participation, democratisation, decentralisation, integrated water management (Box 2), environmental charters and laws, ... Through its new 'green approach', the king of Morocco is both keen to be internationally perceived as respectful of 'green initiatives' undertaken worldwide – Morocco took part in

From Traditional to Modern Water Management Systems;

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the World Environmental Summit in Rio in 1992 – and to show his people that he is hearing its requests and needs (numerous demonstrations followed the famous 20th of February 2011).

**Principle 1:** Fresh water is a finite and vulnerable resource, essential to sustain life, development and the environment.

**Principle 2:** Water management should be based on a participatory approach, involving users and policy-makers at all levels.

**Principle 3:** Women play a central part in the provision, management and safeguarding of water. In order to ensure full and effective participation of women at all levels of decision making, account should be taken of approaches that public agencies use to assign social, economic and cultural functions to men and women.

**Principle 4:** Water is a public good and has a social and economic value in all its competing uses. Principle 5: Integrated water resources management is based on the equitable and efficient management and sustainable use of water. The real challenge with IWM is to find ways of integrating various policy tools in a socially, politically, economically and ethically acceptable way.

Box 2. Dublin principles presented at Rio and from which the notion of IWM is based

But the 'Printemps Maghrébin', in Morocco, will certainly experience a few seasons. For if the notion of development is being currently challenged, economic pressures are still high and often influence the choice of water technologies and policies that are not yet appropriately participatory nor ecologically sustainable. In order for water management in Morocco to become more humanly and ecologically sustainable, a stronger respect for and re-visit of traditional practices as well as a thorough exploration of the following definition of sustainable development will be needed. As Allan explains, (2002, in Turton and Henwood (eds), p.25) "Sustainable water policies are not achieved through the adoption of sound environmental principles alone. Nor are they achieved by efficient water use based on principles of economic efficiency. Sustainable water use is achieved in the political arena. National hydropolitics is a mediating discourse. The voices of society, the economy and the environment impose their often conflicting priorities and demands on the national water resource". Similarly, a stronger confidence in the cultural potential of the country's environmental practices could help in re-defining the type of 'development' that Morocco is keen to pursue. As UNESCO reports on 'creative cultural diversity in the world' put it, "development efforts often fail because the importance of the human factor – that complex web of relationships, beliefs, values and motivations which lie at the very heart of a culture – is being underestimated in many development projects. (…) Development cannot be seen as a single, uniform, linear path, for this would eliminate cultural diversity and experimentation, and dangerously limit humankind's creative capacities in the face of a treasured past and an unpredictable future" (Perez de Cuellar, 1996, p.7).

*To be developed is not to have more, but to be more* **Ghandi** 
