Protecting Water Resources in North African Countries as an Entry Point to Achieve the Sixth Sustainable Development Goal

Abstract

This article examines the legal framework on water in the Maghreb countries and
analyzes if the existing legal framework guarantees the achievement of the sixth
Sustainable Development Goal by 2030. One of the most important challenges
faced by North African countries is the scarcity of water resources. Water
scarcity and difficulty of providing the population with potable water, causes a
thirst crisis and disruption of biodiversity, and thus preventing the achievement
of sustainable economic and social growth, especially since the communities of
this region are known for their intensive agricultural activity. The MENA region
is among the most exposed to the negative effects of climate change, as the
decrease in rainfall and its temporal and spatial variation leads to frequent floods
and multiple droughts. All these pose the problem of dealing with the legal
system considering the weak official cooperation between these countries to deal
with this reality and find the necessary mechanisms to protect water resources
from depletion, face climate change and reduce its effects. This article focuses on
the Maghreb countries: Morocco, Algeria, Tunisia and Mauritania. The choice of
these countries is motivated by the fact that they share the same climatic
characteristics and above all they suffer in the same way from the repercussions
of global warming. Water resources in these countries are under increasing
pressure amid population and industrial growth, irrigated agriculture,
urbanization, tourism, climate change, overexploitation of aquifers and
deteriorating water quality. In terms of methodology, the article employs a
literature review of studies in this field as well as an analysis of legal texts related
to water and the environment in the countries surveyed. This study shows that
the Maghreb countries have made considerable efforts at the legal level to
guarantee access to water for their citizens, however there are many peculiarities
and insufficiencies for which the study presents some recommendations
susceptible to help with the attainment of the 6 SDG objective within 2030.