26 / 2015-11-20 07:39:58

VULNERABILITY AND ADAPTIVE CAPACITY TO CLIMATE CHANGE OF SOCIAL ECOLOGICAL SYSTEMS OF TWO REGIONS IN MOROCCO - Sebou watershed & Tensift watershed

4168,2912,adaptation,social-ecological system,unsustainable development

Climate change, which encompasses a long term alteration in average weather conditions of communities and regions of the world, has become an issue of concern the world over. Climatic trends for the last thirty years have constituted a real challenge to social ecological systems globally included Morocco. Indeed, Morocco suffers a constant rate of depletion, which is highly dependent on environmental variations that are expected to intensify in the following decades. Some very visible global manifestations of climate change include generally high temperatures, severe storms, flooding and irregular rainfall patterns. One of the notable and most devastating impacts of climate change over the years has been flooding. Every year, reports from all over Morocco give an indication of the devastation scale caused by floods through loss of lives and property in both rural and urban areas. The problem is usually exacerbated by unsustainable development practices and poor land use planning. This study aims to analyses the vulnerability to climate change of two regions: Sebou watershed and Tensift watershed. We consider those two field sites as social-ecological systems, since climate is only one of the many variables regulating the organization and development of the regions. Their vulnerability has been analyzed through focusing on components, emerging from interactions between physical and human elements: their exposure, sensitivity and adaptive capacity to climate change. We used a mixed-methods approach based on both quantitative (data analysis and modeling) and qualitative (interviews) data. Greater vulnerability to climatic changes recently observed can be explained by its greater exposure to the perturbation and by its socioeconomic situation that intensifies sensitivity and hinders adaptive capacity.