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.