The Qualit’air Day, which was held on February 11, 2016 at the Palais des Congrès convention center in Skhirat, permitted the signing of two agreements on air quality and global warming mitigation. They embody fourteen years of working on these environmental causes

his Feb. 11, 2016, Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for the Environmental Protection, signed two important agreements for air quality and the reduction of greenhouse gas emissions.

The first mobilizes six players around an issue: air quality. The Ministry of Health, the Directorate General of Local Government, the Ministry Delegate in charge of Environment, the Directorate of National Meteorology, the Wilaya of the Greater Casablanca area, the Wilaya of Marrakech-Tensift-Haouz, and of course the Foundation are all joining forces to establish regional governance on air quality.

This governance is the culmination of over a decade of work that began in 2001 with the launch of Qualit’air program. It will allow major cities to perform real-time air quality monitoring and, if necessary, take measures to protect the health of inhabitants. This governance will initially be tested in the Marrakech-Safi area and then in Rabat, Kenitra and Sous-Massa-Draa, before being expanded to all regions.

This monitoring is based on two pillars. The first is the air quality monitoring network, established at the Foundation’s initiative between 2004 and 2009, and now managed by the Directorate of National Meteorology, which is about to entrust it to the cities while continuing to provide support with its expertise. The second pillar is health monitoring, which will be built on the experience of the eco-epidemiological study of the Greater Casablanca area. This study, whose results were presented at the Qualit’air Day, demonstrated the strong correlation between the increase in the atmospheric concentration of pollutants and diseases linked to this pollution. The cities will have two sets of data: air quality and health indexes. This will enable them to take action in the event of peaks in pollution, in the image of what is done in other major cities internationally.

The Foundation also trains the regions to establish their own carbon footprint assessment, which aims to estimate greenhouse gas emissions in their territory in order to engage in a long-term transition to contain or preferably reduce these emissions. They will rely on two tools developed by the Foundation. The first is a carbon database, which lists over 300 greenhouse gas emission factors, half of which are specifically calculated for Morocco. The Ministry Delegate in charge of Environment will monitor this tool, which was implemented in 2012. The second tool is the GHG greenhouse gas footprint assessment, which is based on the carbon database and estimates GHG emissions of an organization or geographic territory.

These same two tools will become available to Moroccan companies under the second agreement signed at the Qualit’air Day, with the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises (CGEM), represented by its President, Ms. Meryem Bensalah. This Qualit’air pact paves the way for Moroccan companies to participate in global warming mitigation. CGEM is committed to promoting these tools with pilot companies that will ensure a concrete experience by establishing a greenhouse gas footprint assessment, and adopting measures to reduce or offset these emissions accordingly. Indeed, since 2009 the Foundation has had a voluntary carbon-offsetting tool to offset emissions in two programs it develops: the solar electrification of rural schools and palm plantations in the Marrakech palm grove, for where the Foundation coordinates the protection efforts.

The two agreements signed embody the Foundation’s efforts towards clean air and the mitigation of global warming. The Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, after over a decade of work, has laid the foundation for national governance and it is now up to the stakeholders to take control. The Foundation, which maintains support for this cause, continues its tireless work in environmental education and awareness. Global warming is thus explained to children on an Internet platform recently put online on the Foundation’s website to help teach best practices.

Press kit

Qualit’Air Agreement

Quait’Air Documentary