Background:

On June 5, 2000, Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, in her open letter for the World Environment Day said that “it is essential to raise awareness and educate our children to respect the environment and cleanliness of where they live, schools, gardens, forests and beaches. This education is consistent with the precepts of our religion which advocates the cleanliness and respect for our environment.”

Since then, thanks to the action and commitment of public and private partners, the FM6E has developed programs and innovative projects on youth education, air and climate, coastal protection, restoration of historic parks and gardens, and sustainable tourism, which are aimed primarily at changing citizen behavior in order to raise environmental awareness and foster environmental protection.

In October 2007 in Tangier, the United Nations Environment Programme named Her Royal Highness as an Ambassador for the Coast, in recognition for her efforts. Indeed, she has united and mobilized initiatives for Moroccan beaches conducted under her flagship program: the Clean Beaches program. The goal is to ensure environmental management of beaches, while focusing on environmental education and awareness for beachgoers.

Furthermore, the Clean Beaches program, related actions, and coastal preservation in general have been the subject of particular attention since the International Coastal Conference held in Tangier on October 9, 2010, under the Presidency of Her Royal Highness. Pursuant to the conference recommendations, other important outreach programs were launched aimed at coastal wetlands and the Nador and Dakhla bays.

Launched in 1999 by Her Royal Highness as a clean beach campaign, over the last decade the Clean Beaches program has positioned itself as a true sustainable development program for coastal municipalities thanks to the hard work of all Foundation partners (administrations involved in coastal management, local municipalities and authorities, economic partners, federations, user associations, etc.). Over the years, this important work has resulted in a process of upgrading the beaches to international standards and the implementation of the international Blue Flag label.

In 2011, 64 beaches (spread over 43 municipalities and sponsored by 28 public and private organizations that provide financial and technical support) are involved in the Clean Beaches program including 20 beaches or sections of beaches with the Blue Flag label.

To encourage the best initiatives for sustainable coastal development, the FM6E annually rewards its partners by awarding the Lalla Hasnaa Clean Beaches trophy in recognition of efforts towards development actions and environmental education and awareness efforts at the beaches.
In 2012, after a decade of experience in beach management, the FM6E initiated a study on the strategic guidance and development for the Clean Beaches program to become a national program of coastal management in which all partners are involved.

This study has resulted in interesting conclusions, wide and varied, which need to be considered and shared with all partners for implementation and enrichment.
In this context the FM6E proposes to organize a workshop to present the results of this strategic study and two other structuring and development priorities for the program, including the:
                   – Upgrading the Moroccan Monitoring of Bathing Water Quality Standards in relation to the New European Directive,

                  – Future direction of the prestigious Lalla Hasnaa Clean Beaches Trophies towards a new definition of the procedure for operational implementation of Lalla Hasnaa Sustainable Coast Trophies.