With the advent of the new forestry sector strategy "Forests of Morocco 2020-2030" launched by HM King Mohammed VI on February 13, 2020, aiming to make the forestry sector more competitive and sustainable, through an inclusive management model and creator of wealth aimed at placing user populations at the heart of forest management, in order to invest and modernize the core of the profession, in particular the modernization and redeployment of forestry equipment and infrastructure, a corollary of the mobilization of forestry personnel and an improvement in the effectiveness of forestry action, and Considering the pilot experiments carried out in close collaboration by the Department of Water and Forests and the Targa-Aide Association in close collaboration by the Department of Water and Forests and the Targa Association in the implementation of the project to create the green belt of Ouarzazate with the involvement of local actors, and in partnership with UNEP and the field of fish farming at the level of the municipality of Ouneine, province of Taroudant, an agreement partnership framework relating to support for the implementation of the "Forest of Morocco 2020-2030" strategy was signed on 22/10/2020 as well as a specific partnership agreement relating to support for the national program of infrastructure and forestry equipment in Morocco was signed on 01/15/2021.
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Objectives and expected results
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Overall objective: The overall objective of the agreement is to produce, in a participatory manner, the tools necessary for the successful development and implementation of the National Forestry Infrastructure and Equipment Program.
b- Specific objectives and expected results:
Specific objective n°1: The establishment of an inventory and a territorial diagnosis of forestry infrastructure and equipment;
Result 1.1: Mapping of forestry infrastructure and equipment.
Result 1.2: Participatory territorial diagnosis and inventory of forestry infrastructure and equipment.
Specific objective n°2: Establishment of an updatable Geographic Information System of forestry infrastructure and equipment;
The breakdown of specific objective No. 2 into expected results is formulated as follows:
Result 2.1: Construction of a spatial database to help develop the national forest infrastructure and equipment program (2021-2030).
Result 2.2: Establishment of cartographic atlases and inventories of forestry infrastructure and equipment.
2. Status of activities:
1) Institutional launch workshops
The main objective of these workshops is to inform key stakeholders of the Department of Water and Forests about the objectives and expected results of the project in order to promote its ownership and implementation in the field.
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At central level:
After the signature of the specific agreement, a first meeting to prepare the terms of the implementation of the project took place on 19/01/20221 at the headquarters of the Directorate of Forestry, Legal Affairs and Litigation (DDFAJC), in order to draw up a schedule of launch workshops for all the Regional Directorates for Water and Forests and the Fight Against Desertification (DRFLCD).
These launch workshops were an opportunity to inform and raise the awareness of regional directors and local managers on the consistency of working in partnership and the purpose of the project, as well as to initiate them to start collecting and organizing data relating to :
· boundaries of the forest estate (forest buildings);
· shapefiles they have (Infrastructures and Forestry Equipment);
· history of studies (forestry infrastructure and equipment).
This is with the aim of completing the digitization of forestry infrastructure in forestry buildings, verifying the geolocation of forestry equipment and filling in the related diagnostic sheets (equipment and infrastructure questionnaire sheets).
In order to ensure the monitoring and implementation of the project, a central project steering committee was formed during the meeting held on 23/02/2021 at the headquarters of the DDFAJC. It is made up of executives from different entities at the central level representing the DDFAJC and the Planning, Information System and Cooperation Department (DPSIC), as well as the Targa-Aide association.
The mission of this committee is to provide the appropriate support for carrying out the missions and approving the deliverables.
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At regional level:
The North West forest region was the first region started, as a pilot region, for the implementation of the project. The results emanating from this region have been examined and analyzed in order to take them into account and take into consideration all the improvements and adjustments to be made in the follow-up of the achievements for the rest of the regions.
A program of workshops and field trips was drawn up on the basis of the availability of data made available to the DDFAJC by the DREF.
These workshops aim to complete and validate the information and data received by the forestry managers of each Provincial Directorate of the North-West DREFLCD.
During these workshops, a new updated alphanumeric database of forestry infrastructure and equipment was delivered by the Targa team to the forest managers concerned for completion and verification. A review of the questionnaire sheets for forest tracks and buildings was also carried out before they were entered by the Targa team.
Following these workshops, a set of observations and recommendations were made to optimize subsequent visits to the field and to properly target the data to be collected from local managers.
Among these recommendations are:
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The standardization of the shapefile projection system and the choice of WGS 84 for all data
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Exploitation of current IFDS data and capitalization on existing data
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The addition of data relating to collective land and state buildings
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The delivery of the national road shapefile by provincial forest division for validation of the deliverables
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Standardization of attribute tables and diagnostic sheets and revision of questionnaires.
c - Data collection, analysis and processing:
The methodology for producing the various products defined within the framework of this partnership was adopted during a series of meetings organized by the central committee. A precise procedural and technical sequencing has been established, as detailed in the document relating to the deliverables appended to the memorandum distributed on this subject.
- A quality approach has been formalized to meet the needs expressed in terms of the completeness and precision of the data that will be provided. It was organized on the basis of:
(i) the detailed analysis, by the teams of the Targa Association, of the existing and the geolocation in terms of alphanumeric data, their spatial adjustment and their complementation by comparison and digitization on google Earth imagery, ensuring a level of precision highly satisfactory;
(ii) validation of the mapping thus finalized, by the various stages of the forest administration, consolidated by filling in the questionnaire sheets for each mapped entity, integrating certain parameters providing information on the quality and quantity of mapped forest roads and equipment.
d - Development of deliverables:
· Deliverables 1 and 2: A shapefile of forestry tracks and a shapefile of forestry equipment with associated attribute data:
For the shapefiles of tracks and forest buildings, 10 BDDs have been made available to Targa by the central committee, of which 09 BDDs are analysed, adjusted and submitted for validation and finalization at the level of the 09 DREFLCDs concerned. These are the BDDs of the DRFLCDs of:
1. North West
2. Rabat-Sale-Zemmour-Zaer
3. Fes-Boulemane
4. Center
5. Oriental
6. rif
7. South West
8. Northeast
9. Middle Atlas
There remains the database of the 10th DREF of Tadla-Azilal which is being processed and will be submitted for validation. The state of progress is evaluated at 84% for these two deliverables. There are still two forest regions (Haut -Atlas and the South) to be received from the DDFAJC, which can be finalized within 2 months from the date of their receipt.
The questionnaires collected from all the forest regions represent an average rate of 34%. Indeed, only the first four DREFLCDs mentioned above were able to submit their questionnaires for input. This low rate is mainly explained by the delay due to the postponement of meetings for the recovery (case of the DREF of the center with more than two months of delay), and the quality of filling in the questionnaires by the forestry executives, in particular for the identification of forest tracks in the Targa national road network (case of the DREF of the RIF and the Centre), leading to several returns for rectification and completion at the regional level.
The questionnaires of the other regions are being filled in by the forestry executives.
· Deliverable 3: A shapefile of the national road network with standardized attribute table.
The shapefile of the national road network of Targa is completely updated at the level of the ten administrative regions. There remains the additional digitization of the two administrative regions of Laâyoune-Sakia El Hamra and Dakhla-Oued Ed-Dahab in the south, the equivalent of the southern region of forest cutting. The progress rate is around 84%.
· Deliverable 4:A shapefile of basic socio-economic facilities at the national level with a standardized attribute table.
Basic socio-economic equipment at the national level is updated and returned to the 9 regions started. The 10th BDD will be submitted during the meeting with the Tadla-Azilal Region which is underway.
· Deliverable 5:An Atlas of forestry equipment and infrastructure in paper and digital format with developed indicators and ratios.
The production of the Atlas of forestry equipment and infrastructure depends exclusively on the finalization and validation of the four previous deliverables. Once all the databases have been compiled and structured, the production of the maps will begin.
3 - Steps to come:
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Presentation soon of the cartographic data for validation and deposit of the questionnaires for information of the DRFLCD of Tadla-Azilal;
2 . Recovery of cartographic databases for digitization and geolocation of elements from the two remaining regions (the High Atlas and the South) in order to present them and validate them by forestry officials within two months from the dates of their recovery;
3 . Participate in the development of a typology and codification of roads and equipment foresters, for a better standardization of the database, a readjustment of needs, as well a consecration of the heritage value for certain buildings;
4 . Production of a cartographic Atlas in A3 format presenting the state of roads and other Forestry equipment, with analysis of the existing and recommended distinctions, for each of forest massifs, added by global maps by administrative region and by province.