Copyright 2001 Associated Press
November 8, 2001
By JAMEY KEATEN, Associated Press Writer

MARRAKECH, Morocco (AP) - Its limited forests are dwindling, its desert is encroaching on more villages and drought is becoming more frequent. If any country knows the meaning of climate change, it's Morocco.

The North African country, which embraces the ever-expanding Sahara Desert, is playing host to the latest conference in the world's most ambitious effort to curtail the man-made greenhouse gases blamed for unnaturally heating Earth's atmosphere.

Government ministers from dozens of countries began work Wednesday on the final rules governing the implementation of the 1997 Kyoto agreement requiring industrial nations to reduce emissions of carbon dioxide from their factories, power stations and vehicles.

For the thousands of delegates gathered at the Marrakech conference, which ends Friday, the weather has been unusually dry. It should be the height of the rainy season.

``It's a good reminder, a clear vision of what can happen,'' said Abdehanine Benallou, head of Morocco's Center for Development of Renewable Energies. ``We are already seeing the impact of climate change in this country.''

Droughts have become more common over the last two decades. Four of the 11 droughts in the last century occurred in the decade from the mid-1980s to the mid-1990s.

Areas of Morocco now suffer from a four-year drought that has depleted water tables, browned the landscape and wreaked havoc on farmers.

Hydroelectric plants, one of the country's few homegrown sources of energy, are operating at a fraction of capacity because of lower water levels.

Meanwhile, desertification threatens rural lifestyles, such as in the usually verdant Ourika valley in southern Morocco.

``Its happening especially in the south, where the climate is becoming more arid, in a worrisome manner,'' said Ahmed Iraqi, a former Moroccan state secretary for the environment, who helped bring the conference to Marrakech.

``For the moment, desertification hasn't driven people from rural areas, but it has changed their lifestyles and the ways they consume water,'' he said in an interview.

Environmental degradation is contributing to the problem. Forests cover only about one-fifth of Morocco, and are disappearing at the rate of more than 82,500 acres per year.

But the long-term concern is global warming. The Moroccan Network for the Environment and Durable Development cites studies indicating that the average temperature in Morocco will rise 41 degrees by 2100. Water resources are expected to decline by 10-15 percent by 2020.

Morocco is taking small steps to combat global warming and reduce dependency on imported oil. Small-scale pilot projects with solar, hydraulic and wind power have been successful, Benallou said. He hopes to build on them to provide renewable energy for 7.5 million rural residents who now light their homes with kerosene lamps and power their televisions off car batteries.

On Saturday, Benallou's center unveiled a 10-year program to increase reliance on renewable energy to 10 percent, from about 1.5 percent now. The plan drew on advice from the U.S. Department of Energy (news - web sites). Error: Unable to read footer file.