Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi El Alami, Gives Address on behalf of the Moroccan Parliament in the 144th IPU Assembly

Within the framework of Morocco’s Parliament participation in the 144^th Assembly of the Inter-Parliamentary Union (IPU), held in Nusa Dua-Bali, the Speaker of the House of Representatives, Rachid Talbi El Alami, delivered an address on behalf of the Kingdom’s Parliament, where he first commended the efforts engaged by the Parliament of Indonesia and its authorities to ensure the success of this Assembly, and praised the theme chosen by the IPU, "Mobilizing Parliaments to Act on Climate Change", given its great importance for all countries around the globe.

Speaking on the topic, the Speaker of the House of Representatives reiterated the commitment of the Kingdom of Morocco, under the leadership of His Majesty King Mohammed VI, may Allah assist him, to the environment and to the implementation of its undertakings within the framework of the Conference of the Parties to the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change (UNFCCC), which granted the Kingdom the trust of the international community. Such trust, the Speaker added, culminated in its election in early March in Nairobi to the presidency of the 6^th United Nations Environment Assembly (UNEA-6) for a two-year term, following the organization of the COP22 Summit in Marrakech. The Summit offered the opportunity to take practical measures for the benefit of our planet and to launch the climate justice initiatives for Africa.

Moreover, the Speaker of the House of Representatives recalled the leadership of the Kingdom of Morocco in the field of addressing climate change, as it has been proactive in implementing the necessary measures to protect the environment and reduce emissions that cause global warming. In this respect, he sees that the environment represents a general policy regulated by the Constitution, implemented within the framework of several public policies, and constitutes a component in various other policies, mentioning in this regard some of these ambitious policies.

In the same vein, he stressed the Kingdom's keenness to share its experiences and policies with other African countries through pilot projects, such as the Initiative for the Adaptation of African Agriculture, launched by His Majesty King Mohammed VI, during the COP22 in Marrakech in 2016. The initiative aims at mitigating the vulnerability of Africa and its agriculture to climate change and promoting agricultural projects in a number of African countries. Therefore, it will contribute to the prevention of poverty in the continent. On this occasion, the Speaker of the House of Representatives renewed the call for the establishment of productive partnerships to address the risks of climate imbalances posed to African citizens, especially partnerships that fall outside the traditional narrow understanding of support or cooperation for development, as long as the continent has great human and natural potential to produce wealth (60% of the arable lands in the world are located in Africa).

The Speaker seized the opportunity to also raise the issue of marine environment pollution, highlighting the commitment of the Kingdom of Morocco to the sustainable, rational and regulated exploitation of maritime resources and its involvement in all international initiatives aimed at the preservation of the marine environment, the latest of which was the participation of the Head of the Government in the “One Ocean Summit” in Brest, France, in February 2022.

In the same context, the Speaker highlighted a number of obstacles to the implementation of the conventions in the field of environmental protection, such as the lack of commitment of governments and donor agencies to agreements, poor funding pledged to finance alternative policies and measures to those that cause greenhouse gas emissions, inadequate engagement by donor States to a green and sustainable economy, as well as the weak sharing and high cost of clean technologies.

In order to give the example in the field of environmental conservation, the Speaker reviewed the experience of the House of Representatives of the Kingdom of Morocco, which is pioneering in the field of environmental conservation through the adoption of new technologies in data circulation and in the production of energy that it uses, from renewable sources. In this respect, he noted that the House uses renewable sources to produce more than 50% (annual average) of its needs, while the use of digital technologies in data circulation has facilitated the reduction of paper usage by 80%.