The city of Khenifra was there with the launch, on Friday, of the Wetland Observatory of the Atlas Cedar Biosphere Reserve initiated by the Moroccan Association for Ecotourism and Nature Protection (AMEPN).
On the program of this workshop to launch this project, the presentation of the overall context of the project Contribution to the conservation of freshwater biodiversity and the improvement of its management and safeguarding both at the level of the Khenifra National Park and at the level of the Atlas Cedar Biosphere Reserve, wetlands and national parks, as well as several other biodiversity conservation and enhancement initiatives.
Speaking on this occasion, the coordinator of the AMEPN, Brahim Aboulabass underlined that the creation of the Observatory of the wetlands of the biosphere reserve of the Atlas cedar is an initiative aiming at the establishment of a platform of monitoring of the evolution of the natural ecosystems of the wetlands contained in this large biosphere reserve.
Faced with the effects of climate change and anthropogenic pressure, the observatory is intended as a monitoring tool to assess the spatio-temporal evolutionary trend of these natural spaces, he pointed out.
The setting up of this observatory also fits in the wake of the ecological movement of the observatory of Mediterranean wetlands, the objectives of which are in particular to obtain timely information on the status and trends of the wetlands in the reserve, identify threats to wetlands and identify actions to promote their protection, wise use and restoration.
This observatory, he continues, will allow scientists and decision-makers to catalyze, centralize and share experiences on the status and trends of wetlands.
It should be noted that to concretize this initiative, the AMEPN and its partners plan to launch the idea of the Observatory of the wetlands of the biosphere reserve of the cedar of the Atlas to cover in a first phase the wetlands of the national parks of Ifrane, Khenifra and the High Atlas Oriental, constituting the central areas of this reserve.
It will also serve the managers of the national parks in question with a view to setting up a system for monitoring the evolution of wetlands and providing the necessary management for their conservation and their rational and sustainable use.