Integrated Natural Resources Managment in a Context of Increasing Demand for Building Materials in the Prefecture of Tangier-Assilah (Northwestern Morocco)

The Prefecture of Tangier Assilah is experiencing an increasingly significant demand for construction materials, hence the need to open and operate new quarries. However, this constitutes an environmental risk on various scales. Hence, it is imperative to work towards an adequacy of the legal framework governing this activity, to raise several questions concerning the impacts on the environmental and socio-economic dimensions, to take up the challenge consisting of controlling these impacts and their integrated management, and to dissect some new technical measures likely to improve the governance of this activity. In this context, the main objective of this Study is to evaluate the potential of exploitable deposits in the Prefecture of Tangier Assilah, and the re-evaluation, according to legislative, technical or environmental constraints, of the possibilities of extension on the sites currently under development exploitation. This aims also to a better management and rational exploitation, thus facilitating the establishment of a quarry management plans in the Tangier-Assilah prefecture. To do this, the work was carried out in several phases, starting with the preparation of a cartographic database of the sector, field surveys, collection and analysis of data, and finally their processing under a GIS environment. Data analysis revealed the presence of 26 quarries in the prefecture, including 2 in activity, 3 in installation, and 1 inactive with a dominance of rock quarries, especially sandstone (19 quarries). The study carried out made it possible to identify at least 5 new sites, whose deposit will allow potential exploitation and the supply of sectors requiring at the prefecture level, while, located in rural areas, will be able to ensure the supply of the local market at middle term.