Adaptation to Climate Change in Ourika

The aim of this paper is to propose and test a systemic cost–benefit method to evaluate changes on environmental services based on a spatial interaction model with land use. The calibrated bid-rents of the model relate to land values for the present situation and once adjusted to simulations of policy scenarios show variations in land values that reveal changes in the value of ecosystem services. Besides the presentation of the method, the paper evaluates two policy scenarios in the Ourika Valley, in Morocco: keep pasture or promote the forestation of the erosive pasture. The paper concludes that forestation is worse in terms of job loss, but it is better in terms of changes in total economic value.