An Illustrative Model of (Non) Local Governance: Morocco’s Coastal Zones

Coastal areas concentrate a large part of the world’s population, as well as its worst territorial governance issues. As an area of interactions between land and sea, coastal zones pose enormous challenges for decision-makers. For example, it is impossible to manage the land without worrying about the management of the sea and vice versa. Often coastal management is done selectively and partially. This has an impact on coastal sustainability and on coastal ecosystem services. In Morocco, the coastal zone plays an increasing role in the country’s economy. By joining SDG14 and adopting the Blue Economy paradigm, all eyes in the country turned towards the coastal zone. Since 2015, the coastal zone is the object of a dedicated law. This law establishes a coastal planning system based on a participatory approach. Called “integrated coastal zone management” (Gestion intégrée du littoral), this approach poses serious challenges for local and national authorities. One of the most important challenges is the limited powers of these authorities both in their content and in their scope. This is in contradiction with the principles of coastal governance as adopted at the international level, as in the framework of the SDGs. Besides, this is opposed to the approach of good governance promoted by the Constitution. This chapter will first address some important legal principles of coastal governance, second, it will explain the legal planning coastal framework in Morocco and third some challenges to coastal governance in this country by presenting concrete examples and suggesting some reflexive thoughts.