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In the context of Morocco’s rich biodiversity and pressing environmental challenges, this paper delves into the intricate dynamics of sustainable development in the country. With a focus on biodiversity conservation, water scarcity, climate change impacts, anthropogenic pressures, and energy resource management, Morocco is navigating ecosolutions and sustainable development. This research highlights the critical importance of biodiversity conservation efforts in preserving the nation’s diverse ecosystems while contributing to national development. Challenges such as forest reduction, agricultural water stress, and declining mammal diversity underscore the urgency of conservation actions. Climate change exacerbates issues in oases, impacting agricultural yields and ecosystem health. This paper also addresses the management of mineral resources and waste production, which pose significant challenges to environmental sustainability. Through strategic policies, international engagements, and capacity-building initiatives, Morocco is striving to achieve resilience and sustainability in the face of evolving global dynamics. By integrating governance, environmental diplomacy, and multilateral cooperation, Morocco is laying a robust foundation for economic growth, social progress, and environmental protection. This manuscript provides a comprehensive overview of Morocco’s environmental challenges, innovative solutions, and commitment to sustainable development in a rapidly changing world.

Copyright of Mélanges francophones is the property of Galati University Press and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

The various French public actions in support of biodiversity conservation have led to developing and rationalizing the production of knowledge on nature. Implementation of the "système d'information sur la nature et les paysages" (SINP) by the Ministry of Ecology aims to standardize data recording. Its purpose is to remedy the lacks in data recording and make data retrieval easier. Our paper focuses on the consequences of SINP implementation for NGOs who are the main data collecting structures. Our analysis is based on a socio-anthropological approach and considers the production of data to be linked to a general process of standardization on the one hand and as result of NGO activity on the other. We question whether the two logics are compatible. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Copyright of Biotechnologie, Agronomie, Societe et Environnement is the property of Les Presses Agronomiques de Gembloux and its content may not be copied or emailed to multiple sites or posted to a listserv without the copyright holder's express written permission. However, users may print, download, or email articles for individual use. This abstract may be abridged. No warranty is given about the accuracy of the copy. Users should refer to the original published version of the material for the full abstract. (Copyright applies to all Abstracts.)

This paper is based on uncommon data: the narratives of projects dealing with biodiversity management and which associate agricultural and environmental spheres. Three intervention research situations are analysed using the concepts of science m action. The analysis is focussed on several aspects: the main characteristics of the groups including researchers and actors, the information these groups refer to, and the tools for action produced by the collective work. The kind of biodiversity which is addressed is neither the biodiversity which the Ministry is in charge of, nor the biologists' research object. It is biodiversity as defined by the groups who assume the responsibility of dealing with it. Following the group process through the researchers' narratives, we analyse the driving forces of this intervention research set-up, as compared with a more standard approach. [ABSTRACT FROM AUTHOR]

Description of the subject. Segetal plant species are highly threatened in arable land. They are an integral part of agricultural history and biodiversity in Western Europe. In Wallonia (southern Belgium), an agro-environmental scheme (AES) has been adopted for their conservation. It consists of strips on a field margin, with at least 60% cereals in crop rotation, and proscribes spraying and fertilisation. Objectives. This paper assessed the impact of an AES on segetal species conservation. Method. In eight organic fields and six conventional fields, a vegetation survey was performed on an AES strip and on a control margin of each field. Evenness, richness, cover and species composition for both total and segetal species were compared between AES strips and their corresponding control margins. Also, a cover of pernicious weeds was considered to be a factor in the rejection of AES by farmers. Results. In conventional agriculture, species richness (total and segetal) and cover (total and segetal) were higher in the AES than in the respective control; however, pernicious weed cover was also enhanced. In organic fields, total species richness was higher and pernicious weed cover was lower in the AES than in the respective control. Total evenness was higher in organic than in conventional fields, due to the co-dominance of several species. Under the AES, species composition and abundance remained different between conventional and organic fields. In all cases, rare species were hardly found in our survey. Conclusions. AES promote plant diversity in both organic and conventional fields. Sowing AES strips with uncleaned seeds from well-preserved fields, or species introduction, are recommended to enhance rare species recovery.

The history of the relationship between inhabitants and managers of the Picinguaba Administrative Nucleus in the Serra do Mar State Park (SMSP) is characterized by conflicts related to the rights to permanence and to the use of natural resources. The SMPS is located in the northern coast of São Paulo State, the richest and more developed state of Brazil. Created in 1977, the park remained on paper until the beginning of the 1980s decade. At this moment, these inhabitants, rural workers and fishermen, were delegitimized and lost their rights to work and to continue their cultural and productive activities. Since then, the inhabitants were considered illegal or, on their own words, “bandits”, due to the Brazilian law prohibiting the presence of inhabitants inside the Protected Areas with strictly protection. This research aims to analyze the conflicts, strategies and organization of the different social actors (inhabitants, managers, members of NGOs and researchers) related to the Picinguaba Nucleus, the use of natural resources and the access to land. All these actors have their own interests, perspectives, struggles and action strategies, and organize themselves around them in a very complex and multi-level arena. This conflict caused new forms of social organization in the SMSP: local leaders arose and communal associations that aim the struggle for the inhabitants rights were created. Three issues are transversal to this conflict and the strategies followed by the actors along the years: land issue, identity issue and use and conservation of natural resources issue. Thus, the inhabitants were organized around the struggle for their right to land, and using categories such as traditional people. All of this in a context with a Protected Area with strictly protection, located in a region not only with high biodiversity, but with a history of use of natural resources and human occupation.

Coastal wetlands, ecosystems that are providing diverse services and are subjected to multiple pressures, are confronted with contradictory management policies, torn between agricultural or hydropower development and biodiversity conservation. In a context of rapid environmental and socio-economic change, this is the case for the Senegal River Delta, which became a Biosphere Reserve in 2005.Within the framework of the LMI PATEO (IRD/UGB), an Information System for the management of natural resources in the Senegal River Delta was created in order to represent the complex and dynamic issues affecting it. This tool attempts to organize a set of normalized geographical data at the scale of this transboundary area. More specifically SIRENA endeavors to be a tool for dialogue and a support for decision-making requiring a participatory approach by, in particular, involving the stakeholders who are already producing and using spatialized data. This paper will present SIRENA (concepts, actions, first results) and questions the relevance of such a participatory platform for the sustainable governance of the resources and ecosystems of the Senegal River Delta.The emphasis is on the co-construction of the platform with the various stakeholders (protected area managers, researchers, geomatics experts) through all its phases from design to implementation. The set-up involves workshops for dialogue, training, fieldwork and the use of communication tools (mailing list, file exchange). The design and data collection feeding the system are managed by mixed thematic working groups. In this manner SIRENA has established a network of partners and created a platform for multi-stakeholder dialogue, rather than only collecting data or producing new knowledge. This collaborative process, that seeks to be permanent, is now confronting the challenge of developing an action-research programme for the sustainable governance of the Senegal Delta, potentially expanding to other deltas in West Africa.

The article focuses on the "South African Journal of Marine Science," which provide the need of southern African marine scientists to publish their research. The journal was published by the Marine and Coastal Management branch of the Department of Environmental Affairs and Tourism. It says that the journal was considered as one of the leading marine science journals produced in the Southern Hemisphere. Moreover, it serves as a forum for all aspects of marine science, from estuaries and coastal waters to the open ocean, from physical and chemical to biological oceanography, and including fisheries, socio-economic science, co-management, ecosystem and other topical advisory subjects.