Abstract

Climate change is exacerbating the already pronounced water crisis in the Maghreb and multiplying the risks to food security, health and livelihoods. This also threatens key state functions such as protection and security (e.g., from floods and droughts), supply (e.g., with drinking water) and popular participation (e.g., in decisions about water infrastructure and distribution). In many places, this leads to sometimes violent protests as the population questions the legitimacy of their governments. At the same time, the region’s social contract are based on highly unequal and unsustainable water use in which an influential elite is allowed to extract unlimited amounts of groundwater for agriculture in many places while small farmers are underserved, and influential investors in tourism and other investment projects are inadequately regulated. Therefore, this lecture will explain why water governance is central to social contracts in the Maghreb and the risks, as well as opportunities, for inclusive development pathways that the climate change challenge entails.