Colleagues,

the report of the FAO contribution to the World Bank-Morocco study on climate
change impact on agriculture has been finalized and the PDF version is now
available at:
ftp://ext-ftp.fao.org/SD/Reserved/Agromet/WB_FAO_morocco_CC_yield_impact/repo
rt/

World Bank - Morocco study on the impact of climate change on the
agricultural sector. Impact of climate change on agricultural yields in
Morocco.

The Ministry of Agriculture, Rural Development and Fisheries (MPAM) and the
World Bank (WB), in collaboration with the National Institute for
Agricultural Research (INRA), the Food and Agriculture Organization of the
United Nations (FAO) and the National Meteorology Authority (DMN) together
undertook an original exploratory study to quantify the impact of climate
change on Moroccan agriculture by the end of the 21st century. The objective
of MPAM and WB is to determine the economic and political options for
adapting Moroccan agriculture vis-à-vis climate change so that Morocco is not
caught unawares by possible crisis situations. This study is operationally
organized in 5 phases: 1) future climate projections at the level of Morocco;
2) impact on agricultural yields; 3) impact on water resources; 4) economic
impact and 5) public policy options for adapting to climate change.

The impact of climate change on agricultural yields constitutes the second
phase of the "World Bank - Kingdom of Morocco: Adaptation to climate change
in the agriculture sector". It builds on climate change scenario data
developed by Wilby (2008) and provides one of the bases upon which "Impacts
on Farming Systems" and "Economic impact assessments", will be based, leading
eventually to "Policy adaptation options". The results presented in this
report are purely descriptive in the sense that they do not endeavour to
propose solutions, at this stage of the study, for adapting to climate
change. The present document is an interim report on climate change impacts
on crop yields in Morocco and it is part of a larger study led by the World
Bank and the Government of Morocco on climate change and agriculture. The
yield component was coordinated by FAO with INRA and DMN as the main national
partners. The comprehensive final report is under preparation by the World
Bank.

The structure of this document is as follows: after the present preamble, a
summary of the study on yields is given, with some background about climate
change scenarios, in three languages (English, French and Arabic). Although
the body of this document is written in English, the reader will find a
detailed summary and the legends of figures and tables provided in French and
Arabic as well, immediately after the table of contents that follows the
summaries.

Best regards,

Michele Bernardi
Climate Change and Bioenergy Unit (NRCB)
Environment, Climate Change and Bioenergy Division
Natural Resources Management and Environment Department
Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO)

http://www.fao.org/climatechange/home/en/

http://www.fao.org/nr/climpag/