The coast of Al Hoceima is located in the central part of the northern coast of Morocco, along the Mediterranean Sea. The main coastal issues considered in this case are urban sprawl and coastal planning, resources management and climate change impacts.

The Pegaso work in Al Hoceima is dealing with local communities and stakeholders responsible to what is intended in an ICZM process by using innovative tools such as Ecosystem-based approach, indicators of ICZM performance, visioning on a participatory approach. The use of an informed set of indicators for monitoring the state of coastal environment and resources, and the provision of vulnerability maps will guide the decision making at a regional and national level.

For the time being, the process of identifying the main stakeholders at regional and national level has been initiated using a classification method according to their importance, power, knowledge, attitude and perception of coastal zone management. The different stakeholders have been contacted and several meetings have been organized over the last months.

The team is also working on an ongoing analysis on shoreline projections in response to the sea level rise and an assessment of areas at risk of coastal flooding including a vulnerability assessment (physical and socioeconomic) of the coastal areas to the sea level rise and storm surges, amongst other.

The first results based on the historical evolution of the coastline show that 68% of the shoreline is erosive, 12% is in accretion, and 20% is stable, revealing the predominant degradation of the coastline.

A workshop to present and validate the first results on indicators and scenarios is planned to be held in Al Hoceima in October 2012.