From 9 to 14 June 2013, the ochre city will put on its finest finery to host the seventh edition of the World Environmental Education Congress (WEEC). A global event organised under the aegis of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection. For a week, experts from the four corners of the world will debate the issue of environmental education and awareness. There will be nearly 1,500 delegates exchanging their experiences. This meeting is all the more important as the chosen theme is topical. It relates to the "challenges of better harmony between cities and the countryside". The phenomenon of rural exodus is expanding in Morocco as everywhere else.

Indeed, there are thousands who leave their country with rage in their hearts, putting their lives in danger. They flee poverty, hunger, cultural intolerance, conflicts, and the effects of environmental degradation. They are also looking for new opportunities. In cities, as in rural areas, social relations are put to the test, exacerbated by the gaps in lifestyles and opportunities. However, rural-urban migrations can also bring benefits, for example by freeing rural lands from congestion and fragmentation.

What can environmental educators do to solve these problems? This is what the experts of the 7th WEEC will debate. But they will also address eleven other themes, or thematic niches, which do not escape the trend with subjects such as communications and the impact of social media, social movements and the constitution of green societies, or which also propose to reflect on ecological economies and green economies, or ways to reconcile the economy and ecology. A colourful programme has been concocted for the occasion. Furthermore, an exhibition space will be dedicated to the promotion of environmental projects, and to the "Made in Morocco" product and also to highlighting the actions of NGOs as well as the work of schoolchildren and young people in the field of environmental education.

In parallel, cultural animations and excursions will be organised: cultural and tourist circuits, open days, among others. A good number of themes will be addressed during these visits, notably awareness and education actions, energy efficiency, reuse of wastewater, organic farming, enhancement of protected sites and areas, scientific research.

On the speaker side, the WEEC 2013 will welcome a plethora of renowned lecturers. Thus, Irina Bokova, Director-General of UNESCO, will make the trip as well as Achim Steiner, Executive Director of UNEP, or David Orr, distinguished professor of environmental and political studies. The presence of Vandana Shiva, Indian ecologist, writer, and feminist, is highly anticipated as well as that of Haidar El-Ali, Senegalese ecologist, president of the NGO Oceanium.