Here is the full text of the royal message which was read by H.R.H. Princess Lalla Hasnaa: "Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa, President of the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection, Madam Director General of UNESCO, Mr Director General of ISESCO, Mr Executive Director of the United Nations Environment Programme, Mr President of the Foundation for Environmental Education, Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen,

It is a pleasure for Us to address this message to the participants in the work of the seventh World Environmental Education Congress, proud that its sessions are being held in our country, under the presidency of Our honourable Sister, Her Royal Highness Princess Lalla Hasnaa.

This eminent world meeting takes on particular importance, not only with regard to the large number of countries, organisations and specialised international bodies that are taking part, but also because it constitutes an ideal opportunity to highlight the role of education and awareness in the achievement of sustainable development. It also offers the opportunity to deepen research and the exchange of opinions on the best approaches to adopt in the matter, those that take into consideration the mutations as diverse as they are profound that our world has known over the last decade, notably since the holding, in the friendly Portuguese Republic, of your first Congress in 2003.

Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen,

The Kingdom of Morocco is fully aware that strong and sustained economic growth, coupled with balanced social development, requires the adoption of a proactive policy for the protection of the environment. A policy that relies on the mobilisation of energies and the concentration of all national efforts to ensure sustainable development where economic and ecological dimensions go hand in hand. In this regard, our country was among the precursor countries that adhered to the principles of the "Rio Declaration", "Agenda 21", as well as multilateral environmental agreements. Furthermore, Morocco has deployed significant efforts on the legal and institutional levels to implement several plans and programmes aimed at integrating the ecological dimension into the various national public policies.

However, the transition towards sustainable development cannot be achieved solely through the mobilisation of the means and technical, regulatory and financial instruments necessary for this purpose. It also requires, and primarily, a radical change in our ways of thinking and acting. Clearly, this objective can only be achieved at the cost of optimal investment in human resources and social capital.

Consequently, the need to activate the role of education and awareness in the matter remains the pivot of any judicious approach aimed at bringing about the necessary transition towards a green, solidarity-based economy that respects natural ecosystems. It is also necessary to strive to involve all actors in the pursuit of this objective and to pool, for this purpose, the efforts of public authorities and the private sector and the initiatives of civil society organisations. Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen, The pertinent theme that you have chosen, namely "environmental education and the challenges of city-countryside harmony", is inscribed at the heart of the expectations that we place on this important congress. This subject takes on particular topicality insofar as it raises a multidimensional problem that is eminently important due to its centrality in the problem of sustainable development, especially for developing countries. Indeed, the desired harmony between cities and countryside necessarily calls for the control of migration from rural to urban areas and the fight against the desertification of the countryside induced by the negative impact of climate change.

It is therefore appropriate to question the most effective means to implement to ensure territorial, notably regional, solidarity, and on the types of human settlements that will have to be put in place to meet the needs of global development. This effort must be led at a time when the distinction between urban and rural spaces is becoming increasingly blurred, given that half of the world's population currently lives in cities.

Gathering participants endowed with high skills and sharp know-how, the work of this international congress will have to study the possibility of developing rational and ambitious methods dedicated to the question of environmental education and ecological conscience. Methods centred on the strengthening of networks of educators and trainers working in total coordination with networks of researchers and pedagogues, while involving university actors even more. In this regard, you are called upon, Ladies and Gentlemen participants, to launch from Marrakech a clear call inciting an increased involvement of public authorities, specialised bodies and donors, and inviting to develop tools allowing to take advantage of singular experiences in the matter and to disseminate within the countries that need it greatly, the principles of governance and responsibility specific to this field.

The Kingdom of Morocco grasps the importance of these questions and measures their close correlation with sustainable development. Because of this, it reaffirms its strong commitment to work further within the international community to seek appropriate solutions, share them with all the parties concerned and collaborate in their implementation.

It is in this capacity that our country is actively engaged within the framework of the international campaign resulting from the 5th World Urban Forum, held in Rio in 2010. We are contributing our support to it, Morocco being one of the pilot countries in this field. Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen,

The final document of Rio+20 has taken care to reaffirm very clearly the commitment of the international community to promote a global strategy of urban planning and the establishment of human settlements, within the framework of an effective partnership with the inhabitants, and by relying on awareness and education. These are two essential levers having a role to play in the profound transformations required by the transition towards sustainable modes of life, consumption and production.

On this occasion, We wish to salute the appreciable efforts deployed by civil society actors in terms of environmental protection, with, primarily, the Mohammed VI Foundation for Environmental Protection. Its adherence within the Foundation for Environmental Education is a consecration of the efforts it leads notably to develop ecological conscience and promote environmental education, notably among young generations. To do this, it has always relied on an effective partnership with public administrations, with, in the front line, the Ministry of National Education, the public bodies concerned, private sector actors and the civil society organisations concerned. Another motive for satisfaction is the growing number of associations interested in environmental questions, which are developing on a national scale, at the local level, and even in the neighbourhoods. In this regard, We welcome the action of these associations, which focuses on the role of environmental education in the awareness of populations in general, and children and young people in particular, of the need to preserve the environment and to bring their effective contribution to sustainable development.

In order to confer on this trend a national and strategic scope, and by virtue of the principle of participatory democracy, consecrated by the new Constitution of the Kingdom, civil society organisations are called upon today to bring their effective contribution to the implementation of the provisions of the new framework law bearing the National Charter for the Environment and Sustainable Development, currently submitted for adoption by Parliament, as well as to the accompaniment of their application. This is all the more so since this Charter has highlighted the rule of participation of all actors in the process of development and execution of policies, strategies, programmes and plans relating to the protection of the environment and sustainable development.

This national charter, resulting from a wide consultation with the different parties concerned, including civil society organisations, aims to forge an ecological conscience, individual and collective, susceptible to inducing a real change in behaviours and to incite all actors to involve themselves resolutely in the effort of preservation of biodiversity and the quality of natural capital. Its objective is also to consolidate the culture of environmental preservation, considered as a constant preoccupation for all the citizens involved in the dynamic of sustainable development that the Kingdom is experiencing. The new Constitution of the Kingdom has given pride of place to the environmental question by stipulating the right of all to live in a healthy environment and to benefit from the fruits of sustainable development, and by providing for the representation of associations active in the field of environmental protection within the Economic, Social and Environmental Council. Besides this, the new provisions of the National Charter constitute the major reference and the principal vector for all national legislation relating to development. Excellencies, Ladies, Gentlemen,

We await with keen interest the results to which the work of your important congress will lead, and the recommendations that will result from it, and which will be of a nature to enrich the debate on the best means to implement to develop and adapt the methods of environmental education to the expected objectives and put them at the service of sustainable development.

We wish you today welcome to your second country, Morocco, as well as a pleasant stay among us, and implore the Most High to crown your work with success. Wassalamou alaikoum warahmatoullahi wabarakatouh".