Sustainable development in Morocco: law and citizenship. This is the theme chosen for a round table within the framework of the preparations for Rio+20 scheduled for 21 and 22 June.

This event, which took place last Monday at the Faculty of Education Sciences in Rabat, was organised by the Ministry of Energy, Mines, Water and Environment, the Interministerial Delegation for Human Rights, and the Mohammed V-Souissi University of Rabat. It took place in the presence of numerous personalities, notably the Interministerial Delegate for Human Rights, the President of the Mohammed V-Souissi University, the representative of the Environment department, faculty deans, researchers, representatives of associations specialising in the field of the environment, as well as students.

Through the interventions that took place and the debates to which they gave rise, the emphasis was placed on the role of law and citizenship in the protection of the environment.

We know that Morocco has integrated the issue of the environment into its concerns and therefore into its policy since 1972, coinciding with the United Nations Conference on the Human Environment in Stockholm.

However, even if the environment did not constitute a major concern for certain stakeholders and actors before the mid-80s, it remains the case that Morocco had, at the legal level, several legislative and regulatory texts covering a wide range in the field of the environment and natural resources, laws that it updated whenever the need arose.

All of these achievements have contributed greatly to taking into account the environmental fact and its consecration in public policies, and to the improvement of various sectoral programmes and strategies, on the one hand, and the coordination between different actors and stakeholders, on the other.

Moreover, the new Constitution consecrates for the first time environmental rights among human rights and stipulates clearly, at the level of the preamble and Title II which is a true charter of fundamental freedoms and rights (articles 19, 31, 71, and 88), access to water, the recognition of the right to a healthy environment, and the right of future generations.

Other articles of the Constitution also concern the environment, notably:

- article 35 devoted to the realisation of sustainable and human development;

- article 71 empowering Parliament to vote on framework laws concerning the fundamental objectives of the economic, social, environmental, and cultural activity of the State.

However, this legal and institutional arsenal is not sufficient in itself, if it is not accompanied by actions and measures in the field of education and awareness, framing the behaviour of citizens towards the environment with a view to changing modes and attitudes that negatively influence the quality of the environment and the protection of natural resources.

This is why the issue of environmental citizenship has become an essential imperative that conditions the success of the national and international legal act.