The High Authority of Audiovisual Communication (HACA) held, on October 31^st 2017 in Rabat, the signing ceremony of “The National Charter for Media, Environment and Sustainable Development” by its partners, pursuant to the recommendations of the meeting organized by the HACA on November 9^th during the preparations of COP22 summit in Morocco.

The Charter, signed by 30 national institutions including ministerial departments, territorial authorities, private sector, training and research institutes and civil society representatives, as well as audiovisual and print media, besides a panel of experts, aims at reinforcing the impact of national media, enabling them to overcome important environmental challenges that Morocco faces, while taking into account issues of the sustainable development.

It her opening speech, the president of the High Authority, Ms. Amina Lemrini El Ouahabi, underlined the current environmental situation that is becoming increasingly complex due to the harmful impact of man on earth, which can compromise future generations quality of life. She also highlighted the context framing this Charter, aligned with the necessity to “make up for lost years” through a global and continuous mobilization, a royal guideline evoked in His Majesty King Mohammed VI opening speech at the launch of COP22. She added that media, in addition to animating the public debate and influencing public policies, should, in this regard, play a leading and major role through the selection and treatment of relevant environmental information, and accomplish their real-time information missions in critical and citizen awareness.

Furthermore, Head of Government Mr. Saâd Eddine El Othmani highly commended President of the HACA on the substantial efforts of her institution, in particular for the methodology adopted to draw up this Charter, on the basis of an approach built on a multilateral institutional mobilization. In this regard, Mr. El Othmani appealed to all stakeholders to adopt this “noble” and “urgent” Charter and accompany its implementation, in order to support all national media, and facilitate their work in terms of sustainable development and environment protection.  Mr. El Othmani also acclaimed this initiative which “goes beyond what is subjective to become a national human and humanitarian cause”, stating that this project is a result of joint endeavor of all actors regarding the environment and the sustainable development. He also added that this achievement reflects the global dynamic that Morocco witnessed for more than 10 years in this field, and which goes hand-in-hand with the sustainable development objectives

For his part, President of COP 22, Mr. Salaheddine Mezouar indicated that this significant event coincides with the preparations of COP 23 which is going to be held in Bonn, Germany, from 6th to 17th November 2017. He also confirmed that Morocco has to make exemplary proofs in the environment field through melting public and territorial policies. Mr. Mezouar also highlighted the potent role that media plays in accompanying public policy as a “Positive pressure force” and in encouraging decision-makers to accelerate the pace of the implementation of environmental policies.

While in her intervention, Ms. Secretary of State for Sustainable Development Nezha El Ouafi, shed light on the National Strategy for Sustainable Development 2030 adopted by the Ministerial Council that reflects Morocco’s will to optimize the implementation of the UN Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs). Moreover, she did not miss this opportunity to congratulate HACA for its initiative to launch this Charter that aligns with Morocco’s orientations and ability to reach the SDGs, in addition to being a key element to achieve these goals by 2030.

The President of the General Confederation of Moroccan Enterprises, Ms. Meriem Bensalah Chaqroun also congratulated HACA for its accomplishment in promoting national media role, in order to overcome the environmental challenges, and participate in the establishment of an inclusive and sustainable development model. She also stressed on the crucial role of media in the environmental field, bridging the work carried out by the State, civil society and companies, in addition to raising citizens' awareness of the issues of environmental protection and resources preservation.

For Mr. Vice-President of L’Association des Régions du Maroc (ARM), Abdessamad Sekkal, he emphasized that the objective of the Charter goes hand in hand with the principal missions assigned by the Constitution for the regional institutions to assure the elaboration of structuring and sustainable programs. Furthermore, he explicated that media participates in supporting these programs, and that it is essential to form media professionals specialized in the environmental issues and capable, as the Fourth Estate, of analyzing the regional council plans.

During this meeting, the Charter signatories reiterated their commitment to support media, particularly by updating legislative and organic texts to fill in any gaps, by allowing media access to reliable and up-to-date information, periodic studies and reports relating to the environment, and integrating them into the various environmental events, as well as developing media and environmental projects as part of their strategies.

It should be noted that the major axes of this Charter include, among other objectives, the "promotion of the culture of sustainable development”, through bolstering media role, in a concerted action with all partners, with the aim of addressing environmental challenges both at the national and international levels.

Download “The National Charter for Media, Environment and Sustainable Development”