Algeria’s Minister of Irrigation, Taha Derbal, accused “Morocco of causing harm to transboundary surface water flowing into western Algeria, which he claims has led to multiple environmental disasters,” according to Algerian news outlet Echorouk Online.
He made these remarks during his speech at the 10th meeting of the parties to the Agreement on the Protection and Use of Transboundary Watercourses and International Lakes in Ljubljana, Slovenia.
This isn’t the first time Derbal has made such accusations; on May 22 of this year, during the 19th International Water Forum in Bali, Indonesia, he claimed that “Morocco is intentionally and systematically draining dams along its western border.”
The Algerian Minister said in Slovenia that “the western and southwestern regions of Algeria are suffering from the consequences of actions by our neighboring country, which undermine and deplete surface water sources.”
Derbal pointed to “the pollution of water entering the Hamman Boughrara dam in the Wilaya of Tlemcen,” in addition to “a significant decline in water supplies in the Ghir Valley due to Moroccan dams,” which he claimed has “led to prolonged soil dryness.”
He also noted “the alleged impact of these practices on the Saoura region in the southwest, where ecosystems, claimed the minister, have collapsed and biodiversity has suffered, affecting 43 species of rare birds and animals.”
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