Oued El Maleh watershed is considered the largest ocean basin of the Chaouia-Ouardigha region in Morocco. Severe flooding occurred in 1996, 2001 and 2002 in the watershed. Thus, significant economic and human damage has been caused. The floods of Mohammedia city, located in the outlet of the watershed, were due to the silting of the Oued El Maleh dam which has lost its ability to retain water. This work, therefore, aims to assess soil losses by water erosion in the Oued El Maleh watershed through modeling main factors involved in water erosion. The methodology used is based on the use of the universal soil loss equation (USLE). The model includes the following factors: soil erodibility, the inclination of slopes, the rainfall erosivity, vegetation cover and erosion control practices. The aggressiveness of rainfall was calculated for a number of stations bordering the study area and interpolated across the watershed using geostatistical model. Soil erodibility was extracted from soil map and soil survey. The effect of topography was approached by combining the degree of slope and slope length using a digital elevation model (ASTER) and ArcHydrology extension (ArcGIS). The vegetation cover was derived from Landsat image ETM through the supervised classification method. The index of erosion control practices was approached by field visits. All factors have been measured and integrated into a geographic information system which enabled us to spatialize the degree of sediment production at the watershed scale in a synthetic map. The annual soil loss is 8.21 t/ha/yr and the soil loss classification shows that surfaces affected by high erosion are equivalent to 10% of the watershed. Furthermore, this map is available to support land managers policy makers in the process of decision making related to soil conservation, infrastructure and citizens' property protection.

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Along with being a dynamic process that affects large areas, desertification is also one of the most serious problems in many countries. The effects of this phenomenon threaten the sustainability of natural resources, namely water resources, agricultural production and major basic infrastructure, specifically roads and habitations. Several factors exacerbate this phenomenon such as the climate dryness, the geological and morphological characteristics of the terrain, the irrational use of space, population growth and the over-exploitation of vegetation and water resources. This work aims to evaluate the desertification index in the Oued-El-Maleh watershed, through the integration of key factors involved in the MEDALUS model (Mediterranean Desertification and Land Use) within a GIS. The model includes among its indexes: climate, vegetation, soil and management. Each index was obtained by the combination of sub-indexes. All the factors, measured and integrated into a geographic information system, enabled us to spatialize, on a synthetic map, the degree of the desertification effect throughout the watershed. This map is a managing tool available for decision-making regarding the selection of priority areas in the fight against desertification. High sensitivity to desertification class represents only 35% of the watershed. This class is concentrated in the north of the study area that corresponds to plains and low altitude. This could be explained by the dominance of agro-pastoral activity and the presence of a big population pressure.

Le changement climatique constitue un grand défi à relever par les politiques publiques et les gestionnaires des espaces naturels. La compréhension de ses impacts sur les écosystèmes forestiers constitue un préalable nécessaire à toute réflexion visant leur conservation et le maintien des services écosystémiques qu’ils offrent. Cette étude s’est intéressée à la modélisation de la distribution potentielle de Cedrus atlantica Manetti, à l’identification des variables environnementales conditionnant sa distribution, et à la définition de l’étendue géographique des aires qui sont favorables à sa présence sous les conditions climatiques passées, actuelles et futures. Ce travail a été réalisé en se basant sur le principe d’entropie maximale. La cartographie des aires potentielles révèle la sensibilité du cèdre aux changements climatiques passés et suggère une grande étendue (quadruple de la surface d’occurrence actuelle de l’espèce) des zones bioclimatiquement adaptées au développement de cette espèce sous les conditions climatiques actuelles. Cependant, les distributions potentielles futures semblent être dépendantes de certains sites spécifiques et risquent d’être affectées négativement par le climat futur. Ces résultats mettent en évidence l’ampleur des régressions projetées des superficies du cèdre dans le futur, ce qui pourrait impacter considérablement les fonctions et services de cet écosystème et augmenter les risques d’extinction locale. Ils constituent par ailleurs un bon outil de prise de décision pour les gestionnaires du territoire quant à la conservation de ce précieux écosystème forestier, afin d’éviter toute extinction de ce foyer de biodiversité marocaine.