Assessing National Progress in Achieving the Sustainable Development Goals: A Case Study of Morocco

Abstract

The achievement of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) for any nation has become more of an urgent priority in the global agenda than at any time before, especially under the light of recent disrupting events such as the COVID-19 pandemic, the alarming food–water–energy trilemma, and the geopolitical upheavals impacting the supply chain of vital commodities. Assessing the sustainable progress of a country over time can help policy makers establish and develop robust strategies by identifying their strengths and weaknesses, allocating adequate resources, and understanding how far the country is from achieving the SDGs. No prior research has evaluated the SDGs performance composite index in Morocco. Hence, this study evaluates the national level of SDG progress by analyzing 13 out of 17 SDGs, including 46 available economic, social, and environmental indicators from 2001 to 2018, to provide factual data that can be used as a decision-making basis. The selection of indicators is established based on the framework adopted by the UN General Assembly. A composite index was created and quantified using the min–max normalization technique, the geometric product aggregation, and the overall scores of Morocco’s SDG performance and the different dimensions were calculated. The results show that economic performance was the worst among the other dimensions. Morocco is progressing to achieve the environmental and social targets, but more effort is required to absorb the needs linked with population growth and improvement of living standards. The developed framework could be of great interest for scientists and researchers to assess the national SDG progress of other countries.

Regional Agriculture and Food Systems Amid the COVID-19 Pandemic: The Case of the Near East and North Africa Region

“…Likewise, multiple crises (viz., COVID-19, the economic crisis, and the Beirut port explosions) increased the prevalence of food insecurity in Lebanon [51]. Some studies even posit that the pandemic slowed down the realization of the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) in several NENA countries, e.g., Morocco [52].…”

Biodiversity Conservation Efforts Among Muslim Countries: Evidence From the Organization of Islamic Cooperation Countries

“…29-05) and joined the international regime on wildlife protection by enforcing the Convention on International Trade in Endangered Species of Wild Fauna and Flora (CITES). In the last two decades, the international wildlife regime has provided almost USD 200 billion in funding to the country (Ammari et al, 2022). At the local policy level, the country has implemented stronger legal measures to protect fishery resources and banned the use of gill nets.…”

“…They have also launched the "Morocco Forests 2020-2030" national strategy, which aims to preserve national forests to prevent desertification and wildfires. The strategy also focuses on safeguarding endangered species of wild plants and animals (Ammari et al, 2022). Similarly, in Uganda, the United Nations Development Programme (UNDP) reported in 2023 that the country has created a regional cooperation framework to protect its forests and wildlife areas, such as the Albertine Rift Eco-Region, with financial support from the Global Environment Facility (GEF).…”

From Targets to Action: Analyzing the Viability of REPowerEU in Achieving Energy Sustainability

“…The composite index method is used to construct energy sustainability composite index (ESCI). The main advantage of this method is that it allows combining numerous different indicators with different units of measurement to obtain a single metric -the composite index [7]. In addition, the results are easy to interpret because the ESCI results are scaled in an interval from 0 to 1, where 1 is the maximum value and 0 is the minimum value [8].…”