Rabat — Morocco-sponsored Sahelo-Saharan Megafauna Initiative (IMFSS) was adopted during the 14th session of the Conference of the Parties (COP14) of the Convention on Migratory Species (CMS), held on February 12-17 in Samarkand, Uzbekistan.

The IMFSS was welcomed by all the Parties to this convention as well as by international nature conservation organizations, according to a press release from the National Agency for Water and Forests (ANEF), the national focal point of CMS which sponsors the initiative.

This initiative, mandated for Morocco during the third regional seminar on the conservation and restoration of Sahelo-Saharan Megafauna, held in March 2023 in Agadir, aims to establish a framework for cooperation and coordination for the conservation and restoration of Sahelo-Saharan megafauna species and their habitats between the 16 States of the range of these species: Morocco, Mauritania, Algeria, Tunisia, Egypt, Libya, South Sudan, Sudan, Burkina Faso, Eritrea, Ethiopia, Mali, Niger, Nigeria, Senegal and Chad, ANEF underlined.

The IMFSS concerns 9 threatened species of the Sahelo-Saharan megafauna, of which 6 species exist in Morocco: addax, scimitar-horned oryx, Barbary mouflon, Cuvier's gazelle, dama gazelle and dorcas gazelle, and aims to encourage the States of the Sahelo-Saharan region to develop and implement action plans for the conservation of these species.

ANEF stressed that its commitment to the conservation of endemic Sahelo-Saharan megafauna has been comforted by the implementation of a set of concrete measures, within the framework of the "2020-2030 Morocco's Forests" Strategy, launched by HM King Mohammed VI on February 13, 2020, aimed at the conservation and rehabilitation of these species and their habitats.

Morocco, "leader in the region" in conservation programs for Sahelo-Saharan megafauna, has "the largest numbers in semi-captivity and in the wild of the dama gazelle, the cuvier gazelle, the Barbary mouflon and the addax," ANEF pointed out.

The IMFSS therefore offers "a collaborative framework where Morocco will play a leadership role in the region to strengthen the conservation of these migratory species and improve their conservation", the same source added.