Territorial sustainability performance assessment in African context: Case study of the Moroccan provinces

Territorial sustainability performance is becoming a core subject and an important governing tool for defining policies and strategies from the global to local scale. In this regard, this research has two main objectives. The first one is to develop composite indicators considering the social, environmental, and economic aspects as coupled systems for assessing the territorial sustainability performance (TSP) at the provincial level of Moroccan territory. The second objective is to identify provinces having difficulties in reaching economic growth, social equity, and environmental preservation. Using the standard constant-elasticity-of-substitution function, the TSP index was calculated based on 33 indicators, including 15, 13, and 5 for economic, social, and environmental indicators respectively. The evaluation was conducted at three levels: first; from indicators to nine dimension indices (Occupation, Education, Employment, Public Services, Health infrastructure, Tourism, Mobility, Vegetation, and Climate); second, from these dimensions to the three main aspects of sustainability; and finally, the TSP index. The results obtained from the composite index (TSPI) show that the majority of the Moroccan provinces present a low to moderate sustainability performance, requiring an effective improvement in those provinces' management. To better analyze the dimension performances and illustrate weaknesses and strengths, Moroccan provinces were subdivided into 5 main clusters using hierarchical and non-hierarchical Cluster-Analyses. The outcomes show that 62% of Moroccan provinces present some weaknesses in employment, education, and tourism. However, the public services, health infrastructure, and climate are the strengths of the remaining Moroccan provinces. These findings can be considered a valuable information system for adequate decisionmaking and enhancing vision in territorial planning and management.