Importance of Wetlands in Maintaining the Richness of Morocco's Vascular Flora

Morocco's wetlands are renowned much more for their abundance and diversity than for their extent. The vascular flora of wetlands is not properly considered in national programs for the conservation and protection of biodiversity, although the first work concerning it dates back about half a century. This work highlights the overall richness of wetlands in terms of vascular plants. Indeed, around 36% of the Moroccan vascular flora exist in wetlands as specific (ST), facultative (FT) or opportunistic (OT) taxa. This taxonomic richness of wetlands, notable in North Atlantic Morocco and the Rif, depends more on local conditions than on bio-geographical zoning. The various factors that threaten this richness of vascular flora are emphasized in the context of disturbing wetland habitats and alarming global warming, i.e. unreliable database of local wetland biodiversity, inefficiency of development programs and actions that have been attempted, and non-comprehensive decision-making. It is particularly expected that Morocco's commitment to the conservation of global biodiversity will lead to the development of a sustainable policy to conserve local wetlands.