Introducing Project-Based Climate Education in Moroccan Universities via a New Air Quality Monitoring Network in Rabat

¹ Laboratory of Atmospheric Processes and their Impacts, School of Architecture, Civil and Environmental Engineering, École Polytechnique Fédérale de Lausanne, 1015 Lausanne, Switzerland
² LS3MN2E-ENSAM, faculty of sciences, Mohammed V University, Rabat
³ LS3MN2E, faculty of sciences,Mohammed V University, Rabat
⁴ Institute of Chemical Engineering Sciences, Foundation for Research and Technology Hellas (FORTH/ICE-HT), 26504 Patras, Greece

Abstract

Morocco’s economy has recently seen an unprecedented growth, which made the country emerge into the 5th strongest economy of the African continent. As other countries at the same stage of development, Morocco is also undergoing rapid urbanization, which results in increased anthropogenic air-pollution levels. The geographical location of the country makes it vulnerable to both short and longterm impacts of climate change. Despite the elevated risk and vulnerability, the current air pollution and climate change monitoring strategy of the country needs improvement. The present paper introduces a novel strategy to improve the air quality monitoring system in the capital combined with developing a project-based climate education curriculum, and promises to raise public awareness to the risks related to air pollution and climate change. The sustainability of the project is guaranteed by the low cost of instruments and the educational aspect which ensures that future experts are well-trained for the maintenance of the system that we propose to install.