Economics & Development

Morocco is committed to unlocking the potential of its blue economy, as reflected in its New Development Model, which emphasizes the sustainable use of marine and coastal resources along the Mediterranean and Atlantic coasts. Coastal areas already play a central economic role, hosting most of the country’s industry, generating a large share of GDP, and providing over half of national employment. Among blue economy sectors, coastal tourism is especially important, contributing significantly to GDP, foreign exchange earnings, and employment, with Agadir, Tangier-Tetouan, and Casablanca serving as key tourism hubs. However, climate change presents a growing threat to this sector through rising temperatures, sea level rise, coastal flooding, erosion, wildfires, ocean warming, and disease risks, all of which may reduce the attractiveness and viability of coastal destinations. To better understand these risks, an analysis was conducted under the Blue Economy Program for Results framework to estimate how climate change could affect tourism demand and jobs. Using spending patterns of tourists in comparable climatic zones and input-output analysis, the study found that tourist expenditures could decline by 8–18 percent by 2035. This could lead to substantial losses across the coastal tourism value chain, with restaurants, hotels, entertainment, and transport most affected, and coastal tourism jobs potentially declining by as much as 32 percent.

The report presents: pre-hospital emergency medical services (EMS) framework; pre-hospital emergency care capacity; pre-hospital EMS workers; ambulances; pre-hospital emergency transportation services; pre-hospital EMS dispatch capacity; pre-hospital EMS dispatchers; legal framework for pre-hospital EMS; policy and institutional framework for pre-hospital EMS; and recommendations.

A transition to low-emission, resilient, and health-secure livestock systems offers a triple dividend for the East Asia and Pacific (EAP) region. This transition can lead to enhanced employment and food security, reduced emissions with stronger climate resilience, and improved animal health and welfare and public health outcomes. Improvements in productivity, animal health and system efficiency can help stabilize output, reduce losses and sustain livelihoods across production, processing, logistics, veterinary services, and associated agrifood industries. The economic case is compelling: the cost of inaction - from disease burdens, climate shocks, and missed productivity gains - substantially exceeds the cost of transformation. Pursuing the triple dividend presents powerful pathways for achieving multiple development and climate goals simultaneously. The structural diversity of livestock systems in the region means that transformation pathways must be carefully adapted to country and production system contexts. Climate change is already affecting livestock productivity, animal health and welfare, and the viability of traditional production systems, making adaptation an urgent priority. Climate mitigation in the livestock sector is substantial and economically viable when integrated into broader production and value-chain strategies. Taken together, the evidence in this report demonstrates that integrated, climate-smart, and health-secure livestock development is both feasible and essential for the region’s long-term development trajectory. This report provides a number of policy recommendations for governments in the region as well as other stakeholders such as development banks, research centers, and the private sector. A major challenge in making recommendations for the livestock sector in the EAP region is the diversity of country circumstances and production systems seen in the region. This is particularly important given the wide variation in stages of economic development, institutional capacity, and market integration across countries, as well as the coexistence of extensive pastoral, mixed smallholder, and intensive commercial production systems. The report also provides an illustrative guide to policy prioritization and sequencing for countries and livestock systems at different stages of development.

The Global Gas Flaring Tracker Report 2026 examines worldwide gas flaring trends and highlights a concerning rise in flaring activities. Global gas flaring increased to 167 billion cubic meters (bcm) in 2025, the highest level since 2019 and the third consecutive annual increase, despite only modest growth in oil production. The report estimates that the gas wasted through flaring was worth approximately 54 billion dollar and generated 429 million tones of CO₂, equivalent emissions, including significant methane emissions. The report emphasizes the benefits of reducing flaring, including improved energy security, energy access, economic development, and environmental protection. It finds that the volume of gas flared globally is comparable to Africa’s annual gas consumption and exceeds LNG exports through the Strait of Hormuz, illustrating the scale of the lost energy opportunity. A small group of countries, Russia, Iran, Iraq, Venezuela, Mexico, Libya, Algeria, Nigeria, and the United States, account for 83 percent of global flaring, indicating that targeted action in a few countries could yield significant global reductions. While countries such as the United States, Kazakhstan, India, and Argentina demonstrated progress through infrastructure investments and regulatory reforms, increases in Russia, Mexico, and Iran drove most of the global rise. The report also introduces an enhanced satellite-based methodology for measuring flaring, improving data accuracy through expanded satellite coverage and more precise flare detection. It concludes that ending routine flaring will require stronger policies, regulatory enforcement, infrastructure investments, financing, and sustained international collaboration to achieve the Zero Routine Flaring (ZRF) by 2030 goal.

Skills for Innovation, Resilience, and Aspirations (SIRA) project has the development objectives to improve access to quality secondary education and to job-relevant skills training. Component 1. Schools: Modernizing Secondary Education for Skills and Future Work. Component 2. Skills: Expanding Job-Relevant Skills and Opportunities for Youth. Component 3. Scale: Scaling Job Opportunities and School-to-Work Transitions. Component 4. Systems: Building an Integrated, Demand-Driven Education and Skills System. Component 5. Technical Assistance, Knowledge, and Project Monitoring provides implementation support, fiduciary and safeguards management, facility mapping for energy and connectivity, monitoring and evaluation including tracer studies and impact evaluations, and a Guinea Skills Platform for coordination and knowledge exchange.