The land in the Aoulai watershed in the Rif mountain area of northern Morocco has been deteriorating continually due to several different forms of erosion. The Aoulai watershed is essentially characterized by the domination of weak resistance of the rocky formations and its sensitiveness to other major internal factors that result in a conspicuous impetus for both mass movements and water erosion.Water erosion is seen as the most damaging phenomenon for nature in northern Morocco because it acts as an obstacle to the natural balances and seems to have greater effect on the slopes, through the influence of both human and natural factors.
To assess and examine the erosion phenomenon, we have chosen to conduct a qualitative assessment of water erosion in the Aoulai watershed using the PAP-RAC (Priority Actions Programme/Regional Activity Centre) Guidelines. This is the methodology that is most widely applied and implemented both for determining and identifying the areas at risk of erosion and for supporting projects to reduce the degradation that has become a major threat to hydraulic structures including dams, irrigation pipes and other infrastructure elements, which are damaged by the erosion phenomenon in the Central Rif mountains of northern Morocco.