This Beautiful Blue Town Is Majorly Investing In Green Living
Chefchaouen is a town in Morocco that is being lauded for its efforts towards sustainability and green living, which pair perfectly with its tourism business.
Updated May 17 2019, 9:59 a.m. ET
Chefchaouen, or Chaouen as it's known to locals, is a small town in Morocco that makes a lot of money from tourism, and when you see pictures of it, you can see why. The town has its own color theme: blue, blue, blue.
Chefchaouen is now making some changes in how things run by going green. Yes, their look will remain the same, but their sustainability practices will significantly change.
ENCA reports that the mayor, Mohamed Sefiani, is supporting an initiative to move the city and its 45,000 residents towards greener living, It wasn't Sefiani's unilateral decision. The town's council voted unanimously way back in April 2010 to begin the transformation. It's been slow, but the commitment is strong.
"Chefchaouen isn't an ecological town yet, but it certainly has the will to become one," Sefiani explained. "We are in a transition phase. At a Moroccan and African level, we're among the most advanced towns in this respect."
Sefiani says that the city's public dump is "not yet up to standard." They're currently working to develop a landfill and recovery center, with a goal of finishing by 2021.
The European Union granted Chefchaouen about 900,000 euros for their work, along with 11 other Mediterranean cities, honoring them as "a model and initiator of change in sustainable energy management." So, even if there's work to be done, someone certainly thinks they're seeing through their plans admirably.
Amongst their many successful energy related projects is a municipal swimming pool powered by solar energy. They also have an "ecology centre" created with recycled containers and photovoltaic panels at multiple public sites like the public library. They're even working on an environmentally oriented museum. The Ecology Centre is a place where people can go to learn about the benefits of eco-construction, energy efficiency, and other green-living upgrades. A combination of public works and education for the town's citizenry will soon make Chefchaouen even more beautiful than it already is.