Sahrawi Report Exposes Renewable Energy Projects as Tool of Occupation in Western Sahara
The Sahrawi Observatory for Natural Resources and Environmental Protection (SONREP) released its latest annual report titled “Sustainability for Whom? Renewable Energy and Environmental Justice under Occupation” during an international virtual conference that brought together legal and environmental experts alongside global civil society organizations.
The report warns that Morocco is rapidly expanding renewable energy projects—including wind farms, solar installations, and green hydrogen production—in occupied Western Sahara to entrench its illegal presence while ignoring the environmental and political rights of the Sahrawi people. These projects, it states, are being implemented without the Sahrawis’ free, prior, and informed consent, in violation of international law and rulings by the European Court of Justice and the African Court on Human and Peoples’ Rights, which affirm that Morocco has no sovereignty over the territory.
The report criticizes the exclusion of Sahrawis from economic benefits, as revenues flow to Morocco and employment opportunities overwhelmingly go to Moroccan settlers—a demographic manipulation that violates the Fourth Geneva Convention. It also highlights serious environmental and social risks, particularly concerning green hydrogen initiatives, which threaten water security in the arid region.
SONREP’s findings further denounce the complicity of foreign companies and European governments in deals with Morocco that facilitate the unlawful exploitation of Western Sahara’s resources, undermining global peace efforts. The Observatory calls on the international community to halt all energy-related economic activities in Western Sahara unless sanctioned by the Sahrawi people and stresses that any genuine energy transition must respect Sahrawi sovereignty and self-determination.
With this report, SONREP also announced its official relaunch as a specialized Sahrawi institution advocating for .environmental justice under occupation, reinforcing the Sahrawi struggle on the global stage
