In the forests and mountains, Tunisia’s forgotten women

The inhabitants of Tunisia’s mountains and forests make up the poorest and most vulnerable segment of the population. These individuals maintain an intimate relationship with the country’s rural and forest areas which are at once their place of residence and livelihood. While forest-related occupations may be seasonal or permanent, the majority are seasonal, temporary and assumed by women. The latter, therefore, constitute the most vulnerable population.

A flood of unspeakable joy was the response to a video diffused on social media showing a group of women dancing and singing in celebration of their reforestation work. The initiative was spearheaded by Soli&Green, an NGO which advocates for reforestation in the region of Haddada (Sejnane district, Bizerte governorate). These women planted some 100,000 trees including oak, carob and different pine species adapted to the local environment.

The video was widely shared, revealing a profound admiration for the selfless participation of these women in the reforestation of the region’s mountains, for their work carried in a playful atmosphere, for the joy exuded in their expressions and movements. These same women are on the front lines against the devastation of wildfires that have razed the mountains almost every summer for over five years.

Comments on social media noted the intimate relationship between women and nature; many called on their compatriots to support the work carried out by associations to reforest lands damaged by the recurring wildfires that have wreaked havoc each summer, particularly in the north of the country. These wildfires are not only a result of climate change, but of the government’s negligence.

In this article, we step into the closed world of Tunisian forests, and take a look at forest-related occupations, both seasonal and permanent (such the year-round grazing of livestock) in order to shed light on the impacts of climate change and the shortcomings of public policy on forest protection. We also examine the effects of these factors on rural inhabitants, especially on the economic level. In the absence of other employment opportunities, the forest constitutes the only source of income for a large segment of the country’s population whose vulnerability is twofold: economic and environmental.

Tunisian forests: Environmental and economic keystone

Tunisia’s forests cover a total surface area of 5.7 million hectares and cover mountains, pasturelands and esparto grass fields. The Forest Law organizes this space into three main areas: forests, concentrated primarily in the northern and central-western regions of the country; pasturelands; esparto grass fields located in other regions and covering varying geographical landscapes.

Of this total surface area, forests make up 1.25 million hectares, with 90% government-owned and the remaining 10% privately-owned; pasturelands account for 4 million hectares, while esparto grass fields cover 450,000 hectares mainly located in the steppe.

Tunisian forests are sites of singular biodiversity, with 17 national parks, 27 natural reserves and 42 wetlands classified as Wetlands of International Importance on the Ramsar List.[1] The latter is an international convention for the preservation and sustainable use of wetlands, as well as the protection of their essential ecological functions and the promotion of their economic, cultural, scientific and recreational role.

Nearly one million Tunisians inhabit forest lands, and many of them work seasonally or permanently in forest-related occupations. Forests account for 1.33%[2] of the country’s GDP and 14% of its agricultural GDP.

According to the Tunisian Forum for Social and Economic Rights (FTDES)[3], the country’s forests provide approximately six to seven million days of work per year. This is made possible because of the participation of locals in forestry development projects and different agricultural associations throughout the country’s forested regions, and not only in the mountains.

The economic importance of forests is even greater for women living in the mountains and surrounding areas, particularly in rural areas across the governorates of Bizerte, Beja and Jendouba—specifically the districts of Mateur, Sejnane, Nefza, Tabarka, Aïn Draham and Beni M’tir. Seasonal forest activities and the year-round grazing of livestock are common in these areas, where many families raise sheep, goats and cows throughout the year as a regular source of income.

But wildfires have devastated traditional pasturelands. This is what Zahra tells us. The seventy-something lives in the village of Melloula, at the foot of Djebel Khemir. Zahra has two cows and a small herd of five sheep, including lambs. “I sold most of my sheep,” she tells us, “because the forest burned to the ground. I have to go very far now since there is no longer enough land for the herds. There’s another thing: I no longer have enough strength at my age to protect the young plants that the forest rangers and associations replant. The government and associations plant trees but don’t keep an eye on them. We love the mountain and protect the trees. We were born in this forest and preserve it, even if, as small farmers, we can’t make it given the high cost of animal feed and the gradual disappearance of pasturelands.”

Zahra is not alone among livestock farmers who depend primarily on forests given the exorbitant cost of animal feed. And yet this traditional rural activity, practiced in a number of regions throughout Tunisia, has started to unravel under the stress of recurring wildfires and rapid climate change. In the meantime, the government has failed to implement timely, effective solutions.

Amna Mornagui, forest engineer and environmental researcher, underlines the important role that forests play and the need to create a development model that can integrate local populations in the simultaneous exploitation and protection of forests.

It is true that climate change significantly affects seasonal and permanent work in forests. But we cannot overlook the state’s role in creating public policy that creates equitable economic development in rural areas in general and forests in particular. These are the poorest areas, the most vulnerable and most exposed to the effects of recurring and violent fires every year. The development model must integrate local populations in order to strengthen their attachment to the forests, which will make it the first line of protection and defense of forests, especially through rapid alerts to wildfires…

Amna Mornagui

On the ground testimonies and research carried out by associations and official bodies (Ministry of Agriculture, universities, Ministry of Public Works and Habitat) confirm that Tunisian forests are undergoing one of the worst periods they have known in terms of environmental fragility, with the devastation of plant cover and impact on wildlife as well as the livestock raised by mountain-dwelling families.

This critical environmental situation has negative implications for seasonal forest work and has exacerbated the vulnerability of villagers and rural communities throughout nearly all of the country’s forests.

Forest occupations and workers: victims of climate change

Seventy-something Dhahbia lives in the majestic mountains of northern Tunisia. We accompany her and a group of women from the village Ouechtata, next to the city of Nefza, in the governorate of Beja (northwest). Their faces express a great dedication to their work and unparallelled determination, their wrinkles less a sign of age than a life led of struggles and poverty. With skill and efficiency, their rough, cracked hands pull the seeds from mastic trees and harvest wild herbs (rosemary, thyme, wormwood), as they sing songs from the region, transmitted from one generation to the next.

The beauty of this scene—revealing the osmosis of these women with the forest, their perfect knowledge of the steep foot trails, even their ability to recognize the tracks of animals and predators such as wild pigs, wolves and striped hyenas—does not eclipse the danger and difficulty of work in the mountains and the seasonal activities which take place in the foothills of Khemir and Mogod. “We are the forgotten daughters of the mountains,” says Dhahbia.

We were born and have lived in these mountain villages. They give us little, but snatch away our lives at the speed of light. The government has given us nothing but an identity card. Even water, we carry on our backs, bent over in the cold and heat, without there ever having been the slightest change for us.

Dhahbia

In the foothills of Mogod and Khemir, the passage of time is marked by the different agricultural seasons; with the end of Autumn and beginning of winter come the abundant harvest of olives and mushrooms as mastic berries begin to mature. These activities are preceded by the harvest of hazelnuts and Aleppo pine seeds (zgougou). Women also collect wood for winter, which in recent years has arrived late but become increasingly harsh, with waves of extreme cold and  droughts that affect all aspects of life in northern villages like Nefza, Tabarka and Aïn Drahem. A great number of Tunisians living in these mountain villages make a living working in forestry activities, or what can be called the local forest economy. For example, 53% of the population residing in the governorate of Jendouba[4] inhabit rural forest areas. The Forest Law[5] guarantees their right to the natural and non-industrial exploitation of the forests they inhabit, whether for grazing their livestock, harvesting medicinal plants or cultivating small plots of land without damaging the forest cover.

With a bitter voice, Dhahbia evokes the decrease in income from forest-related activities such as the distillation of mastic oil and the harvest of zean oak acorns and mushrooms.

The situation is so difficult. Most of the zean oaks have burned, while mastic is also hard to find and is no longer productive. The forest is diminishing every year. And each summer, we live in fear of wildfires. Even that which remains of the Aleppo pine forests is being given by the government to investors while we who inhabit the forest are not allowed to harvest the seeds and reap a profit from them. This is not fair because we are the children of the forest. We even face competition now from factories in the distillation of oils. We face threats on all sides. Fortunately, over past years we have participated in the reforestation campaigns led by NGOs. I hope that these mountains will be reforested.

Dhahbia

The consequences of these wildfires can no longer be ignored. Many families in the village of Melloula, in the outskirts of Tabarka and near the Algerian border, are waiting for compensation from the government following the devastation of their fields by the fires. These families report the loss of livestock and destruction of beehives.

Today, the majority of Tunisia’s forest-related activities are in danger of disappearing. According to the testimonies we gathered, even the number of women working in the harvest of mastic has dropped by half. The Aleppo pine forest which once constituted a source of income for Melloula’s residents was completely destroyed by the fires. The cork oak forest was also impacted, not only in Melloula but across the entire stretch of forests in the governorate of Jendouba. An environmental study on the state of cork oak forests in Jendouba warned of the potential loss of 18,000 hectares[6] of this forest cover between now and 2050 if the contributing factors and effects of climate change persist. The wave of fires that struck Melloula in 2023 destroyed 400 hectares of diverse forest cover primarily composed of Aleppo pine and cork oak.

Commenting on the situation and its impact on seasonal forest-related work, Mornagui explains: “In the face of climate change, the government must develop the integration of those living in forests through a national strategy which aims to promote equitable economic development in forest areas, giving priority to the inhabitants themselves for forestry work. The government must also relaunch the recruitment of forest engineers in order to strengthen forest protection using scientific and in-the-field approaches. By the same token, the government’s technical and logistical intervention must be improved to respond rapidly and effectively to wildfires which clearly constitute an annual danger. I must reiterate that the most effective way to protect forests is by guaranteeing justice for the local populations,” Mornagui concludes.

It has been established that the dangers of climate change are increasing over time, that Tunisia’s forests are diminishing year after year and that wildfires are multiplying, turning to ash everything in their path. Efforts are being made by the government and civil society, in particular environmental associations, to reforest and plant native species that are drought resistant and adapted to the local environment such as carob and juniper. The volunteer work carried out by youth in forest areas and throughout the country at large is a sign of hope.

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[1] Ramsar Convention on Wetlands.

[2] Integrated Management of Landscapes in the Less Developed Regions (PGIP).

[3] The Environmental and Climatic Vulnerability of Women: a case study in Tunisia by the Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES).

[4] Regional Report on the Situation of Forest in the Governorate of Jendouba.

[5] Tunisian Forest Law, 2018.

[6] Environmental Report on the Situation in the Governorate of Jendoua.