Rarely does a week go by that Gabes does not witness some ecological catastrophe. The dangerous chemical industries that operate here have transformed the world’s only coastal oasis into a cemetery of toxic waste. Every day, pollution threatens the lives of city dwellers, as well as the local flora and fauna. The polluted air, sea and sky are driving citizens once more out into the streets to voice their distress, as authorities keep their silence. The latter always manage to find an alibi to continue to ignore the hardship, illness and suffering endured by the region’s residents.
It seems that our destiny in Gabes is to inhale toxic gases and to suffer from all the illness caused by the water and air pollution. The world’s only coastal oasis is doomed to a slow death, and the sea, once rich with the best species of fish, has become a cemetery for sea life and a dump for all kinds of toxins and waste, especially phosphogypsum. We, the residents of Gabes, are expected to be exemplary victims: when we suffocate, become sick and die, we must put on a good face, smile, and thank the government for its wise decision to remove phosphogypsum from the list of toxic and dangerous substances!
We have blown the whistle time and again and organized many awareness-raising campaigns on the dangers associated with the chemical products dumped into the sea and released into the soil and air. What am I saying? It’s poison! “El-bakhara” is the oxygen that the residents of Gabes breathe. They’ve had enough. We have tried all forms of protest, and the rise in the number of cases of asphyxiation among students at the Chott Essalam middle school was the last straw. For fifty years, Gabes has suffered an environmental injustice. Humans, the sea, the palm trees, the earth and even the rocks—in other words, every last particle in Gabes—are victims of the pollution.
Trembling with rage, Khayreddine Debaya, member of the “Stop Pollution Gabes”1 campaign, spoke to Nawaat of the horrific scenario involving the middle school students at Chott Essalam over the months of September and October 2025.
Earth, sea, humans: Three victims of the government’s “development choices”
The month of September 2025 in the governorate of Gabes could be described as “the month of asphyxiation.” Toxic gas leaks from the chemical industrial complex caused a series of successive cases of suffocation, respiratory difficulties and fainting among dozens of locals. Numerous cases were reported in the regions of Ghanouch, Chott Essalam and Bouchemma. The middle school in Chott Essalam alone reported over 50 cases among its students, some of whom were transferred to the regional hospital, while the more serious cases were sent to Tunis. According to medical sources and testimonies from parents, 14 cases required medical treatment. They remained under surveillance after the emergence of unfamiliar symptoms such as respiratory difficulties, motor issues and numbness in the limbs.
Madame Rabeb, the mother of a student who suffered from asphyxiation, still cannot comprehend how the government can close its eyes to such a crime and show such indifference towards its citizens. Enraged at authorities, Rabeb tells Nawaat:
Since the day of the accident, my daughter hasn’t been the same. She suffers from thoracic pain and respiratory difficulties. At night, she wakes up unable to breathe due to panic attacks that make her fear the air she breathes. Even walking has become tiring for her. Like many of her peers, she has become hyper-sensitive to any smell, including the smell of sanitation products used at the hospital. The doctors refused to give us the medical reports regarding our children’s health. We feel helpless and believe that the government has abandoned our children. No one from the chemical complex has come to visit us, either to apologize or even to ask about the health of our innocent children. We demand our right to health and the right of our children to a healthy environment. It is unacceptable that school children go to school and end up at the hospital, suffering from pain and respiratory troubles.
Far from uncommon, this testimony illustrates what all of the region’s residents have endured for decades. Gabes has faced chronic environmental degradation since 1972 when the Chemical Group was established in the heart of the city, without adhering to modern environmental standards. Over time, gas, residue of phosphogypsum and all sorts of chemical products have leached into the sea, air and soil. This has led to the degradation of ecosystems, and the propagation of respiratory and dermatological illnesses, as well as cancer. The Tunisian Forum for Economic and Social Rights (FTDES) has described the situation as “ecological terrorism,” explaining that the recent cases of asphyxiation constitute a “state crime that has been ignored.”
On June 29, 2017, a governmental decision was taken following a Council of Ministers meeting, ordering the dismantling of pollution-producing Chemical Group units. However, there has been no follow up since this decision, which “Stop Pollution” activists consider to be the government’s systematic neglect of its commitments, and more proof that industrial profit takes precedence over the safety of citizens.
In a statement published on October 3, 2025, the “Stop Pollution” movement demanded the immediate suspension of activities within pollution-producing units, as well as the opening of a serious investigation into the effects on the environment. It furthermore rejected governmental decisions regarding the creation of new ammonia and green hydrogen production units, arguing that such activity would exacerbate pollution. Yet another piece of evidence that the plight of this city is not an accident, but the direct consequence of a policy which reduces development to pollution-producing industrialization at the expense of the environment and human beings. Today, Gabes is the sad ghost of a past when life was so much better, especially with regard to health and the environment. It is the story of a city that development is suffocating instead of revitalizing. As Khayreddine Debaya, “Stop Pollution activist,” tells Nawaat:
The government had promised to dismantle and transfer industrial units that no longer meet environmental protection standards, and whose pollution has been plain to the eye for years. But it did not keep its promise. Although the decision was taken in 2017, the government never applied it, further exacerbating the situation by removing phosphogypsum from the list of dangerous, pollutant substances. That said, we will continue to fight until the end. We refuse to trade employment for pollution. The inhabitants of Gabes have the right to equitable and non-polluting development, and the government must assume its responsibilities. The city has lost nearly all of its distinctive features: the oasis and agricultural activity are in danger of disappearing, while the sea, and all sea life, as well as all related activities such as fishing and shell collecting, are disappearing. Gabes is a disaster zone, and the state must step in immediately.
The history of this pollution began in 1972 with the opening of the first urban factory in Gabes, established to transform raw phosphate into phosphoric acid, which required the creation of a production site for sulfuric acid. All of these are chemical substances which cause pollution, and demand specific treatment before their storage or elimination.
This unit provides about 57% of the national production of phosphoric acid, which is used in laboratories and metallurgical industries, as well as in the production of carbonated beverages, detergents and fertilizers.
The industrial complex continued to expand through 1985, when factories for the production of ammonium phosphate and ammonite were established. This entire industrial development occurred at the expense of both the environment and the local population
Years after the creation of the Chemical Group, development policies in Gabes reached their limit, since they were based on a centralized, short-term vision. This vision assimilated development with intensive industrialization, without any consideration for the environment or the specificities of the region. Since the 1970s, Gabes has been transformed from a dynamic coastal region rich with fish, oases and agriculture, to a dump for pollutant industrial waste that is invaded by chemical factories, phosphate and phosphogypsum complexes. Untreated waste has destroyed the local oasis ecosystem and caused the degradation of soil, water and air.
These policies have contributed to the deterioration of local types of agriculture distinctive to the region, especially the cultivation of oases. The production of dates, henna and vegetables has decreased due to lack of water, increased saline levels and pollution, forcing farmers to abandon their lands. Pollution has also devastated marine activities, with the disappearance of many fish species and the contamination of fishing areas with phosphoric substances. The activity of shell collection in Zarat has become such an onerous task for women that many of them have abandoned this work.
The city of Gabes, which was once a rare ecosystem blending sea and oasis, lives today between the memory of a healthy environment and a reality of asphyxiation. “Development” has become a threat for life itself and the city a symbol of environmental failure as well as the failure of development in modern Tunisia.
Three-dimensional pollution
To breathe the air in the city of Gabes is to inhale a cocktail of toxic gases composed of sulfuric acid, carbon dioxide, ammoniac and heavy metals. A mix which envelopes the city in a layer of gray almost year-round, and which leaves a trace almost everywhere: on the faces of residents weary from coughing and respiratory troubles, on the palm trees whose leaves are yellowed or dead, and on the sea water which has lost its color, its fish and its biodiversity, becoming a cemetery beneath tons of phosphogypsum.
This toxic air can be seen, smelled and felt within the body, the oases and the Gulf. Over time, the magnitude of this catastrophe has become apparent, while scientific studies and special reports have confirmed alarming rates of air pollution.
It is nothing less than absurd that in this city, the natural right to breathe clean air has become a demand that drives citizens into the streets beneath the slogan “We want to breathe clean air!” Due to the polluted air which all of Gabes’ residents are forced to breathe every day, the simple notion of being able to breathe air that does not suffocate or kill has become a collective dream and demand.
A report published by the European Commission, “The impact of pollution on the local economy in the region of Gabes,” indicates that 95% of air pollution originates from the Chemical Group, saturating the sky above the city with sulfuric acid, carbon dioxide and other toxic substances that have destroyed the agricultural system and exposed the local population to a number of illnesses. Indeed, the UN Environment Programme (PNUE) has classified the Gulf of Gabes among the world’s pollution hotspots. The EU report makes the alarming observation that pollution in the city of Gabes is tridimensional, impacting water, air and soil.
Despite all of this, the government refuses to make good on its commitments, in particular its commitment to dismantling the pollution-causing industrial units, or fulfilling its constitutional obligations to protect the environment. Article 47 of the Constitution of 2022 stipulates that “the state guarantees the right to a healthy and balanced environment and is committed to contributing to climate preservation. The state must implement the necessary means towards environmental pollution.” Nevertheless, this constitutional right remains ineffective, not only in the city of Gabes, but across the majority of regions throughout the country from north to south.
Paying little heed to the many reports and testimonies issuing warnings about the rise in cancer, respiratory illnesses and osteoporosis in Gabes, Tunisian authorities still refuse to publish updated statistics that reveal the magnitude of the health crisis, notably in areas where chemical and extractive industries (phosphate mines and washing facilities) are concentrated. As if silence were part of the government’s crisis management and strategy—which, in essence, is to forge ahead.
The mother of one of the students who suffered from asphyxiation while in class at Chott Essalam elementary school told Nawaat:
It’s true that our children are experiencing serious health issues, and we demand immediate intervention by the government and officials to find a solution. But the health situation in the entire region of Gabes has been catastrophic for years, and pollution is the direct cause. There is not a single household in Gabes that is spared from these serious illnesses… All that we ask is that our children have the right to care.
Today, Gabes is the epitome of Tunisia’s adopted “development” model. It is a city that reveals the contradictions inherent in public policy, between official discourse on environmental protection and the transition to clean energy, and, on the other hand, the catastrophic daily reality in which pollution is increasing as citizens’ rights in relation to health and the environment are flouted. And when anger reaches a boiling point, the government’s sole recourse is a security solution to subdue protests. It is then up to the regime’s henchmen to take over, extinguish legitimate protest and absolve authorities.
According to the slogans brandished by protesters, especially those with the “Stop Pollution” movement, today the possibility of saving Gabes no longer lies within a simple environmental or technical project. Instead, it is a political and ethical process which demands that the government recognize its responsibility and revise its model of development and wealth creation.
- Stop Pollution Gabès” is a Tunisian social and environmental movement founded in 2017. Born out of mobilization by civil society in the city of Gabès against industrial pollution caused by the Chemical Group, this initiative advocates for environmental justice built around the right to health, a healthy environment, and sustainable development. The movement seeks to end industrial emissions and pollutants while protecting the unique ecosystem of the coastal oasis ↩︎
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