For years now, daily life on the island of Djerba has been punctuated by water cuts. In response to global warming and water stress, the Association Jlij for the Marine Environment has invested in the restoration of fsegui, public water cisterns dating from the colonial era.
As water levels in Tunisia’s dams have fallen, the country itself has fallen below the water poverty line. Water levels in the country’s dams are at a record low in comparison with previous years, at 28.5% of reserve capacity, according to the Ministry of Agriculture and Financial Resources. This drop has had a direct impact on agricultural activities and contributed to soaring prices, while also causing interruptions in the supply of water used for irrigation and human consumption.
Far beyond the destructive influence of social media, 4G and « catch all » algorithms, who and where are the individuals living outside the echo chamber that is today’s media landscape? Is their existence « off-the-grid » by obligation, or by choice? To answer this, Callum set out with his camera into the Saharan desert, where he met a family of nomads, the Raabia. In this arid zone of southwest Tunisia, transhumance is the core of existence for the Raabia, whose cross-desert migrations to graze their herds are dictated by the changing of the seasons. While borders may be of little concern to this family, climate change has begun to take its toll on daily life, threatening their very survival.
Farmers have been ruined, lands abandoned. Agricultural zones that were still flourishing just five years ago have since dried up. Water scarcity caused by climate change and rising temperatures has a direct impact to bear on Tunisia’s food security—far more than the conflict in Ukraine. Report.
For over a month, the water supply in several delegations of Tunisia’s Mine Basin has been disrupted by intermittent cuts. The situation has suscitated protests in the towns of Borj El Akarema and Segui in Mdhila, where life has become insufferable for residents. While some accuse SONEDE for not assuming its responsibilities in the maintenance and management of water pipes, ostensibly weathered and rusty, others point a finger at the phosphate industry which exhausts water reserves and pollutes the rest. Nawaat left for Mdhila to meet with residents and farmers to learn more about the water issue.
The article presents the situation in Kasserine, but in fact the water problem and challenges are common in most of the countries in the Near East and North Africa (NENA) region. Water scarcity is one of the most urgent issues and binding constraints for food security and agricultural development in these countries. Let us look at some striking numbers published by the Food and Agriculture Organization of the United Nations (FAO):
After Kairouan in the center of the country and Sejnane in the north, we set out for Kasserine, where the rate of access to potable water for the majority of delegations throughout the governorate is less than the national average, a fact which exacerbates the plight of vulnerable and poor segments of the population with limited access to potable water at best, and nothing more than contaminated drinking water at worst.
A Google Web search on «l’eau + Kairouan» produces a disconcerting variety of reports on the magnificent Aghlabid basins, the conqueror Okba’s recovery of a lost golden cup («When picking the cup up, water sprang from the ground») and the stoppage of running water to the Haffouz delegation of Kairouan, so that one is left confusedly marveling at the graceful aesthetic and functional design of the region’s ancient water source and wondering how residents of such parched lands have survived the summer months without the potable running water to which they are accustomed.
On the island of Djerba–where, «close to hotels, under the beautiful palms, on the beaches and surrounding the white houses, putrid piles of garbage pollute the air, the water, the land, and the lives of residents»–the local population may soon benefit from the construction of a new desalination plant that promises abundant, pure, sea-sourced desalinated drinking water.
Beneath the wave of dissent focused primarily on economic woes and democratic deficits, there lay an extreme food and water crisis, and an inability – or unwillingness – of governments to do something about it…
