Land Cover/Land Use Dynamics in Arid Mediterranean Fragile Ecosystems and its implications on Economic and Environmental Imbalances, southern Tunisia
Abstract
The Tunisian arid environment has been the scene of profound territorial transformations characterized by a speculative agricultural influence on fragile steppe ecosystems. The Skhira region is atypical example through which this work proposes to follow these transformations and analyze their socio-economic and environmental impacts. To do this, a GIS database was created on QGis software, using two satellite images (from 1996 and 2020). Land cover/Land use maps obtained were supplemented by forty farmers’ field surveys and interviews with decision-makers involved in agricultural activity. The results showed an extension of irrigated crops by 14.4% to the detriment of steppes and rainfed cereal crops. This intensification was the result of an incentive policy undertaken in the region since 1993 and originally aimed at small farmers but which, after 2011, was taken over by a group of large farmers who intensified the exploitation of limited resources. This has resulted in a degradation of biodiversity with the disappearance of several vegetation species, overexploitation of water resources which reached 216% in 2020, groundwater and soils salinization and greater exposure of crops to the harmful effects of climate change and desertification. On the social level, and although several productions have declined following the degradation of resources, the profits have been mainly drawn by the large farmers. This agricultural extension, especially the irrigated one, has failed to limit inequalities between social categories. On the contrary, the economy of Skhira’ peasants is increasingly precarious and the social situation risks breaking out for this marginalized rural population.
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Introduction
Elementary natural resources (water, soil, vegetation...) are today the object of all human lusts. Their exploitation often exceeds all limits in several countries of the World. According to Schultz (2017), the world population is expected to reach 11.2 billion by the end of the century, which will mean an increase in demand for food products (cereals, water, oils, sugars...). As a result, farmers will have to produce much more food in a competitive environment, which will require increasing farm sizes and shifting to higher-value crops. Small-scale farming will also play an important role, especially as the number of small-scale farmers grows.
In response to this demand, the world'sirrigated agricultural area has already increased considerably, especially from the second half of the 20th century. Average irrigated crop production and yields have also quadrupled or quintupled to provide more than 45% of the world'sfood. In addition, this irrigated agriculture accounts for about 70% of the world'sfreshwater withdrawals (FAO 2000, Shultz 2017). In Tunisia, in 2006, it took up nearly 80% of water resources, and the overall rate of mobilization reached 91%, which constitutes an extreme limit (Bessaoud & Montaigne 2009, FAO 2018).
In the face of this situation, studies and reports prepared by international organizations (UNESCO, UNEP, UNDP, FAO, etc.) have constantly alerted countries to the gravity of the pressures their resources are under. All the ecological indicators put forward by specialists on the levels of consumption of terrestrial resources (The Earth Overshoot Day, Ecological Footprint, Living Planet Index, etc.) agree that over a year, the Earth reaches its limits more and more sooner and is therefore forced to draw on its reserves, often non-renewable (Cannet & Wackernagel 2018). For the “The Earth Overshoot Day”1 indicator, for example, it coincided in 2021 with the date of 29 July, while it corresponded in 2000 to 1st November and in 1986 to 31 December (Saab 2012). Although widely criticized for its reliability and accuracy, this indicator leaves no doubt that natural resources are being degraded at a giant pace and that humanity is increasingly drawing irreversibly from Earth‟sreserves. Moreover, this pressure is most pronounced in regions with very few resources to provide, such as arid and desert regions (Abaab et al. 1995, Nedjraoui & Bédrani 2008, Hourizi et al. 2017, Nasser 2019). Studies and work that have studied this issue have always emphasized the limited capacity of the natural resources of these regions for intensive and sustained land use (Colloff & Baldwin 2010, Dougill et al. 2010, Linstädter et al. 2016). They have also shown the low resilience capacity of existing ecosystems (Floret et al. 1989, Neffati et al. 2016, Lipoma et al. 2021). In comparison, they have relied on traditional land use through which man has shown ingenious know-how and exceptional abilities to exploit resources in a rational manner enabling them to be sustainable and ecosystems to be resilient (Pontanier et al. 1995). Other studies have shown that resources pressure leading to natural balances breaking, has been carried out essentially in the last few decades of "peace" and "prosperity", during which man turned to a market economy based on high consumption in order to increase his profits without much concern for natural resources sustainability and for ecosystems resilience (Robert & Ross 1993, Greenwood & Smith 1997).
In arid Tunisia, the accelerated pressure on fragile natural resources has taken place in particular since the 1960s after the country‟sindependence and the establishment by the Government of an agricultural development policy in order to create wealth among the peasant populations and to limit massive rural exodus during the years 1960-1970 (Elloumi 2015). In this region, while arboriculture has traditionally been practiced mainly in the mountains behind the jessour2, the privatization policy will encourage its extension in plains at the expense of rangelands, promoted by the implementation of several national strategies for agricultural and rural development (Elloumi 2009, Guillaume et al. 2006). This has led to a rapid transformation in resources exploitation and land use supported by the Government. The results have often been catastrophic for arid ecosystems and natural resources with the degradation of the steppe, the spraying of fragile soils and the spread of desertification (Hanafi 2000, 2010). Today, the warnings issued by specialists and international organizations for nature conservation and sustainable development (FAO, IUCN, etc.) do not seem to be able to hinder public and especially private actions to make the most of resources and increase rural populations' incomes, despite the uncertainties surrounding ecosystem balances and the threats of a possible return to desertification.
It was in this context that this study was carried out in the delegation of Skhira, which has experienced an unprecedented Land use dynamics for the last twenty four years. The aim is to detect, using GIS tools, the changes that have taken place in this steppe landscape since the late 1990s and the early 2000s, and which is manifested by the extension of dry and irrigated olive orchards. The impact of this dynamic on the environment and on the existing rural society needs to be studied further.
Conclusion
It emerges from this analysis that the balance of the territorial dynamics initiated in the arid plains and hills of Skhira since the end of the 1990s, is more than mixed, since this Land use dynamics has not taken into account the limits of natural resources availability, natural hazards, and above all, climate change. Originally considered as a tool for the private appropriation of collective land and for improving the living conditions of Skhira'speasants, the quick development of olive cultivation turned into an opportunity to develop the earnings of a group of speculators unconcerned about resources fragility. It is for this purpose, for example, that irrigation has moved from relatively rational governance in the hands of local authorities and small farmers to a management that is almost monopolized by these private investors. Irrigation, which was then supposed to reduce economic inequalities in this region, has become a factor of disparity between social categories (Elloumi 2009).
In order to overcome their handicaps and maintain their farming activities, small farmers are often forced to go into debt with banks and/or input retailers or agri-food companies, which leads them to increased dependency and impoverishment (Requier-Desjardins 2008, 2010; Yousfi 2020). This indebtedness is all the more serious for them as the annual fluctuation of yields and selling prices do not help them to get rid of it, especially in the absence of an effective mechanism to cover the 9 In 2000, a Tunisian dinar (TND) was worth about 0.665 euros, while in 2020 it was worth about 0.306 euros. risks of climatic and economic hazards. As a result, the agricultural activity that was supposed to boost their economies and improve their living conditions has turned into a burden, sometimes dragging this population dramatically into precariousness. The result is an accentuation of the rural exodus, especially of young graduates, to seek employment in big cities such as Sfax, Gabès and Tunis. At the imadat10 of Noual, the migration balance was negative by-9.5% between 2004 and 2014 as it registered a departure of 138 young people in 10 years (INS 2004, 2014).
The crisis in these marginal sectors in an already marginal delegation is accentuated by an unfavorable trend in agricultural prices, by the fragmentation of properties and increasingly restricted access to land, sold to speculators at low prices, by a small farmers exclusion from financing and credit system and finally by the inefficiency of the support services. The current economic uncertainty that hangs over the country, affecting all social categories more closely, and in particular small farmers, implies that all possible environmental and rural social events in Skhira are to be expected. Let us remember here that neighboring regions with similar conditions, such as Sidi Bouzid, experienced the same situation in the 2000s, which led to the outbreak of the 2011 revolution. Today, despite the multiplication and the diversity of strategies and programs11 implemented by the central and regional authorities, it seems that their effect is not immediate, whereas the environmental and economic crises are. Moreover, it seems that most of these programs are "tailor-made" to favor large farms more (Bessaoud and Montaigne 2009, Palluault & Romagny 2009b, Bouarfa et al. 2020).
Furthermore, this agricultural intensification and the monopolization of resources accentuate the threat of desertification. Past experiences in neighboring regions have often led to the same result and have cost the Government and international funds enormous sums to limit its consequences, the cases of Menzel Habib, El Hamma, Bled Ségui, Sidi Makhlouf , etc. (Floret and Pontanier 1982, Auclair et al. 1996, Hanafi 2000, Jauffret 2001). This environmental result is accompanied by a deterioration of the population living conditions despite their continuous attempts to solve their economic difficulties. It is therefore important today that the central and regional authorities pay more attention to the implementation of a planning and development policy that is really oriented towards the environment and the peasant society of Skhira and the other arid regions, which are more affected by the impacts of climate change. This policy must bespread over several periods ranging from the immediate to the long-term and must really target farmers and their environment from a perspective of sustainability. To this end, Tunisia has acquired a number of achievements in this area12 that should be implemented. This sustainability must affect the environmental (soil, water and biodiversity conservation) and human aspects, in particular with sustainable agriculture that reconciles the environment, the economy and society (Massin et al. 2016, Benoit 2017) and which favors the peasants and small farmers of today and tomorrow within the framework of asocial and solidarity economy capable of creating employment and wealth and of conserving a share of resources for future generations.