Advancement of the sea threatens not only tourism. The local economy – based on fishing and agriculture – is crumbling. Also the ecosystem is being affected and The archaeological heritage escapes.
Along the southern coast of the Mediterranean in Tunisia, erosion is rapidly consuming the coast and endangering not only the means of subsistence of the populations, but also local heritage. More than 35% of tunisine beaches are disappearing.
Some zones, such as Hammametthey are losing up to eight meters a year, according to a 2021 World Bank report, but nowhere is the phenomenon as visible as Kerkennah Archipelagoin the east of the country, where the sea advances constantly on the earth.
Mohamed Ayadi Souissi, fisherman and owner of a sea restaurant, has observed the tide approaching every season:
“This whole area was covered with sand,” he said, pointing to an area now with exposed rock. “Within five years, there will be no beach,” he adds in an interview with .
To the main source of yield from Switzerland It depends on the short but vital tourist season in Kerkennahwho considers it to be his future and his children.
However, the advancement of the sea threatens more than tourism. The local economy – based on fishing and agriculture – is crumbling. Traditional techniques such as in 2020 as an immaterial cultural heritage of humanity, they are being affected by and the proliferation of invasive species such as blue crab.
“In the last thirty years, we have observed significant erosion of the beaches in Kerkennah,” said geographer and resident Samir Lakbaili.
Ruins of ancient Roman city “Submerged and covered with green algae”
Neither the archaeological heritage escapes: the region was once the home of the ancient Roman city of Cercina, with origins at the time of Carthaginian. “There are still remains of stone ruins in the sea, now submerged and covered with green algae,” added Lakbaili.
The Tunisine Ministry of Environment warns that several islands in the country are at high risk of submersion due to rising sea level. In coastal regions, erosion has already begun to affect the inner soil, damaging ecosystems and contaminating salt agricultural land.
Threat dimension may soon exceed local capacity
The economic impact is growing. The World Bank estimates that Coastal erosion costs Tunisia about 2.8% of your GDP per year. With much of the infrastructure, industry and tourism concentrated in the coastal zone, this threat becomes existential.
“30% of Tunisia’s coastal line is threatened by erosion or exposed to the impacts of climate change,” warned the regional director of the Coastal Protection Agency in Sfax, a port city located on the southeastern coast of Tunisia.
In an once wooded coastal edge now there are palm trees isolated in sandy sand by salt. Concrete barriers built for decades to contain the sea are crumbling.
Some residents started small -scale restoration efforts – rebuilding pier and reinforcing walls – but It is feared that the dimension of the threat quickly exceeds local capacity.
Com Reuters
