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Climate change is adversely affecting communities of the developing countries because their livelihoods rely mainly on climate-dependent activities. In Tunisia, farm households are facing several climate-driven risks including drought, which ends up with a decrease in their farm productivity and therefore threatens their livelihood subsistence. However, there is a knowledge gap on how household livelihoods are vulnerable and how this vulnerability varies among them. The main purpose of the paper was to assess the households’ livelihood vulnerability to climate change in Medenine province of South-East Tunisia using the Livelihood Vulnerability Index (LVI). Data were gathered using a monitoring system with 39 reference farms identified by a typology carried out with the data of 2185 farm households from the last survey of farm structures in Medenine-Tunisia. The typological approach identified four farm households’ types: T1: livestock farming with family labor, T2: livestock farming with waged labor, T3: plant production with family labor, and T4: plant production with waged labor. Using the LVI method, results suggest that T1 and T3 are more vulnerable, particularly about knowledge and skills, farm capital, finances, institutional aspects, social network, and water. The findings of the study could help policymakers in designing specific adaptation measures to reduce the household’s vulnerability. The government should give specific attention to T1 and T3 households through: (i) establishing a mechanism that distribute aids to the most affected households, (ii) sustaining the households’ livelihoods by improving water supply and encouraging crop diversification and seed production, and (iii) developing an early warning system for climate extremes.

The objective of this paper is to identify prospects for stakeholder cooperation for effective implementation of enhanced rangeland restoration techniques under different land tenure status in Tataouine Governorate of southern Tunisia, through the rest technique locally called “Gdel.” This technique consists of leaving a given rangeland at rest to reconstitute the plant cover. A stakeholder analysis was conducted using the MACTOR methodological framework to analyze stakeholders’ strategies and their balance of power in terms of rangeland management decisions, specifically regarding the implementation of resting, which involves a high level of collective action. Data collection was based on two focus group discussions with the nine main stakeholders involved directly and indirectly in Tunisian rangeland management. Stakeholders’ perceptions about resting are compared across private and collective land tenure systems. Findings show a wide diversity in stakeholder relationships, in terms of influences, dependencies, and balance of power, with differences between collective and private tenure systems. In private rangelands, equal levels of stakeholder influence and power lead to a much more stable and flexible rangeland restoration process, with more alliances and consensual objectives among almost all stakeholders. The situation in collective rangelands is very different because the majority of stakeholders have a weak influence in terms of management decisions, with fewer alliances and more conflictual objectives among them. Pathways for stakeholder cooperation and long-term empowerment are suggested for effective implementation of rangeland restoration techniques involving collective action.

Water harvesting techniques (WHTs) are important climate change adaptation measures to better manage rainwater for domestic and agricultural purposes, but which WHT to plan where is subject to sustainability considerations. Moreover, suitability of different WHTs varies from one location to another, depending on physical and socio-economic conditions. This study aimed to identify suitable sites for WHTs taking into account stakeholders’ sustainability criteria. In a participatory assessment framework, Geographic Information Systems and the “Simple Multi-Attribute Rating Technique” were combined to generate suitability maps and to guide sustainable WHTs investments. Steps included the calculation of a sustainability index for a set of traditional and newly introduced WHTs from the perspective of two stakeholder groups, farmers and decision-makers, and its integration with layers of biophysical constraints. An application of the framework in the Oum Zessar watershed, southeast Tunisia, shows that traditional techniques are the most suitable and sustainable for farmers and fall within the highly suitable class in 76.4% of the total area, while decision-makers prefer innovative techniques that are highly suitable in 80.4% of the watershed. The framework offers a scalable transparent process for knowledge integration in support of WHT investment decisions that can be adapted to other dryland areas.

The objective of this paper is to analyse the olive oil value chain (OVC) in the Governorate of Medenine (south-east of Tunisia) and the relationships between its main operators for an effective involvement and better performance and resilience of olive sector. Based on semi structured interviews and participatory multi-stakeholders’ workshops, OVC has been analysed and described. MACTOR approach has been applied to establish linkages among chain operators and activities in a partnership approach. Innovative interventions were proposed to strengthen farmers’ organizations to increase profitability of OVC. Empirical findings suggest that public-private-civil society partnerships are essential for the development of pro-poor approaches for uncovering technological and institutional innovations which may involve more inclusive olive oil value chains. The underpinnings of our argument will be of interest and value to both development practitioners and the research community engaged within Tunisia, and the wider region more generally, on initiatives aimed at fostering effective, inclusive and contextually relevant processes for agricultural innovation. ---- , , ,.

International audience; La lutte contre la désertification est une priorité, notamment dans les pays du Sud où vivent 75% de l'humanité et où les trois quarts de la population travaillent dans le secteur agricole. À partir d'une réflexion menée sur la caractérisation et spatialisation des pratiques (agricoles) et des ressources naturelles en interaction sur un espace donné, l'article décrit une chaîne de traitements thématiques pour modéliser des unités de paysages ruraux et les causes et intensité du risque de désertification afférents, ainsi que la plateforme logicielle géomatique qui la met en oeuvre. Via une interface utilisateur accompagnée d'une aide documentée, le logiciel SIEL permet le paramétrage et l'exécution de la chaîne de traitements. Les résultats obtenus sur des exemples illustratifs dans plusieurs observatoires circum-sahariens sont présentés. Ils ouvrent la voie aux discussions sur les perspectives et potentialités du SIEL dans les observatoires en appui à l'aide à la décision pour la lutte contre la désertification.

Soil degradation and desertification processes in the Mediterranean basin reflect the interplay between environmental and socioeconomic drivers. An approach to evaluate comparatively the multiple relationships between biophysical variables and socioeconomic factors is illustrated in the present study using the data collected from 586 field sites located in five Mediterranean areas (Spain, Greece, Turkey, Tunisia and Morocco). A total of 47 variables were chosen to illustrate land-use, farm characteristics, population pressure, tourism development, rainfall regime, water availability, soil properties and vegetation cover, among others. A data mining approach incorporating non-parametric inference, principal component analysis and hierarchical clustering was developed to identify candidate syndromes of soil degradation and desertification risk. While field sites in the same study area showed a substantial similarity, the multivariate relationship among variables diverged among study areas. Data mining techniques proved to be a practical tool to identify spatial determinants of soil degradation and desertification risk. Our findings identify the contrasting spatial patterns for biophysical and socioeconomic variables, in turn associated with different responses to land degradation.

For stimulating sustainable development in developing countries, land use patterns and land use changes are considered critical, and therefore effective and efficient land use policies are needed. In this paper we present a methodological framework that has been developed in a joint European and developing countries project (LUPIS – Land Use Policies and Sustainable Development in Developing Countries), to assess the impact of land use policies on sustainable development in developing countries. An illustrative application is presented for a case study in China, where water pollution due to agriculture in Taihu Basin is a major problem. We argue that an integrated assessment is required, considering multiple drivers and indicators that determine the objectives and constraints of the stakeholders involved. Therefore, the sustainability impact assessment (SIA) is based on the concept of Land Use Functions (LUFs), and impacts on these LUFs are discussed with stakeholders based on a multi-criteria analysis. LUFs comprise economic, environmental and social indicators relevant for stakeholders at multiple scales. Instead of focusing only on the indicators that determine the problem (e.g., nutrient leaching in the Chinese case study), we take a broader perspective (considering also social, economic and institutional objectives and constraints), such that feasible policy options can be recommended. Stakeholders have a large role in discussing the selection of indicators and policies (pre-modelling), evaluating the impacts on indicators (modelling), and the weighing of indicators and LUFs (post-modelling). For the assessment of impacts on indicators (modelling), quantitative and qualitative approaches are combined. We present and discuss an impact assessment of policy options in Taihu Basin, for the current situation and towards 2015. The methodological framework as presented here proved to be useful to guide a sustainability impact assessment in China and six other case study regions.

In the arid regions of Tunisia, considerable investments are being made to maintain the old water harvesting techniques and introduce new ones to capture the scarce amount of rainwater (100 mm to 230 mm annually) for agricultural and domestic purposes. However, no detailed assessment of the multiple effects and the costs and benefits of these techniques have been made so far. This paper summarizes the results of an in depth investigation of the multiple impacts (runoff mobilization, ground water recharge, agro-socio-economic impacts) of the water harvesting works undertaken in the watershed of oued Oum Zessar (southeastern Tunisia). The importance of interdisciplinary and integrated approaches was revealed through this detailed impact assessment and economic evaluation. In fact, the profitability of the water harvesting works depends largely on the criteria chosen. However, further refinements are needed to better include all possible impacts (positive and negative) that occur as a result of the installation of the water harvesting structures.

The former agro-pastoral system which prevailed in the Tunisian Sahara had developed a pastoral resource management which preserved the rather fragile ecological equilibrium. Nowadays in the Tunisian Sahara nearly all former nomads are settled around the villages and irrigated areas which were created with the official aim of utilizing the Sahara. The sedentarization of the nomads has provoked two phenomena: a concentration and an increased density of population around the newly founded oases on the one hand and a depopulation of the more remote steppes on the other hand. Actually this demographic disequilibrium threatens the ecological equilibrium which existed in the past. It has caused a multiplication of the stocking of the actual pastures and increases the risk of degradation of the peripheral and easily accessible grazing-grounds. It exercises an excessive pressure on the environment through the intensive human activities and the satisfaction of new needs. This pressure manifests itself in the enlargement of the circles of degradation around the oases and the intensification of aeolian dynamics. A regeneration of the former organically developed eco-system is impossible without conscious reference into the local traditions and without consideration of the complexity of interelationship of the various factors.