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A study by Tunisia and the World Wildlife Fund (WWF) revealed that environmental hazards threatening the Tunisian coastline could cause a 10% loss of GDP by 2030, said Minister of Local Affairs and Environment Riadh Moakher.
Speaking on Tuesday at a Maghreb regional workshop on the analysis of coastal legislation in countries of North Africa (Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco), the minister placed emphasis on the dangers that threaten the coastline due to economic activity in these regions and climate change, including rising sea levels.
"Despite the importance of the legal arsenal adopted since the Revolution, there is still work to be done on these laws", said the minister, calling for the application of the existing legal systems and their realisation on the ground while continuing the legislative reforms.
The three-day workshop is initiated by WWF in coordination with the Coastal Protection and Management Agency (APAL).
It is part of the campaign to raise awareness of the implementation of the programme "Effective Integration of the Integrated Coastal Zone Management in Countries of North Africa".
Project manager Hamadi Gharbi said that project, which began in April 2016 and will continue for a year, targets the Maghreb countries.
"We chose 3 regions located in 3 Maghreb countries; Namely Ghar El Melh (governorate of Bizerte in Tunisia), El Marsa, Ben Azzouz and Gerbes in the Wilaya of Skikda (north-east of Algeria) and Nador (north-east of Morocco) ".
He added that the objective is to involve the parties concerned in the coastal regions of the three countries and to create local and regional networks between them, in addition to the preparation of a guide at the level of each region".
For the official it is important for countries like Tunisia and Algeria to sign the Madrid Protocol on the sustainable management of coastal regions in the Mediterranean and to make it a reality at the local level by involving the municipalities as the first administrative core of local governance.
For his part, the Director General of APAL highlighted the importance of the project for a city like Ghar El Melh, speaking of the main problems facing this city such as anarchic construction, sand advance and the rise in sea level.
He called for the activation of the Maghreb legislative approximation mechanisms in order to limit the negative impacts on the coastal regions of the pilot zones chosen within the framework of the project.
© Tunis-Afrique Presse 2016
