Setting up a wetland index at 3 sites around Greater Tunis to provide information on restoration

 

Organization: Association Les Amis des Oiseaux (AAO Birdlife Tunisia)
Award Amount: €34 000
Project Type: PROZHUM Small Project
Duration: January 2024 – December 2026
Project Contact: Moujib Gabous, moujib.gabous@aao-birdlife.tn
Keywords: observatory, engagement

Summary

The three wetland sites selected around Greater Tunis present a variety of habitats and a recurring challenge. The Lake of Tunis complex has a rich and abundant avifauna, with at least twenty bird species visible at any time of year. The site is easily accessible via a network of footpaths and is home to an ancient fortress, as well as an area protected as a nature reserve. Sebkhet Séjoumi is the fourth-largest waterbird wintering site in North Africa and one of the last major wetlands in the Greater Tunis region. Most of its natural functions have been preserved to date, and the site continues to provide flood protection, grazing, fodder collection, climate change mitigation and recreational services. Unfortunately, both sites have attracted a great deal of development interest, with the authorities declaring their intention to launch a major planning and development project. The third site, the Ariana Sebkha is a fragile environment with a varied landscape. Historically, the banks were devoted exclusively to agriculture, and urban development plans have emphasised their agricultural character. Over the last forty years, urbanisation has had an increasing impact on agriculture, with clean-up efforts affecting only a small proportion of the area.

This Small Project will use the Wetland Index tool to assess the health of these sites. This method is reproducible even with limited resources and allows comparison over time, combining data on bird species that the AAO regularly collects with changes in land use, pressures and conservation responses. At a national level, this effort will advance the project to create an integrated wetland observatory management platform for Greater Tunis, to centralise national monitoring data as part of the National Wetland Strategy for Tunisia. This will also complement efforts to support capacity-building training in data analysis. At a more granular scale, the project team will identify and implement priority actions to restore a pilot site at Sebkhet Séjoumi, in order to eliminate invasive species and regenerate native vegetation.

Objectives

• Understand, promote and protect the biodiversity of Greater Tunis wetlands: Sebkhet Séjoumi, Lac Sud de Tunis and Sebkhet Ariana
• Set up a platform for the integrated management of the Greater Tunis Wetlands Observatory to strengthen the management of the 3 Greater Tunis wetlands for better ecosystem conservation.

Resources

• Learn more about the PROZHUM project

Funding

Agence Française de Développement (AFD) implements France’s policy on international development and solidarity. Through its financing of NGOs and the public sector, as well as its research and publications, AFD supports and accelerates transitions towards a fairer, more resilient world. It also provides training in sustainable development (at AFD Campus) and other awareness-raising activities in France.