The Mediterranean Sea is being invaded by hundreds of species of fish, jellyfish, prawns and other marine species from outside the region. This happens when we create artificial waterways like the Suez Canal or when ships release bilge water into new territories. According to a new United Nations report (we covered the last one in 2018 here) there are now more than one thousand non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean and the Black Sea. 

The waters we love may never be the same. And these invaders are pushing out native species causing fishermen to adjust.

It’s already impossible to go swimming on the beaches of Gaza, Tel Aviv, or Beirut in July when the jellyfish that came from the Red Sea invade. What’s next?

Your favorite fish might go extinct

Over half of the invaders have established permanent populations and are spreading, causing concern about the threat they pose to marine ecosystems and local fishing communities, says a United Nations group called the FAO. 

“Climate change and human activities have had a profound impact on the Mediterranean and the Black Sea,” says Stefano Lelli, a fishery expert for the eastern Mediterranean working for the General Fisheries Commission for the Mediterranean: “We have witnessed a swift and significant alteration of marine ecosystems, and this has led to several impacts on local communities’ livelihoods. In the coming years, we expect the number of non-indigenous species to continue rising. 

This regional fisheries management body, established by FAO, is leading efforts to promote sustainable fisheries and aquaculture in the Mediterranean Sea and the Black Sea. It works with fishers, conservationists, scientists and government authorities to better understand the rise in non-indigenous species and help countries improve their mitigation and management measures. 

How Climate change is making the Mediterranean Sea Tropical

The Mediterranean Sea is undergoing a “tropicalization” process as water temperatures rise, largely due to climate change. In addition, many species have migrated via well-travelled shipping routes such as the Strait of Gibraltar or the Suez Canal, often attached to the hull of ships or inside them in the ballast waters.

Other species, such as the Pacific cupped oyster and the Japanese carpet shell, were introduced for aquaculture during the 1960s and 1970s and have since escaped and colonized Mediterranean ecosystems. 

Once established, non-indigenous (or non-native) species can outcompete native ones and alter their surrounding ecosystems, with potential economic implications for fisheries and tourism or even human health.

What is an invasive species? 

Non-indigenous species (NIS) are called invasive when they cause either ecological, economical damage, or pose a threat to human health. Marine invasive species can pose major threats to biodiversity by altering community structure and function, and by modifying ecosystem processes, which can have long-lasting ecological and economic consequences

For example, six poisonous and venomous non-indigenous fish species, such as pufferfish (pictured above), lionfish and several jellyfish species, are now present in the eastern Mediterranean and can be toxic to humans if touched or ingested. 

Invasive species pose threats to either human health or inflict ecological and/or economic damage. The silver-cheeked toadfish (Lagocephalus sceleratus), a Lessepsian species, is one of the most harmful species in the Mediterranean Sea, because of its potent neurotoxin, impacts on marine biodiversity, and the increased costs and labor they inflict on fishers. It was first reported in Turkey in 2003, but it’s been sighted as washing up on beaches in Israel, Turkey and Greece.

Since the catch and consumption of this pufferfish is prohibited by almost all countries bordering the Mediterranean, they have now expanded into the entire Mediterranean and Black Sea. Read a scientific report on them here.

Regions of concern listed in the report include Cyprus, Egypt, Greece, Lebanon, Israel, Syria and Turkey. 

Turning a threat into an opportunity 

Fishers all over the region have been affected by this trend. However, with support, they are finding new ways to turn these invasions into opportunities.  

In southwest Turkey, where invasive species can account for 80 percent of the catch in some areas, fishers are gradually creating new consumer and export markets for species like lionfish, urchins and Randall’s seabream.  

Lebanon is also training fishers to capture non-indigenous species, encouraging consumers to try them. “Red Sea goatfish and lionfish are some examples of non-indigenous species becoming a source of income in Lebanon,” says Manal Nader, Associate Professor and Director of the Institute of Environment at the University of Balamand in Lebanon.  

In Tunisia, two non-indigenous species of blue crabs, which were threatening traditional fishing, were turned into a lucrative business when the FAO and the Tunisian Government helped connect fishers to new markets. We wrote about the blue crabs here. The same is happening in Spain and other parts of the Mediterranean, triggering  research programmes to manage these species.  

Protecting native species of fish

“International and regional cooperation as well as concerted action are needed to tackle non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean and Black Sea,” says Bayram Öztürk, author of the GFCM’s study on non-indigenous species in the Mediterranean (links to PDF).

“Needless to say, the impacts of non-indigenous species need to be monitored by all countries in the region. Once a species is introduced, it may be too late to eradicate.” 

We covered a similar FAO report in 2018. See how they compare.

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“It eats everything, leaves nothing and reproduces very quickly,” laments Mouradh, a fisherman from the Tunisian islands of Kerkennah. For the country’s fishers, the blue crabs that were being hauled out of the water, tangled up in their broken nets, were a disaster.

An invasive species introduced into the Mediterranean through the Suez Canal, the blue crab threatened the artisanal fishing techniques used along the Tunisian coastline, specifically damaging the gillnets and traps used in the Charfia (a traditional, fixed fishery system that blocks the path of fish and leads them to traps). With their sharp shells and claws, blue crabs ruin these fishing nets and feed on other fish species also caught in the nets or traps.

Blue crabs were first found off the Tunisian coast in 1993. By 2014, they began proliferating massively, causing significant damage to the coastal artisanal fishing sector, especially in the Gulf of Gabès in southeast Tunisia, where, during the high season, the blue crab represented more than 70 percent of the catch off this Mediterranean gulf.

These predatory crabs compete with indigenous species for space and food. They feed on all other species of fish, and its only natural predator, the octopus, is not enough to limit its spread. By disturbing the natural ecosystems, the blue crab has also negatively affected the yields of Tunisian women clam collectors, who were supported by FAO to improve their household incomes

At the same time, this blue crab is the fifth most popular crab in the world market. It is especially sought out in the Asian, United States and Australian markets where it is featured on the menus of many restaurants.

Seeing the potential of turning this foe into a friend, FAO and the Tunisian government launched training sessions for the fishers in this region. Through the “Strengthening Governance and Development of Fisheries in Tunisia” project, FAO trained 90 fishers in Djerba, Gabès and Kerkennah.

Fishers received information sessions on the benefits of the blue crab and 1 500 multipurpose traps to allow them to catch the crab more easily. During FAO’s practical, hands-on training sessions, the fishers were able to compare the effectiveness of these large, mesh net traps against the traditional cylindrical crab pots.

In collaboration with Tunisian marine research center, the National Institute of Science and Technology of the Sea, FAO also produced a practical manual in French on  blue crab fishing with multipurpose traps. It specifically addresses small-scale fishers, teaching them best practices in catching blue crabs.

Beyond the advancement of fishing techniques in Tunisia, FAO has assisted the government in developing a complete value chain within this niche market. Good governance of fishing, that allows fishers to catch crabs of good quality while respecting the environment, has facilitated the marketing of the blue crab locally and internationally.

The first blue crab processing and marketing plant for the Asian market, created by the government in 2019 in the Kerkennah islands, triggered a mini economic boom in the area with 50 new jobs for plant technicians.

Valerio Crespi, FAO Fisheries and Aquaculture Officer explains, “This successful plant not only allowed fishers to diversify their sources of income, it also added value to an invasive species.”

The exports of blue crab during the month of May 2021 rose significantly, reaching 2 090.9 tons with a value of USD 7.2 million (about 19.6 million Tunisian dinars), while exports for the same period in 2020 was 796.1 tons with a value of USD 3.1 million (or 8.6 million dinars).

Private sector investments in blue crab processing plants have gone from simple packaging and freezing raw crabs to preparing cooked products in order to expand to markets in Asia, Italy, Spain and the Americas. Some food manufacturing plants in Zarzis are considering including cooked crab as one of their products to enter other markets. In fact, even in Tunisia where crab has never been a traditional dish or ingredient in cooking, this product is starting to appear on local menus due to its new availability in markets.

Photos: Left/top: The blue crab was initially a disaster for fishers, ruining nets and traditional fishing techniques. ©FAO/Valerio Crespi Right/bottom: FAO offered training and better traps to Tunisian fishers to take advantage of this new type of catch. Though not well-known locally, blue crab is very popular in other markets. ©FAO/Valerio Crespi

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Think we know what’s in store for us? Abu Dhabi stands at an average high of about 110F in August, and now Death Valley, California peaks a record hot high at 130 degrees F (or  54.4 degrees Celsius) this month, the highest since 1931.

“The weather station at Furnace Creek in Death Valley, California, reported a temperature of 54.4C, which is 130F, on Sunday 16 August,” said Clare Nullis, the World Meteorological Organization (WMO) spokesperson. “If validated, it would be the highest temperature on Earth since 1931, and the third-hottest temperature ever recorded on the planet.”

“All indications” suggest that the extreme temperature reading of 54.4 degrees Celsius recorded in California’s Death Valley on Sunday, is legitimate,” she added.

Tunisia and Kuwait are in the top 3 hot spots

According to the data from the WMO’s Weather and Climate Extremes archive, the hottest temperature ever recorded there or anywhere was in Furnace Creek, Death Valley, California, reaching 56.7C (134.06F) on 10 July 1913. And that’s because someone was checking.

The next highest temperature for the world was then set in Kebili, Tunisia, in July in 1931 reaching 55C (131F).

A few years ago it reached 54C (or 129.2F) in Mitribah, Kuwait, on 21 July, 2016.

The conditions have coincided with a heatwave on the US west coast with heat warnings issued by US government groups.

The development follows repeated warnings from the UN weather agency about extreme high temperatures which are having an impact on sea ice melt, also causing extensive wildfires in places such as the Arctic. Earlier this month climate change science pioneer Konrad Steffen actually fell through a melting glacier at his research station and drowned. This is how depressing the whole climate change situation has become.

Alarm for the Arctic

Siberia is experiencing a prolonged heatwave, with a recorded temperature of 38C (100.4F) on 20 June in the Russian town of Verkhoyansk. If this readout is verified it will be the highest temperature ever recorded in the Arctic Circle.

The glaciers are melting. Carbon is releasing into the air. If you thought Covid was scary, it might just be a taste of the hell to come.

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Tunisia’s traditional Ramli agricultural systems in the lagoons of Ghar El Melh (above) and its hanging gardens from Djebba El Olia, have been recognized as Globally Important Agricultural Heritage Systems (GIAHS), a designation managed by the UN Food and Agriculture Organization (FAO). It is the second time Tunisian sites have won the GIAHS recognition, after Gafsa Oases in 2011.

Both sites reflect profound bonds between the cultivated crops and the natural ecosystem, local fauna and flora, while promoting the preservation of traditional knowledge and biodiversity conservation. Their recognition as GIAHS sites will encourage local communities to better treasure and conserve their heritage for future generations.

Ramli cropping practices in Ghar El Melh

Ramli, meaning “on sand”, are agricultural practices that consist of growing crops on sandy substrates. Unique not only in Tunisia but in the whole world, these gardens were created in the 17th century by the Andalusian diaspora to cope with the lack of cultivable land and fresh water.

The ingenious practices are based on a passive irrigation system where the roots of the plants are fed throughout each season by rainwater stored and floating on the surface of the sea through the movement of the tides.

The traditional knowledge preserved over the centuries enables farmers to maintain the lagoon plots through the precise supply of sand and organic matter so that the crops reach the right height, allowing the roots to be irrigated by a fine fresh water and not to be affected by salt water.

Hedges of fruit trees and shrubs on the lagoon barrier protect the cultivated plots from wind and sea spray, help slow down evaporation and fix the sand. Such a multifaceted system makes it possible to grow crops all year round without artificial water supplies, even during periods of drought.

Today, fishing and agriculture are the main subsistence activities in the area. The farms of Ghar El Melh are small (81 percent have less than 5 hectares) and their primary production includes potatoes, beans and onions “on ramli”.

Hanging gardens of Djebba El Olia

Perched on the heights of Mount el Gorrâa, the gardens of Djebba el Olia form a unique agroforestry system. At an altitude of 600 metres, farmers have been able to shape this mountainous landscape to their advantage by integrating agriculture on terraces derived from natural geological formations or by building them out of dry stone.

Reinforced by an efficient irrigation system, the hanging gardens are examples of innovative and resilient agroforestry that meets the food needs of the local communities throughout the year. Thanks to the preservation of the forests at high altitude and the multitude of species in the tree stratum of the gardens, Djebba El Olia benefits from a particular microclimate.

Based on practices combining agroforestry and agroecology, fig tree cultivation is the mainstay of a varied and resilient polycultural system supported by extensive livestock farming. Apart from figs, a large number of vegetables, pulses and fruit species are produced in the gardens, including  solanaceous plants (tomato, pepper) as well as squash, broad bean, onion, bean and potato.

Livestock breeding is also a big part of the site’s biodiversity, in particular the local breed of sheep “Black Thibar”, adapted to the rugged terrain, and the Brown Atlas cattle breed known for its hardiness.

These gardens benefit from the nearby forests and wild flora and fauna species ensuring that wild pollinators also support biodiversity. The art of managing cultivated and wild species is the basis of the site’s ingenious knowledge. The quality of products is highly appreciated – Djebba’s AOC labelled figs, fresh and dried fruits and  processed products (jams) are all highly sought after locally and abroad, representing an important source of income.

About the GIAHS Programme

The addition of the two Tunisian sites brings the total number of GIAHS worldwide to 61 in 22 countries. This FAO landmark programme highlights unique ways that rural communities have over generations forged to foster food security, viable livelihoods, resilient ecosystems and high levels of biodiversity, all while contributing to the formation of remarkable landscapes.

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Rachel Carson would be shocked: A recent study has found that the concentrations of banned chemicals like PCBs, DDT and organochlorines found in human breast milk of women sampled throughout Tunisia  indicate widespread and elevated contamination particularly in older members of rural populations with high dairy and meat intake.

Although these concentration levels are relatively low for developing countries, Tunisia’s population is highly exposed since more than 1,200 tons of obsolete pesticide stocks still remain uncontained and continue to pollute surrounding areas and waterways.

The threat persistent organic pollutants (POP), such as polychlorinated biphenyls (PCB), organochlorine (OC) and dichlorodiphenytrichloroethane (DDT) pose to the environment and human health is well documented.

These compounds found in pesticides, industrial chemicals or unwanted industrial byproducts are characterized with a high resistance to degradation, long half-lives in humans, and have been confirmed to bioaccumulate in fatty tissues such as blood, breast milk, and adipose tissues through dietary intake.

POPs have been found to compromise the endocrine system, hormone production, metabolic processes, the reproductive system, causing genetic damage and cancer.

Organochlorines widely used as insecticides in Tunisia

In Tunisia OC chemicals were widely used from the end of 1940s to 1980s for insect control and agricultural pest control. Despite the use of these compounds has been prohibited in the late 1980s, OCs are still ubiquitous in Tunisia’s environment and biota.

Related: See how our phosphorus addiction is killing this mining town

In 2004, Tunisia ratified the Stockholm Convention on POP, which postulates the elimination of these pollutants by limiting its production, use and commercialization and the application of a national plan that identifies and manages obsolete stocks (primarily PCB). Today, Tunisia benefits from a 16,7 million USD donation from the Global Environment Facility with the intent of eliminating these stocks by 2017.

Although this is an essential project, Tunisia has important steps to make in the strict application of existing laws, resorting to independent environmental judicial systems that penalize polluters.

Today Tunisia, is dotted with unregulated industrial polluters that contaminate waterways (see how locals jump into this magical lake despite warnings!), and continue to pump POPs in the domestic food chains and the biota.

Before Tunisia can start talking about bio, it needs to talk about POP. And if you are breastfeeding or know someone pregnant, send them this article about stuff they don’t need:

10 breastfeeding products you do not need to buy

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Tunisians are famous the world over for trash selfies. Now simple calculations made by this Green Prophet shows that Tunisia, and many other countries in the MENA region, could spend at least three times as less than they do for collecting municipal solid waste by donkey.

Tunisia’s rubbish problem is an embarrassing affair for many nationals, in particular tourist guides, who reminisce of a cleaner Tunisia.

Thankfully today civil society is denouncing and government seems to have caught on by deploying a new  “environmental municipal”.  These are, ideologically speaking, very much needed steps in the right direction, yet there are larger, practical restraints.

RELATED: Tunisians dive into mysterious lake that appears overnight, despite radiation fears

For example fiscal restraints risk concentrating efforts in the areas only where rubbish is dangerously visible:  tourist attractions and urban centers, leaving rural areas largely out of the cleaning equation.

Tunisia’s trash is a universal problem,  that touches the most rural of areas and the most desolate of villages. Considering the geographic disarticulation of such municipalities, collecting trash is an expensive ordeal for the Tunisian government to deal with, yet cheap and eco-friendly ideas taken from positive experiences elsewhere (only 160 km away in fact) can be adopted to employ locals and improve waste management.

In 2007, the mayor of Castelbuono , a town in Sicily, was inspired to use donkeys as a vehicle to collect rubbish door to door. He found that this solution proved to be cheaper, more efficient and eco -friendly.

The so-called eco-donkeys costs on average 1269 USD  plus 2540 USD per year to maintain and a donkey’s average working life is of 20 years. Tash collecting vehicles instead cost 38000 USD  plus 10150 USD  of maintenance per year and have a working life of only 5 years.

RELATED: How we are killing Tunisian townsfolk with our phosphate addiction

Also, donkeys can walk along the tiny, inaccessible, cobbled streets, they hardly make any noise and they drink water, not petrol. The only inconvenience is their poop on the streets.

Castelbuono has successfully deployed half a dozen of these donkeys and has been maintaining the streets of this 10,000 person town clean, while providing employment to six former farmers.

What if Tunisia’s rural donkeys also started to be deployed in villages to collect rubbish door to door? Would it be an efficient and cheap solution?

Green prophet does some approximate calculations ( we have purposefully used high estimates). Maintaining and finding donkeys in Tunisia is easier and cheaper than in other Mediterranean countries. Consider that in Tunisia a donkey costs on average 380 USD, while maintaining a donkey costs 260 USD per year.

Tunisia’s waste by the numbers:

Tunisia’s Population: 10.9 million (2014)
Number of people served /donkey (based on Castelbuono’s experience): 1,666 persons/donkey
Cost of one eco-donkey in Tunisia: 380 USD + 260 USD /year = 640 USD
Wage of eco-agents (based on Tunisia’s monthly minimum wage of 190 USD/month )= 2280 USD
Total number of donkeys needed in Tunisia = 10.9 million/1666= 6540 donkeys
Total cost of donkeys + eco-agents = 19.09 million USD  (year 1), $16.61 million USD (year 2)

So to summarize, it would cost the Government (municipalities) approximately $19 million USD  in the first year  to collect and clean Tunisia up, without spending much on petrol, providing employment to  6,540 rural eco-agents and ensuring the durability of the project for at least 20 years.

How much does Tunisia currently spend on waste?

In 2009 for example, Tunisia produced 2.25 million tons of solid waste. The total approximate cost for collecting this, amounted to 69 million USD.

Over three years, the World Bank has lent Tunisia 50 million euros, The European Commission 41 million euros and the French Development Agency 15 million euros for waste management.

Simple calculations clearly show that donkeys can be a cheaper and more eco-friendly alternative to the systems currently in use.

Image of Donkey graffiti by Sunra / Tunisie taken by Aline Deschamps from Galerie Itinerrance Djerbahood

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As I enter Arafet Ben Marzou’s new  “office” at the top floor of an apartment building facing the lakes in Tunis, I am met with a very familiar feeling: that silicon valley, young brains, start-up feel. Only this time it is “ à la Tunisienne”, and I have to say, I prefer it.

Instead of leather armchairs there are traditional woven klims, the computer I see at the corner of the room is not an Apple, there are two open tents and two muddy bikes in the room, I can hear the Adhan (call to prayer), and I am not offered coke or coffee but a freshly made “citronnade”.

And so this is the office area where after his infamous yearlong cycle around the world, Arafet is cooking up a new project and has founded Exploralis. His vision and objective is to attract a “normal” citizen to review and experience social, environmental and cultural issues in Tunisia.

Arafet believes that “The process of attracting the normal citizen needs to generate a buzz and interest, which can be done by linking three factors: the environment , social and scientific with the media with adventure and passion,” he tells Green Prophet.

This recipe is the secret to Exploralis- a levitating initiative, which was baptized this month in its first adventure, a kayak crossing Tunisia’s biggest river: Medjerda.

This crossing was undertaken by Arafet and ornithologist-biodiversity expert Ridha Ouni where,  for 17 days, water samples (analyzed by the mobile laboratory of the minister of the environment), interviews and visual documentation were collected all along the river.

The adventure was interspersed with meeting young students and government offcials with the objective of highlighting river related issues like pollution, social concerns for those dependent on Medjerda’s water and the local eco-tourism potential.

Exploralis’s aim is to create a documentary and scientific research behind every “adventure” as way to sensitize Tunisia on its socio-environmental assets (see trailer below).

[youtube http://www.youtube.com/watch?v=Bt5fJncfQd0]

With glimmering eyes Arafet gives hope for Tunisia’s eco-conscious future: “In my surrealist vision I see Exploralis as an organism that creates scientific research, documentation and curiosity while sharing beauty”.

For more information contact (exploralis.tunisia@gmail.com)

Images taken by Arafet Ben Merzou

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Climate Change, as we know by now and has been reconfirmed this year through the 5th IPCC Assessment report, will change our lives radically in the coming decades. There are several hot spot areas such as Bangladesh, the Sahel, The Alps, and the Maldives where due to their geographic position, landscape, and microclimate are already experiencing climate change impacts. One of these regions is Tunisia.

Although the discourse around climate change in Tunisia has been developing, its inclusion in the political agenda is limited, if non-existent. Tunisia is living an important political moment, which could be the turning point for its economy, more importantly it could be an important turning point for a greener economy, and as always, civil society will be the key motivator.

In 2013, Radhouane Addala and Samuel McNeil ventured across the country to interview, film and understand who and how climate change is impacting the Tunisian population today.

The result is an outstanding documentary, which delivers important messages to the Tunisian population, its government, and all the countries which confine our beautiful Saharan desert. How will increased droughts, stronger storms, moving deserts, rainfall losses of 15-30 % alter social, political, cultural and economic systems?

As Samuel explains “A Siege of Salt and Sand is an alarm bell and a bridge. We want to connect similarly climate-maligned communities across the globe to help forge solidarity in facing our era’s gravest danger. By visualizing the complexities of climate, marine and desert science and translating the struggles of scientists, policymakers, fishermen and farmers, we are trying to build a thick connection from Tunisia with the rest of the world.”

Aside from climate change related impacts, A Siege of Salt and Sand bought to light other important environmental issues and raises several questions. For example, the “black spots” of post-revolutionary Tunisia, where environmental regulation has been left behind and companies no longer feel obliged to follow rules that no one will enforce, or illegal industrial fishing in the Mediterranean, where fishermen in the Kerkennah islands south of Tunisia, are seeing their fish stocks depleted as “bottom trawling” destroys vital ecosystems offshore. Is this problem related to European companies benefiting from diminished controls of environmental regulations outside of European jurisdiction?

A Siege of Salt and Sand is currently in the post- production phase, Sam and Rad are crowdsourcing for the much needed financial support (and non – financial! ) to finish editing the arabic, english and french version of the documentary, as well as disseminating the information.

To support the project please donate through Indiegogo: A Siege of Salt and Sand

To watch the trailer : A Siege of Salt and Sand (Trailer)

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Earlier this month several Tunisians in Hammamet, Sphax and Mahdia woke up to their beaches infested with dead fish and jelly fish, a beached whale in Tunis, off the coast of Sidi Bou Saïd was also carried to shore.

This event has generated an important debate, which confirms the need for investigative science and how little of that there is.

Some environmentalists sustain that the recent mass die-offs are not a coincidence, or a “natural” phenomenon, but a result of marine pollution.

[youtube]https://www.youtube.com/watch?v=-WYQ7GiB9IA[/youtube]

Pollution off the Tunisian coasts is known to be a largely unregulated affair, particularly since the Jasmine revolution, an increasing number of unregulated coastal industries have been leaking toxic waste directly into the sea, furthermore the large majority of the commercial shipping traffic between the Suez Canal and Gibraltar passes off the Tunisian coasts, exerting significant marine ecosystem pressures from hydrocarbon fuel pollution, fumes and waste.

There are also talks on the connection between increasing covert hydraulic fracturing activities offshore between the touristic islands of Djerba and Kerkhennah and the concomitant increase in dead fish found along the coast. This connection is not incongruous, it is not the first time fracking is identified as the culprit in mystery mass die-offs, and given the strong toxic content of  chemical concoctions used in fracturing, a small leak can have enormous consequences especially in water where containment is nearly impossible.

On the other hand Hédia Hili, a veterinary doctor at the National Institute of marine science and technology, in an interview states that there is nothing abnormal about these phenomenons and it corresponds to annual events which are due to the proliferation of red jellyfish in the red sea seeping through from the Atlantic and Red sea, changes in the Mediterranean marine ecosystem, climate change and ocean warming. But are these not all anthropologically caused factors?

And there is a final, more esoteric explanation, some say this is an indication the world is going to end soon. 

When recently speaking to young Tunisian and Lebanese marine scientists it is apparent that the problem is not the lack of scientists willing to research on these issues, but it is the lack of funding. This is particularly true for the Mediterranean countries who are experiencing economic downturn, and therefore cuts in research and development. The Mediterranean risks becoming a soup of environmental disasters, with little investigative science to explain such disasters.

It is especially alarming to read several articles where the discourse explaining mass die-offs fall into the “it’s normal”  or “It’s a mystery” scheme.

Is the human race starting to refute the responsibility for the consequences of its actions?

Image of dead fish on the coast from Shutterstock

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Frustrated and suffocated, he decided to leave Tunisia for the first time and crossed the Sahara desert in a personal quest to gain a better perspective on life.

The desert did just that, Arafet began to see the changes that needed to happen in him and for Tunisia, and soon enough, following the 2011 Jasmine Revolution, a second trip was planned-  this time on a bike and with an environmental goal.

In 2012, 10 months, 9015 km of the earth, a bike, and a Tunisian passport (with its shortcomings)  are the beginning feats of a change-maker in Tunisia’s current generation: which needs to become more environmentally conscious.

His original idea was to stop at all the wetland sites along the route, and promote environmental protection for wetland areas in association with RAMSAR and WWF Tunisia.

Unfortunately he did not gain much traction from such organizations and soon had to abandon the idea, telling Green Prophet:  “One of the sad aspects of my bike trip in 2012, is that this environmental feature of the project did not materialize and given the trip has been highly mediatized, it was a missed opportunity to speak about the environment to Tunisians.”

But not all is lost, thanks to the bike trip, his published book and several interviews, Arafet has attracted substantial support and followers which provides huge opportunities to promote environmental awareness in Tunisia.

Although still in the secretive stage, 2015 promises to be a great year for environmental awareness in Tunisia-  so watch out!

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