The Tunisian Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies (TIPCS), Thursday, announced the launch of its programme on climate-related problems in the governorate of Kairouan. It will run until March 2024 and will aim to overcome the challenges posed by climate change in Tunisia, in Africa and in the world.
The programme seeks to increase awareness and training and build the capacity of the civil society and citizen in Kairouan, to enable citizens, particularly women and marginalised young people to benefit from the knowledge needed to address the challenges of climate change.
The programme, whose cost is estimated at pound 100,000, will involve various stakeholders in a bid to identify operational solutions as well as develop a participatory approach through involving citizens in devising public environmental policies in Kairouan and in Tunisia in general.
Executive Director of the Tunisian Institute for Peace and Conflict Studies, Mohsen Gharsallah pointed out that the institute will implement the programme with the support of the Dutch Ministry of Foreign Affairs, the official and sole donor of the international coalition ” Voices for Just Climate Action”.
Gharsallah warned of the impact of the climate change in the upcoming period, saying that: “There is no climate justice in Tunisia, like what is happening in the world, and access to water resources must be equitable.”
This is a pilot programme to be carried out in the governorate of Kairouan in cooperation with international partners, he said.
It mainly focuses on strengthening local communities in the fight against climate change, he said, adding that Kairouan was, in 2019 and 2020, at the top of the list of governorates which claimed their right to access water. In 2020, nearly 55 protests were reported calling for a supply of drinking water compared to a total of 77 protests registered in 24 governorates across Tunisia.
Gharsallah underlined that water shortage in Kairouan poses a real threat, adding that it could lead to other diseases in rural areas, especially that schools located in rural areas have access neither to drinking water nor to decent education.
He indicated that the number of schools not connected to the national drinking water network in Kairouan, between 2018-2019, amounts to nearly 175 compared to a total of 313 schools, against 179 between 2014-2019.
He reiterated that most of the inhabitants of Kairouan have trouble accessing water and a large number of them suffer from thirst, while the region has around ten mineral water conditioning units. These factories «exert pressure on the water table, which causes a gradual decline in water resources,» he explained.

Source: Agence Tunis Afrique Presse (TAP)