The World Bank's Prescription for Tunisia's Oases... Crisis Management or Dependency Management?!
In a recent report prepared in partnership with Tunisian research institutions, the World Bank warned of serious risks threatening Tunisia's oases as a result of the overexploitation of groundwater, climate change, and weak governance. The report highlighted the environmental and economic importance of these oases as "natural jewels" and "reservoirs of biodiversity." It revealed an increase in cultivated areas in the oases from 17,500 hectares in 1992 to more than 51,000 hectares today, thanks to the expansion of deep water extraction, especially in the south. The report presented two scenarios: continued deterioration or sustainable reform that could achieve economic gains of up to 7 billion dinars and create more than 33,000 job opportunities, while reducing carbon dioxide emissions by 22.5 million tons by 2050.
The report also stressed that the future of the oases does not depend only on funding and modern technologies, but on reforming the governance system, pointing to the suffering of the oases from overlapping powers between ministries, local councils, and user associations, in the absence of effective coordination.
The report called for the preparation of integrated development plans for the management of oases, and the modernization of laws to suit their specificities, with the possibility of including them in the list of UNESCO's biosphere reserves.
To lend scientific credibility, the World Bank prepared this report in cooperation with prominent Tunisian research institutions such as the National Institute of Agricultural Sciences of Tunisia, and the National Institute for Research in Rural Engineering, Water and Forests, where the report covered the environmental, economic, and social aspects, making it a comprehensive analysis. It constitutes a warning bell about real dangers threatening the oases, especially with the expected rise in temperatures by 1.9 degrees Celsius and a 9% decrease in rainfall by 2050.
However, in return, this report ignored the huge water resources in southern Tunisia, especially the global reserve of Alpine groundwater shared with Algeria and Libya, which is estimated at about 40,000-50,000 billion cubic meters. It also focused on local reforms without presenting a comprehensive regional vision to deal with the problem, which requires cooperation with both Algeria and Libya. It also did not offer alternatives such as seawater desalination or renewable energy projects as strategic solutions.
The World Bank and a History of Failed Dictates:
Despite the importance of the study, there is a question about the interest of the World Bank as a usurious financial institution that is one of the most powerful arms of the global financial system, which is dominated by the United States and major Western countries, and one of the most important tools for achieving political and economic influence through dominance over financing and economic decisions.
Since the 1960s, development options supported by the World Bank have played a major role in shaping successive Tunisian crises. These include its support for the cooperative experience, which was a foundational project for state capitalism, where farmers were forced to give up their lands, leading to a decline in productivity and widespread public discontent. After that, with the policy of openness in the 1970s, Tunisia chose to rely on tourism and export industries with low added value, a trend encouraged by the Bank and the International Monetary Fund. These choices led to the concentration of investments in coastal areas and the marginalization of inland regions, and the marginalization of strategic sectors such as agriculture and industry, so the economy remained fragile and dependent on the outside world. Then came the structural adjustment programs in the 1980s: market liberalization, reduction of the state's role, and privatization of public institutions were imposed, which exacerbated unemployment, social and regional disparities. These imbalances were among the deep causes of the 2011 revolution.
Ignoring the Real Risks in the Report:
- Hydrogen Energy: The report did not address the danger of adopting hydrogen energy to market it to Europe on the groundwater in the south, which requires huge amounts of water.
- Financial Dependency: The World Bank remains part of the global financial system dominated by the United States and major Western countries, making it a tool for achieving political and economic influence over Third World countries.
The report called for the inclusion of the oases under the UNESCO list
Which means indirect loss of sovereignty, by adhering to standards and laws that impose restrictions on land use and development, and placing the site under international supervision and monitoring, which affects local policies and urban planning and increases the proportion of reliance on international funding and expertise.
It is worth mentioning that many countries have refused and procrastinated in including their heritage sites for sovereign reasons. The usurping Jewish entity refused to include heritage sites in the Palestinian territories such as Jericho and Hebron, expressing that UNESCO's management contributes to supporting Palestinian demands, and that these measures affect its sovereignty and reduce its influence, which raises questions about the motives for promoting such a step in Tunisia.
The Real Reasons for the Water and Oasis Crisis and Alternative Solutions
The real reasons lie in the choice of the existing regimes in our country for policies of dependence on international powers instead of seeking regional integration that achieves self-sufficiency and protects the country and its people, and the fact that the southern region of Tunisia contains the largest global reserve of Alpine groundwater shared with Algeria and Libya, but poor management and lack of strategic planning have deprived Tunisia and the countries of the region of the opportunity to benefit from this wealth. Although we have a Sharia ruling that calls for political unity and participation in wealth, which could have achieved regional integration in all of North Africa. The Prophet ﷺ said: "Muslims are partners in three things: water, pasture, and fire."
The radical solution lies in rejecting external dictates that aim to weaken our sovereignty and prevent the unification of strategies with Algeria and Libya to manage shared water resources permanently and in the best way, and allowing for integration and free movement, which leads to diversifying sources of wealth and diversifying the economy through industry and trade without depleting water, while developing seawater desalination technologies and irrigation with solar energy, and developing technologies to exploit the enormous water wealth that is sufficient for all of North Africa for hundreds of years.
Conclusion
In conclusion, while the World Bank report carries important warnings about the dangers threatening Tunisia's oases, it remains governed by economic and political agendas that serve the interests of the major powers and perpetuate the colonial division that was and still is the main reason for our weakness and our inability to benefit from our resources that God has made shared among us.
History bears witness that the World Bank's dictates have brought Tunisia nothing but more misery and dependence, from the cooperative experience in the 1960s to the economic model based on tourism and services to the structural adjustment programs in the 1980s and their disastrous effects.
The real solution lies in breaking free from these failed approaches and adopting a strategic vision based on regional integration between the countries of the region and benefiting from natural resources within the provisions of the great Islam that calls for reviving the land and preserving wealth, including water, and also calls for the unity of Muslims and their fusion as a building that strengthens each other, so that we can save our oases and other resources and transform them from centers of dependence into models of development, sovereignty, and success.
Written for the Central Media Office of Hizb ut-Tahrir
Yassin Ben Yahya
