Tunisia’s Country Environmental Analysis (CEA)

1. Tunisia’s Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) By Sherif Arif and Aziz Bouzaher Presented at The SEA, CEA and DPL Workshop January 18, 2005

2. A Three-Year Process • Feb 02: Launch workshop • April 02: Inception report workshop • June 02: Draft background report • Sept 02: Revised background report • Dec 02: Formal ESW CN review • May 03: Bank review and approval of draft CEA • June 12, 03: Final draft report workshop • Dec 11, 03: Final report dissemination workshop • April 04: Gray Cover Report in French • June 14,04 Public dissemination workshop of the report • December 18,04 Review of the CEA by the National Commission for Sustainable Development • January, 05: CEA translated into English 2

3. General Performance Since Its Independence, Tunisia adopted a three- tier socio-economic policy: • Social Policies access to education • Gender equality • Public health • Water and sanitation • Economic policies • Employment • Rural development • Soil and water conservation • Development of tourism • Development and preservation of coastal zones • Strong, centralized public institutions 8

4. dinars dinars 1990 1990 2 000 2 000 5% 5% 4% 4% 1 500 1 500 GDP/Capita GNP per capita 3% 3% 1 000 1 000 2% 2% % GNP Growth % GNP Growt 500 500 1% 1% 0 0 0% 0% 1985 1985 1990 1990 1995 1995 2000 2000 Tunisia’s Recent Achievements Economic and Social Sectors • Regular and Fast Reduction of Poverty • Increase in Revenues

5. Selected MDG-related Indicators • Population: • 9.6 million • Growth rate: 1.1% and falling • Rural growth peaked & declining rural-urban migration • By 2025, over 75% urbanized (mostly in coastal towns ) • Economy: • Increasingly diversified (away from agricultuture) • GDP growth: 5% pa (average since Rio-92) • GDP pc: $2,100 • Quality of life: • Poverty incidence: 4% (MDG#1) • Life expectancy: 71/74 years (men/women) • Primary education enrollment (> 98%) (MDG#2) • Perfect gender parity (MDG#3) • Child mortality: 28 per 1000 live births (MDG#4) • WSS coverage: 98/82 and 72%/50% (MDG#7) • Solid wate collection: 95%/90% (urban/rural) • Fresh water comsumption: 70 l/pc 5

6. Comparison of ANS with Other Countries • Tunisia’s ANS is 19 percent of GDP • Tunisia in the leading group in 1990, with only 14 countries out of 90 having an equal or higher ANS, including 11 with a GDP of more than US$4,000, at least twice as high as Tunisia’s US$2,000

7. Cost Assessment of Environmental Degradation (COED) • COED: 2.1 % of GDP ( 1999) US$ 435 million ( equivalent) • The Lowest among the MNA countries

8. Water in Tunisia450 m3 per capita today315 m3 per capita in 25 years 80% of water resources fully mobilized

9. Management and Conservation of Agricultural Land • 4.7 million hectares of arable land, which include 0.38 to 0.40 million hectares of irrigable area • Land that is affected to a greater or lesser degree by wind and water erosion is estimated at approximately 3.5 million hectares • Irrigated land affected by salinity is estimated at 0.12 to 0.14 million hectares. • Minimal loss to aridity is at 11,000 hectares per year of fertile land • Cereal growing covers between 1.4 and 1.8 million hectares, yet the land actually suitable for cereal growing do not exceed 0.7 million hectares • The irrigation water savings policy is strongly subsidized (the farmer bears only 45 to 50 percent of the equipment cost) • Inattention is given to socio-economic considerations

10. Policies and Institutions Environmental Institutions • Institutional framework for all sectors, supported by specific codes, laws and decrees. • Increased achievements since the last Economic and Development Plan • Recognized and strengthened technical competence. However : • Certain duties lack clarity or are redundant. • Responsibilities often go beyond scope of official duties. • Lack of coordination and exchange of information among environmental institutions. • Results focused more on physical and financial achievements than on environmental impact. • Limited scope of environmental impact analyses. • Selected strategies and programs do not adequately integrate economic issues. 10

11. V. Public Expenditures The National Environmental Action Plan (NEAP) • The NEAP was prepared in 1990 and had a budget of DT 430 million (US$ 358 million). • In 1993, the budget was increased to DT 778 million (US$ 648 million) with a 47% completion rate by 1995. • At present, the NEAP is almost implemented. 11

12. Public ExpendituresInvestments by Sectors

13. Public Expenditures An increasing portion of the national revenue is allocated to the environment and natural resources 29

14. Proposed New Sustainable Development Objectives The objectives of sustainable development for the future should focus on the two following themes: • Integrated soil and water conservation and increased productivity ; • Improved quality of Tunisian coastal zones and related economic growth, especially for tourism. 14

15. Policy Reforms • Progressive reorientation of the policy of intensive exploitation of natural resources • Adoption of a pricing policy (for water, energy, and municipal services) that would enable the recovery of long-term investment, maintenance, and operation costs • Adoption of the rapid transfer of water resource management to farmers • Adoption of a cost recovery policy for solid waste. 42

16. Institutional Reforms • Setup a new permanent TA unit to support the work of the National Commission for Sustainable Development (coordination,cross-sectoral analysis, environmental economic studies, environmental database coordination) • Readjust the scope and functions of key environmental agencies: • ANPE: to focus exclusively on Monitoring and Enforcement of environmental regulation • ONAS: away from solid waste management and water pollution control • OTED: to focus on building capacity in environmental economics, and indicators for SD • CITET: to adapt its training and capacity building programs to emerging national priorities (NRM, SW, CZM, water quality) 16

17. Changes in the Legal Framework Environmental Protection Law • Principles of sustainable development. Environment Impact Assessment Decree • Public access of EIA documents, including public consultation and information dissemination. • Analysis of alternatives • Comprehensive development and implementation environmental management plans. 48

18. Strategic Environmental Assessments • Adoption of 5 Strategic Environmental Assessments • Water sector. Impacts of water subsidies on the export of intensive water-consuming agricultural products, • Soil and water sector. Impacts of water savings and the intensive utilization of mobilized water resources on soil salinity in irrigated perimeters and on the long-term productivity of these areas, as well as the impacts of climate change on soil and water • Agriculture. Dry land agricultural development policies relating to soil protection and the fight against erosion through a progressive adaptation of cultivation to the land capability and weaknesses • Tourism sector. Determination of the tolerance threshold of intensive tourism with respect to coastal development and implied urban development • International trade sector. Impact of conformity with environmental standards (in particular, EU standards) to determine the impact of changes (in input prices and manufacturing processes) on the production, exports, and imports of key economical sectors 18

19. Major Outcomes of the CEA • Cost of Environment Degradation Study presented at the Council of Ministers in June 2004 and chaired by the President of the Republic • Country Environmental Analysis (CEA) reviewed by the National Commission for Sustainable Development on December 18, 2004 chaired by the Prime Minister • Influenced decision for establishing a Ministry of Environment and Sustainable Development in October 2004 • Solid Waste Management is no longer part of the National Environment Protection Agency • Observatory for sustainable development is now under the Ministry of Environment and Sustainable development • Agreement reached in principle for imrproving the EIA system • CEA was included into the CAS of Tunisia (FY 04) and SEAs were aslo programmed

20. Thank you for your attention