Environmental Protection Programme

Programme description

Title: Environmental Protection Programme
Commissioned by: German Federal Ministry for Economic Cooperation and Development (BMZ)
Country: Tunisia
Lead executing agency: Ministère de l'Agriculture et de l'Environnement
Overall term: 2003 to 2013

Context

Tunesien. Zementwerk bei Gabes. © GTZ

Environmental protection is given high political priority in Tunisia. Since 1989, a coordinated institutional landscape has come into being that covers issues such as sewage, waste management, coastal protection, environmental monitoring, environmental precautions and planning, and environmental technology. Despite these favourable conditions, Tunisia faces formidable challenges. Ten years of constant economic growth has resulted in intensive use and increasing pollution of natural resources. The amount of waste and sewage produced is rising, while water and soil resources are under threat, and the teeming traffic in the cities is degrading air quality. Finally, due to the escalating industrial production there is also a growing quantity of toxic waste and emissions, which are often inadequately treated and disposed of. The ministry responsible for environmental protection faces the task of better integrating environmental issues into the concerns of society and industry.

Objective

Environmental concerns are better incorporated into industry and society, and environmental protection more strongly integrated into the national development plan. Governorates and local authorities bear responsibility for environmental protection, which ensures better environmental monitoring.

Approach

In its five components, the German-Tunisian environmental programme combines advisory fields, such as caring for the environmental and reducing environmental pollution, decentralisation of environmental roles, integrated waste management, environmental technology cooperation, environmental communication and awareness raising. It provides technical, methodological and material support for the responsible ministry and its subordinate departments as they perform their advisory and coordinating duties (strategy planning, environmental communication). At the same time, support is given to the implementation of environmental policy in the form of advice on sector questions (waste management), and new procedures are developed, such as private sector participation, technological cooperation with the Centre International des Technologies de l'Environnement de Tunis (CITET). Administrative reforms in the environmental sector and the participation of local authorities in environmental management are being improved (decentralisation of environmental tasks).

Results achieved so far

  • For the first time in Tunisia, regional development planning is done in a participatory, cross-sector process which also takes environmental issues into consideration.
  • Sustainability indicators are being developed for the most important economic sectors.
  • Environmental legislation is being adapted to current requirements.
  • The waste disposal sector is being opened up to private sector involvement.
  • The first examples of North-South cooperation have been started in the field of environmental technology.
  • Using the teaching method of action learning, schoolchildren are now being taught what they can do for the environment.

This programme comprises the following components

    Further information


    Contact


    Mr Helmut Krist
    Email: helmut.krist@giz.de