Country Profile: Tunisia

Tunisia has operated an ambitious and serious environmental policy since the 1990s. But despite its well-established institutional environment, it faces a number of challenges: ongoing economic growth has increased the amount of waste and wastewater produced, emissions have soared and the country’s water and soil resources are subject to growing threat.

Tunisia’s geographic location makes it particularly vulnerable to the effects of climate change: the entire north and south of the country lie below sea level and its more than 1,300 km of coast are important to economic development. The country fears huge economic losses should climate change cause a rise in sea levels. And like other Maghreb states, Tunisia faces the problem of water shortages caused by ever-increasing droughts, especially in rural areas.

This is why Tunisia ratified the Framework Convention on Climate Change at an early juncture. It called its National Climate Change Committee into being in 1996. In 2001, the committee was reformed and became the country’s National Focal Point. In its implementation of the National Climate Change Strategy, the Tunisian government largely relies on the CDM and on energy efficiency and renewables projects in particular.

Tunisia’s CDM potential is well reported. A study by its National Energy Agency (ANME) highlights its potential for energy efficiency and renewables projects. Huge potential for greenhouse gas reductions is seen in heat management and building modernisation, the wind sector and combined heat and power. At the end of 2004, ANME published a portfolio of 28 projects with fully developed project proposals. A number of CDM projects are currently being developed by the World Bank, mostly focusing on landfill gas and HFCs. Two of these projects have been validated so far.

The Tunisian DNA is still in the development stages. Organisational issues such as decisionmaking processes and timelines have still to be agreed. The DNA website is now online, having taken some considerable time to put together.
In 2005, Tunisia signed two memoranda of understanding (MoUs) – one with Canada and the other with Austria. It also entered into an agreement with the World Bank/PCF on the projects mentioned earlier. An MoU between Tunisia and Germany was signed in late March 2007.

Downloads:

GTZ CDM Market Overview Tunisia
gtai CDM-Market Brief Tunisia
MoU with Tunisia

Further selected information:

Tunisia’s National Communication on Climate Change Under the UNFCCC (PDF)

Tunisian DNA website

ANME website

Earth Trends Country Profiles: Climate and Atmosphere (PDF)

German Foreign Office: Information on Tunisia

European Commission: The EU’s Relations with Tunisia