The Environment and Sustainable Development in Front of the Artificialisation of the Coastlines: Coasts of Tunisia, Morocco and Algeria

Abstract

Throughout the world, the advent of mass tourism and, in particular, seaside tourism has led to significant economic and demographic growth. This growth was most often followed by urban sprawl along the coasts, resulting in dramatic changes in their landscapes. These transformations were essentially an artificialisation of the coasts and the emergence of a barrier between the littoral space and the hinterland. Tunisia, and in particular the Sahelian region, have not escaped this phenomenon, and since the emergence of this economic sector in the early years of independence, there has been a simultaneous coastal and was confined in a narrow ribbon along the beaches thus turning its back to the hinterland. Moreover, in addition to the profound transformations that this urban continuum has produced on the coastal landscapes of this region, it has had other negative repercussions. This is due to its high consumption of spaces, particularly in vulnerable sites, its disturbance in the exploitation of natural resources (water pollution, access to water, reduction of local natural biodiversity, reduction of the coastal agricultural area, reduction of the beach surface, etc.) and its socio-cultural impact through the marginalization of countryside. This impact of coastal artificialisation, notably on the environment and sustainable development is found not only in the Sahelian region of Tunisia but also in several countries of the Mediterranean basin, such as: Morocco, where tourist and resort urbanization has taken place in the form of a ribbon along the beaches and on former coastal agricultural land, and Algeria, where a diffuse urbanization generated in particular by the most widespread form of dwelling which is the form of individual dwelling, has invaded coastlines such as those of the city of Oran.

1 Introduction

The Middle East and North Africa (MENA) are two regions whose major cities are among the most populated areas of the world. This settlement has resulted in a very significant urban expansion, especially with regard to the Mediterranean cities, such as Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco, which suffer from the same principle problem which is the development of a disproportionate urbanization of the coast. This development is mainly due to the tourist infrastructures which is generally settled on arable land often with high potential.

This over-exploitation of the coastline leads to often irreversible consequences such as:

• The deterioration of biodiversity;

• The deterioration of landscapes;

• The deterioration of wetlands;

• The deterioration of the ecosystem …etc.

This development of coastal tourism infrastructure has therefore not been made for the sake of sustainability, given that we have noticed that, in recent decades, tourism has been turning more and more towards new concepts. We are no longer talking about seaside tourism alone (this concept is the main reason for the coastal polarization of tourist infrastructures) but also about other concepts among them cultural tourism, green tourism and agritourism.

Tunisia has important potentials that could be essential in promoting these new concepts. Among these potentials: coastal agriculture. Indeed, the Sahel region is characterized not only by its tourism but also by its agriculture located on the seafront and which is entirely productive. This agriculture could play, in addition to its primary function of food production, other functions that can be assets for the promotion of tourism respectful of the environment and perfectly in agreement with sustainable development of the region. This agriculture is special because of its layout in relation to the sea and the landscapes that it forms in this region. It could become an integral part of the development of this region but not a land reserve. It could be also one of the links in the chain that would lead to environmental protection and sustainable development of this region.

2 Materials and Methods

2.1 Location of the Study Site

The Sahel region, the subject of our study, is substantially formed by the hinterland of the old cities of Sousse, Monastir and Mahdia. It is not only a natural region, but it is also and above all a region that owes its originality to its traditional shrub-growing economy and its habitat of villages and densely agglomerated villages. The latters have, as shown in the following map, a territory which becomes more important as we get further from the coast [1] (Fig. 1).

Fig. 1

The Sahelian cities [1]. Looking at this map, we can see that the further we get from the coast, the larger the size of the cities, the coastal towns are represented by the dark greycolor, while the backcountry towns are represented by the light grey color

2.2 Agri-Landscape Analysis Parameters

This study work was essentially done in two stages. At first, we began with a bibliographic, iconographic and cartographic analysis that allowed us to understand both the spatiotemporal evolution of the region, to evaluate the degree of spatial transformation that it knew and to estimate the impact of urban growth on the ecology of itsenvironment. Secondly, we carried out an analysis of the bibliographic corpus relating to the evolution of the urban and peri-urban territories in some of the cities of the MENA and, essentially, in the littoral regions of Morocco and Algeria.

3 Results and Discussion

3.1 The Tunisian Sahel: An Essentially Rural Territory

Until the early years of Independence, the traditional economy of the Sahel region was mainly based on agriculture and, in particular, olive growing, livestock farming and vegetable crops. This was also the case for all of Tunisia, which had just emerged from decades of colonialism. Thus, at that time, the coastal landscapes of the Sahelian region, in general, and the Sousse region, in particular, were formed, essentially, as the following figures show, by a succession of traditional vegetable crops plots (called chatts) and olive groves. The latter were particular and occupied most of the fertile coastal lands of the region [1] (Figs. 2 and 3).

Fig. 2

The agricultural footprint of the ancient surroundings of the Sidi El Kantaoui marabout. This old photo shows the ancient surroundings of the Sidi El Kantaoui marabout, in the town of Hammam Sousse, under the city of Sousse. The observation of these photos shows us the agricultural footprint in this littoral zone. Indeed, vegetable gardens stretched all along the coastal fringe and were followed by olive groves. Urbanization was almost absent, and agriculture seemed to spread throughout the country [1]

Fig. 3

Section of the sea to the plateau level of the coast of the town of Hammam Sousse. This section, which presents the area of Sidi El Kantaoui before the development of the marina, tells us about the land cover at that time. In fact, according to this section, the border dune was followed by traditional vegetable gardening followed by olive groves. This provision was that of most of the coastal agricultural parcels of the Sahelian region [1]

However, this agricultural sector was in decline with an ageingOlivette and a traditional market gardening uncompetitive. The first government of independent Tunisia in 1962 undertook to modernize it in order to combat, in particular, the unemployment that was raging in the region. This modernizationwas accompanied by the setting up of several irrigated public perimeters for the production of mainly early and late season vegetable crops. The setting up of these perimeters began with the construction of the Nebhana dam, located in the Kairouan region, which allows the mobilization of water needed for irrigation. The canal, which carries this water, passes essentially, as the following map shows, by the coastal towns. The choice of this route is that of the fertility of coastal lands, the favorable climate for off-season vegetable crops and the technical skills of farmers in this region. [2] (Fig. 4).

Fig. 4

Map of the land occupation of the Sahel region, 1981 [1]. This map of 1981 shows the predominance of olive plantations, which corresponds to dark green colored spaces, in the Sahelian region. This culture is the most important of the coastal fringe where it is often located behind the irrigated perimeters, the colored spaces in light green, which are maintained mainly on the sea front. The canal carrying the water of the dam of the WadiNebhana passes through the littoral zones. Cereal farming, livestock farming and fruit growing are mainly located in the hinterland

The establishment of this perimeter competed with traditional plots that could not compete with their traditional crops based on irrigation from surface wells. From this period, the latter experienced a decline in production competing with intensive crops. On the other hand, this marginalization of traditional cultures hasbeen accentuated by the development of secondary and tertiary sectors and, essentially, the tourism sector which has allowed the creation of new jobs and the revival of others. From the beginning, this area was installed on the waterfront lands in response to a demand for seaside tourism. The development of this sector was preceded by the opening, in 1968, of the Dkhila-Monastir International Airport which would allow the transport of tourists to these regions. Thus this tourist activity has been at the base of coastalurbanization that has often settled on fertile farmland, old orchards and market gardens. This trend was accentuated with the creation of the seaside resort of Port El Kantaoui, in 1979, with a view to diversification and development of tourism. This station was built on the site of Sidi El Kantaoui in the city of Hammam Sousse, a site that was, as we saw earlier, deeply rural. Indeed, the installation of this station was made on 320 ha of farmland largely private [3]. Thus, from this period, traditional agriculture will increasingly give way to urbanization and we will witness an overexploitation of the coastline, which will not be without consequences.

3.2 The City of Sousse: A Linear Development and Marginalization of the Hinterland

From the second half of the twentieth century, the world has experienced significant economic development that has led to the development of leisure activities and, in particular, mass tourism mainly in its seaside appearance. The main consequence of this development was a significant demographic and economic growth in the coastal towns, which mainly resulted in a strong urban sprawl, which most often took place on agricultural land and therefore on fertile land.. This urban sprawl has led to often dramatic changes in coastal landscapes. This state of affairs has not spared Tunisia whose urban growth has generated, particularly in the case of the Sahelian coast, changes in the coastal landscapes that followed, as we have seen, two essential periods of the development of this region. It is the first followed the modernization of the agricultural sector and the intensification of vegetable crops, and the second, which had the greatest impact, followed the development of the tourism sector in the region.

The study of this region has shown us the spectacular transformations that it has experienced during the last fifty years since it has gone from an agricultural region to one of the most important tourist centers in Tunisia. Indeed, the city of Sousse has always been one of the most important cities of Tunisia and it is considered the capital of the Center-East of the country because of its geographical situation. Its core, like the majority of Tunisian coastal cities, was built, as shown by the following ancient map, around the port which has continuously allowed a significant commercial activity. From this core, the city has developed along its coasts and mainly to the North East but initially, with a certain withdrawal from the sea (Fig. 5).

Fig. 5

Map of the city of Sousse from 1928 [1]. As this map shows, the urbanization of the city of Sousse in 1928 revolved around the port and stretched along axes parallel to the coast. Urban development has essentially followed the direction of the north-east coasts of the city on which the new tourist area has been established

Indeed, the tourism sector has spawned significant spatial transformations that are taking the landscape of this region, as the following maps show, from predominantly rural landscapes to deeply urban landscapes. Tourist urbanization stretches along a narrow ribbon that forms a screen between the sea and the hinterland (Fig. 6).

Fig. 6

The city of Hammam Sousse, north-east of Sousse, in 1958 and 1994 [1]. As the first map of 1958 shows, the coastal fringe consisted of chatts that covered most of the space. Urbanization was set back from the sea, on the other hand, on the second map of 1994, we see that coastal urbanization has become large and dense, olive groves have become diffuse and in the form of tasks and the chatts have almost gone

This peculiar form of agriculture called chatts, or even ouljas, which occupied the entire northern coast of Sousse, and which constituted a green and open area of the littoral of the region, is ignored today by the public authorities as it is shown in the next map is enclosed in residual spaces inside the urbanization (Figs. 7 and 8).

Fig. 7

Regression of ouljas in the northeastern region of Sousse (2010) [1]. While until the 1970s, they were along the entire coast of the Sahel region, ouljas (or chatts) occupy today only a few residual areas enclosed between urbanization

Fig. 8

The Hammam Sousse Chatt, Tunisia. [1]. The chattsare located at a distance of ten meters from the sea. They are delimited in relation to the latter by a dune edge consolidated by herbaceous plants. This dune edge also plays the role of the windbreak. In these plots, divided into crop rectangles, are planted several kinds of vegetable crops. It is ancient agriculture that often continues to use traditional farming methods

The particularity of these chatts was their proximity to the sea, their presence and maintenance within the urbanization itself, their mode of exploitation and the strategies used by their farmers

This form of traditional agriculture is considered, as can be seen on the following map, as a land reserve for tourism and resort town planning [1]. As Ezzeddine Houimli emphasizes in his thesis, “this agriculture, now in decline as a result of seaside town planning, was mentioned as vegetable gardens on the topographic map of 1958. It is no longer on the topographic map of 1994 while the 1996 aerial photos, combined with the field observation, show the permanence of part of this agriculture currently (in 2006)” [4] (Fig. 9).

Fig. 9

Extract of the development plan of the city of Hammam Sousse in the late 2000s [1]. This development plan carried out by the Municipality of Hammam Sousse shows us that the municipal authorities consider these traditional waterfront vegetable parcels as a land reserve for tourism. The whole area has been reserved for a tourist destination

3.3 A Tourism Sector that Consumes Large Amounts of Space

Thus, thanks to its geographical situation, its great maritime opening, its long beaches of fine sand, the Sahel was one of the fiefs of the development of the tourism sector in Tunisia which was necessarily based on the seaside practices which resulted in a very important coastal polarization. The Sahel then passed from a country that seemed to turn its back to the sea to a coast that seems to turn its back to the hinterland (as shown in the following figure) leading to dramatic changes in the shoreline (Fig. 10).

Fig. 10

Urban planning of the coasts of the region of Sousse [1]. This figure assigns a color code to each of the three existing spaces: the first, delimited by a blue line corresponds to the sea, as to the red, it sets the limits of the space invested by the hotel sector and, finally, the grip of the olive groves originates from the green line. The observation of this figure, located north of the Marina El Kantaoui, shows us that tourism urbanism is maintained on a linear fringe turning the back to the olive groves

Indeed, as we saw earlier, as soon as it was set up in the region of Sousse, tourist activity settled, as shown in the following map, on the coastal fringe, leaving the hinterland for Classic residential areas and agriculture. The majority of the hotels are located on the littoral zone forming a screen between the sea and the rest of the country (Fig. 11).

Fig. 11

The development plan of the city of Sousse in the early 1980s [1]. This development plan of the city of Sousse in the early 1980s shows that the coastal fringe is exclusively reserved for the development of the tourist area. The latter is limited by the Hergla Sousse tourist route. Classic residential urbanizationis relegated to the hinterland. It is separated from the sea by the tourist zone

Also, the construction of the seaside resort of El Kantaoui port was at the origin of coastalurbanization which stretches on both sides of this station. This coastal urbanization was established on the chatts [1], in addition to their economic, social and landscape functions, played an ecological role in the preservation of the coastline: they contributed “to the balance of environments particularly sensitive to climate change erosion and pollution” (PAP/RAC 2005). It has been stretched, as the following map shows, in a linear fashion essentially on both sides of the Hergla-Sousse tourist route and, mainly, in the area between this road and the sea. Thus, “the tourist-oriented urbanization of the seafront by an almost continuous chain of hotels and sub-hotel facilities has been a driving force in theurbanization processes of the northern suburbs of Sousse and the eastern suburbs of Hammam Sousse (El Menchia)” [5] (Fig. 12).

Fig. 12

Summary map of the northeastern region of Sousse [1]. While the urban cores are relatively behind the sea, resort areas and seaside tourism are located on the coastline resulting in a regression of farmland and their retreat to the hinterland

Also, this tourist urbanization has been at the base of the expansion of resort urbanization that has developed, often anarchically, on the coasts of the municipality of Akouda. It is mainly made up of villas and apartment buildings dedicated to coastal resorts and located, without prior planning, according to the availability of land [6]. This holiday resort was set up both on traditional waterfront vegetable parcels and on market gardens that were part of the public irrigated perimeter of Chott Meriem, hence [1]:

• By settling on these parcels of the irrigated public perimeter, this urbanizationwas installed on a project that required significant investments and major implementation work carried out by the State. According to the 1983 Farmland Protection Act, these lands fall into the blackout zone category. However, the spread of urbanization in this area is achieved with the consent of “local officials such as the Omda”, the latter is the head of the smallest territorial subdivision on the scale of the delegation, which in turn, is an administrative subdivision of the governorate [4];

• In parallel with the irrigated public perimeter, urbanizationwas mainly based on the chatts along the coast of Akouda commune. The urbanization of these plots is the consequence of the lack of interest of local authorities in this traditional agriculture. This lack of interest materialized, in particular, by the introduction of these zones into the development plan as a tourist zone. This was also the case of the few chatts that persist in the coastal area of Hammam Sousse and that the municipal authorities consider as developed space which was introduced, as we saw earlier, in the development plan of the city of Hammam Sousse as a tourist area.

The result of this coastal urbanization is, as the following maps show, an artificialization of the coastal fringe Sousse Akouda: the chatts of this zone have been replaced by a tourist urbanization organized next to an urbanization of resort often anarchic particularly in this which concerns the coastal fringe of the commune of Akouda [1]. Moreover, as we will see in what follows, this coastal polarization has had a lot of negative repercussions on the environmental balance of this area (Fig. 13).

Fig. 13

Comparison between land use maps of the Akouda littoral fringe from 2006 to 2016 [1]. These two maps show us urbanization that continues to invest the agricultural area of the coastal area of Akouda commune

3.4 An Artificialisation of the Coasts and Its Environmental Impact

Indeed, the tourism sector is certainly the source of an indisputable contribution to the national economy but, at the same time, it has negative repercussions on landscape and environmental and socio-cultural plans. In fact, besides the consumption of spaces, particularly in vulnerable sites, such as the coast, the activity in question often causes disturbances in the exploitation of natural resources: water pollution, access to water, reduction of local natural biodiversity, coastal agricultural area, etc. [1]. Thus, from the first years of the implementation of this sector, several consequences were raised [2], which we quote (Figs. 14 and 15):

Fig. 14

Panoramic view of the coastal fringe of Chott Meriem [1]. The construction of the seaside resort of El Kantaoui was at the base of the development of a compact and dense coastal resort on the coastal fringe of Chott Meriem

Fig. 15

The decrease in beach surface south of Port El Kantaoui. [1]. As this picture shows, the holiday resort located south of Port El Kantaoui settled directly on the maritime coastal area (DPM), destroying the dune edge and resulting in the reduction of beaches that, in some places, have completely disappeared

• A tourist location both coastal and linear to meet the needs of seaside tourism. This location has resulted, as we have seen previously, in the urban sprawl of the city of Sousse along the north-east coast several kilometers long and a few hundred meters wide. This urbanization is dense and compact, as shown in the following figure, and consumes large spaces, especially agricultural;

• A clear improvement of infrastructures and urban equipment: roads, post office, sanitation network, commerce, artistic crafts, travel agencies, car rental agencies, banks, restaurants, …;

• The creation of direct and indirect jobs which has contributed to the reduction of the unemployment that the region knew until the first years of the Independence, the elevation of the standard of living in the region and the reinforcement of the weight of the non-agricultural activities in the economy of the region;

• The acceleration of coastal erosion, as shown in the following figure, due, on the one hand, to the occupations of the seafront by tourist and resort urbanization and, on the other hand, to the destruction of the dune for the construction of the tourist route and the hotel infrastructures;

• The rejection of swimming pool waters degrading spontaneous plantations on the beach, which play an essential role in fixing the latter;

• The privatization of beaches by hotel units that block access to the inhabitants of the region;

• The installation of hotel infrastructures on agricultural land containing a large number of olive trees and traditional vegetable garden plots based on the exploitation of surface wells of the groundwater (ouljas);

• The expropriation for public purposes of certain parcels to their owners who did not want to sell their land for tourism;

• The competition with agriculture irrigated perimeters in the water consumption of the dam of the wadi Nebhana, etc.

Thus, the tourism sector of the Sahel region was therefore based mainly on seaside practice, which has led, as we have seen previously, to significant coastal urbanization. However, with the new concepts of sustainable tourism, especially those relating to the protection of the environment, new concepts related to the tourism sector have emerged, including agritourism, which is beginning to develop more and more in Tunisia. It is in this sense that, in this region of the Tunisian Sahel, while for several decades, tourism turned its back to the hinterland, today; with the interest that some tourists seem to bring to the agricultural area, it uses the latter for the development of some of its infrastructures. However, due to its peculiarities, Sahelian coastal agriculture could play a major role in diversifying the tourism offer by becoming multifunctional, that is to say, not only productive of food products, but also landscaping and environmental services to tourists and residents by enhancing the landscape of this region. Notwithstanding its potentialities, the Sahelian agricultural area continues to be exploited by the tourism sector, either as a framework, or as support or subject of new activities that it offers to its customers in order to diversify its activities.

However, this artificialisation of the coastlines by the spread of urbanization through the agricultural area is not the only fact of Tunisia. This is also the case in Morocco, where resort urbanization spreads across agricultural land, and from Algeria where urban sprawl is at the expense of agriculture.

3.5 The Sprawl of Moroccan Coasts

The phenomenon observed in the coastal plain of Ksar Sghir, in northern Morocco, was a sprawl of agricultural land. In fact, at the end of the harvest, the farmers rented their plots to the campers to whom they sold well water and fresh vegetables. This phenomenon has evolved with the arrival of urban speculators who encourage farmers to sell their plots. This is how anarchic second homes have emerged at the expense of cultivated land. At the same time, a development plan plans to install a secondary residence station in this region, which has led to a conversion of lands into social wastelands. [7] (Fig. 16).

Fig. 16

Ksar Sghir (Northern Morocco), a coastalurbanization within former agricultural plots [1]. These two photos show us both a resort that settles on old agricultural parcels and agricultural parcels that are converted into wasteland waiting to be urbanized thus inducing profound changes in the landscapes of this farming village in the North Moroccan

Also, the coastal area of Oued Laou in northern Morocco has, for its part, been more or less marginalizedin terms of tourism investment. This area is made up of valleys opening on the sea by plains where the inhabitants lived of an irrigated agriculture and national tourism which took importance from year to year with the development of anarchic urbanization to the detriment of agricultural land and, in particular, the irrigated area [7] (Fig. 17).

Fig. 17

Oued-Laou: an important coastal resort located in the heart of an irrigated perimeter [1]. In this photo, we observe coastalurbanization that has settled on land that was irrigated agriculture. This urbanization seems to form a narrow ribbon along the beach. At the rear of this urbanization, land, which seems to be old agricultural parcels, are left undeveloped while waiting to be urbanized. In addition, we can see in this picture two sets of dwellings: the first, on the right, seems anarchic while the second set, located in the center of the photo, seems to us more organized bearing the imprint of the real estate developers but also installing on old agricultural parcels

Thus the question of the preservation of agricultural land, located near the urbanization front, has certainly been identified by the public authorities in Morocco, whether national or local, but it is not a primary concern of public action, which, for its part, is more focused on economic development and housing, [8], it is also the case, as we will see, of Algeria.

3.6 Algeria: Development of Cities on Their Coastal Areas

According to Fafa Rebouha, the city of Oran in northern Algeria is expanding by ignoring its agricultural heritage whose architecture and landscapes remain coveted by urban dwellers in search of individual homes. Thus, the growth of urban units and large urban complexes adjoins the rural area, which becomes the reception area for inhabitants seeking housing and whose agricultural element has become a minority. Indeed, and still according to the same author, the peri-urbanization of the city of Oran was made on the field of individual and collective farms, projects designed for rural areas aim to densify these areas by bringing a population looking for cheaper housing. Also, the ambition of a real estate, offer for more compact housing and subdivision forms less space consuming and more in line with the needs of sustainable development is not yet reached in the urbanization of Algerian cities. Thus, the search for a single-family home has accelerated migration to rural communities: those located on the border of the city of Oran register a significant increase in their population given the proliferation of housing programs that are prioritized by the disappearance of the agricultural sector, since these rural communes bordering the city of Oran benefit from a land use plan that allows this disappearance of agricultural land [9] (Fig. 18).

Fig. 18

The sight of the sky of the city of Oran in Algeria [1]. This photo shows us the importance of the urbanization of the city of Oran, diffuseurbanization, which favors the form of individual housing and is therefore much more space-consuming

4 Conclusion

Thus, the coasts of the Sahelian Tunisian region have undergone spectacular transformations throughout the decades that followed the independence of the country. Indeed, from an open green space, they have become the capital of tourist and resort urbanization. These transformations have not been without consequences including social, landscape and environmental. Indeed, the installation of this urbanization has led to an artificialization of the coast; a barrier seems to have been erected between the coast and the hinterland. This barrier, formed by a narrow cordon of urbanization, has relegated coastal agriculture to the hinterland and has also given rise to a form of social segregation since most of the coastal territory has been invested by the tourist sector which privatizes the beaches.

Also, this artificialisation has led to profound changes in the coastal landscapes of this region, since they have moved from predominantly rural landscapes to deeply urban landscapes in the space of a few decades. All these transformations have not been without environmental consequences. The precarious balance of this portion of the territory has been weakened by the large consumption of space of tourist and resort urbanization and by the acceleration of coastal erosion, mainly due to: the location of the urbanization in front of the sea, the destruction of the coastal dune, the degradation of spontaneous plantations by the discharge of swimming-pool water, etc.

However, until the end of the 1970s, coastal and traditional agriculture occupied most of this territory and, in addition to its social and landscape functions provided an environmental balance for this fragile area. Of this coastal and traditional agriculture (the chatts or ouljas) there remains, to the present day, only some plots witnesses of formerly rural territory. These plots could play a key role in the development of sustainable, environmentally respectful tourism. Indeed, this particular and rare form of agriculture could be considered as an agricultural heritage and introduced as a territorial component in the development of the city of Hammam Sousse.

However, this state of affairs is not specific to Tunisia, in general, and to its Sahelian region, in particular. Indeed, the urbanization of the coastlines and its social, landscape and environmental impacts are a phenomenon that affects the majority of countries in the Middle East and North Africa and, in particular, Morocco where coastal farmland is giving way to tourist urbanization. And often anarchic resort and, Algeria, where diffuseurbanization, made mainly of the form of individual habitat, spreads on the coastlines of the city of Oran.

5 Recommendations

The tourism development of the Tunisian Sahel region has of course had major repercussions on the economy of the region, which has become one of the most important Tunisian tourist poles, but this has not been without consequences both on the social level and ‘ecological. Indeed, this development has led to disruption of the natural environment and a social mix which has triggered conflicts. However, as we have seen previously, this territory is the capital of an urban agriculture which can help to maintain nature in the city: “it thus increases environmental services and therefore constitutes an important vector of resilience of cities” [10].

In addition, today, tourism demand has evolved into other areas of interest. Indeed, new concepts applied to the tourism industry have promoted its sustainability through the development of “sustainable tourism” based, according to the World Tourism Organization (WTM 2005), on respect, preservation and the development of the environmental, economic and socio-cultural aspects of the countries. Tunisian tourism, in general, and Sahelian tourism in particular, must therefore define new directions for its development.

It is therefore a question of halting the increasing densification of tourist areas and alleviating the pressure exerted on several sites, including, in particular, the natural and agricultural sites of the Sahelian coast. The latter are, moreover, the territory of traditional coastal agriculture which should be protected and introduced as an integral part of this new tourist offer, based on the multifunctionality of agriculture and in accordance with the rules of sustainable development. Today, this new tourist offer is in demand “for its ability to share cultural values and diversity, as well as to make known and recognize natural and cultural heritages” [11].