How to talk about Climate Change in Tunisia? Overview and Perspectives

While there is now a significant body of literature that considers questions of climate change communication in the global north, there remains relatively little work that takes seriously how climate change messaging might need to be adapted to non-Western contexts and audiences. Climate change communication is an important field of study due to the urgent need to improve citizens understanding of climate change and how we might mitigate it and adapt to its effects. This is all the more pressing given that communities in the global south are often on the ‘front line’ of the climate crisis and face existential threats to their livelihoods.

This paper contends that climate change communication must attend to the relationship between global processes and local effects. In this regard, the Middle East and North Africa offers an illuminating case study, which shines a light on broader questions of climate change communication. The region represents the confluence of a range of interlinking political, economic and environmental realities and relations that extend across a number of scales (local, national, regional and global). The region’s oil and gas reserves, its history of colonialism and Neo-colonial resource extraction, and recent large-scale sustainable energy projects all affect how people in the Middle East and North Africa understand and make sense of climate change. It is therefore imperative that climate change policy reflect on the knotty relationship between climate change communication and the experienced reality of climate change.

Tunisia in particular presents a pertinent case study due to its notable bottom-up climate change advocacy action since the 2010-11 uprising and the following democratisation. This paper argues that climate change communication in Tunisia should be in conversation with the country’s development trajectory, the colonial and post-colonial history, and Tunisia’s varied history of religious customs and beliefs.

From ‘Green Tunisia’ to a Climate Crisis: How Civil Society is Fighting Back

Tunisia has a range of climatic zones and ecosystems. The north of Tunisia is mountainous, with a Mediterranean climate. The south is semi-arid, becoming arid desert closer to the Sahara Desert in the south. The capital, Tunis, is located along the Mediterranean coast. Along its eastern Mediterranean coast, Tunisia has a fertile coastal plain called the Sahel, which is famous for its olives. Tunisia is sometimes called ‘Green Tunisia’ (Tunis al-khadra’) because of its fertile, diverse landscapes. Its varied climate allows for a broad range of crops, including grains (wheat and barley), dates, olives, and fresh fruits.

That being said, the country is at high risk to climate change and is facing already increases in temperatures, desertification, reduced rainfall and rising sea levels. These climate pressures are already severely and adversely impacting Tunisia’s agricultural production and are forecast to produce significant internal migration, especially from southern desert zones (Tataouine, Kebili, Tozeur) to the more temperate north and coastal (Sahel) regions, and external migration to Europe. There are a growing number of organizations that work on climate change in Tunisia, as well as domestic associations such as Earth Hour Tunisia Association, the Tunisian Association of Environmental Law, and the Tunisian Association for the Protection of Nature and Environment. These organizations have been involved in raising public awareness, organizing training sessions for stakeholders, supporting Tunisian delegations at conferences like COPs and implementing local, climate-related projects. While it is encouraging that Tunisia has such an active sphere of climate change civil society action, these organizations’ work has been relatively disjointed and uneven. As a result, while some civil society organizations have implemented initiatives with local communities, other regions have been neglected.

Listening to Tunisians talking about climate change

In 2010-11, the uprisings that began in Tunisia and quickly spread to other countries in North Africa and the Middle East (MENA) brought profound social, political and cultural transformations to the region. They demonstrated ordinary Arabs’ desire for ‘work, freedom and social justice’ and their animosity towards the dictators that had ruled the region for much of the second half of the twentieth century. On the face of it, the uprisings, and the subsequent trajectories of countries over the past ten years, have little to do with climate change; however, climate change presents a central consideration in the political, social and economic transformations of the region.

Despite all this, climate change is not a topic of major cultural or political conversation in Tunisia. The issue barely features in political discussions. Encouragingly, the most recent Afro Barometer notes the strength of public opinion regarding pollution and the environment, with 76 % of Tunisians believing that pollution is a “very concerning” problem. Nevertheless, the survey also demonstrates some of the ambiguities when environmental concerns come up against Tunisian’s social and economic realities. When Tunisians were asked whether the government should concentrate on the creation of employment at the expense of the environment, or the protection of the environment even if it leads to less employment, the country was split down the middle with 44 % and 45 % agreeing with the two statements, respectively. That being said, Wave VII (2021-2022) of the Arab Barometer finds that the [Tunisian] government should be doing more to address climate change, showing that there are high levels of awareness among the population regarding the environment and a desire to see action on climate issues.

In line with this, the first research of its kind was carried out in 2019 and was part of the Arab Narratives Project, a joint project of Climate Outreach, Climate Action Network-International , Climate Action Network Arab World, and Earth Hour Tunisia. It explores which climate narratives are most effective in Tunisia and how they might be made to engage with Tunisians’ everyday experiences. It is important to note that few of the participants had direct knowledge of climate science, and that while they were alert to local changes in the climate and its potential effects, they were not equipped with the necessary information to connect this to human activities and global processes. Many of the project’s interlocutors were also unaware of how different human activities contribute to climate change. This section draws on this study as well as research experiences to help draw a picture of ordinary Tunisians’ understanding of climate change science and their perceptions of climate change in their local environment. Considering Tunisians’ knowledge, ethics and values when it comes to climate change, this section can help inform future climate change communication in the region.

The research report confirms that there is an obvious generational aspect to participants’ understanding of climate warming. For example, a group of fishermen from the island of Djerba expressed concern about passing on the skills of their trade to the younger generation and remarked on how few young people were interested in fishing as a craft. As one fisherman who was aged 48 said, ‘The sector is dominated by the elders and youth are reluctant.’ This sensitivity to generational difference was shared by older rural women who often expressed hopes and fears for their children. In fact, for those in Tunisia’s marginalized south, climate change was closely connected to the migration of youth out of the area. Thus climate change is often experienced as an ageing of the local population and absence of youth. ‘Even if there is nothing to make us proud of our country, we should leave something for the future generation to be proud of the country,’said one.  Hence, climate change communication should look to explain why such migration patterns and ‘youth’ drains are occurring, connecting these mobilities in environmental change, and proposing adaptation and mitigation strategies that are sensitive both to migration and the effects of climate change in regions that have experienced outward migration.

In a similar manner to fishermen and women, craftspeople often looked back to the past and discussed how things were prior to the revolution (e.g.: ‘We always talk about history; we are nostalgic’).  For them, climate change was just one of a number of competing stresses that they faced. Indeed, for them, there is no separation between the effects of climate change on their means of subsistence (water resources, fish, access to raw materials etc.) and the socio-economic and political crisis that Tunisia has experienced since the revolution. There is thus the danger that climate change is combined with a narrative of declining living standards and encourages nostalgia for the authoritarian regime of Ben Ali,a danger that climate change becomes wrapped up in narratives that describe life as ‘better before the revolution’. Climate change communication must be sensitive to these kinds of narratives and develop means to broaden the conversation away from such defeatist narratives.

Framing Climate Change Communication in Tunisia: Insights from the ground

The analysis of the focus group data revealed several themes that could be used to frame climate change communication in Tunisia. Participants expressed concern about abnormal changes to seasons, demonstrating an intimate knowledge of how season length and timing has changed. They also had a strong sense of local environmental impacts, including poor waste management and industrial pollution, which could be linked to the wider global concerns of climate change. In addition, many participants highly valued openness and honesty in discussing climate change and saw it as a dialogue and process of ongoing self-education. Finally, there existed a strong sense of national pride and desire to improve the country, which could be harnessed to frame climate change policy as sitting within Tunisia’s reformist, constitutionalist, and progressive politics. By leveraging these themes, communicators may be able to engage the public and increase awareness about climate change in Tunisia. Reflecting on the climate narratives that Tunisians author, a number of different themes might be used to frame climate change communication in Tunisia:

The seasons no longer come on time

Abnormal changes to seasons came up spontaneously in almost all groups and were apparent to most group participants. Interlocutors spoke passionately and perceptively about these changes and demonstrated an intimate knowledge of how season length and timing has changed.

The air around the world is being polluted

It became clear that Tunisians have a strong sense of local environmental impacts, including poor waste management and industrial pollution such as by the state-run Gafsa Phosphate Company (CPG). This understanding of local environmental degradation might be linked to the wider global concerns of climate change, using it as an entry point for awareness-raising about its causes. Many respondents were also receptive to discussion about how such companies were representative of the historic exploitation of Tunisia and resource extraction.

We have to be open and honest about what is happening

Many Tunisians highly valued openness and honesty. They saw being open to learning new information, developing oneself and accepting opposing points of view as respectful acts and even as a responsibility. As such, climate change should be presented as a dialogue and process of ongoing self-education.

National pride and determination

There also existed a strong sense of national pride and desire to improve the country. Many spoke of Tunisia as a democratic, free and progressive country that is ahead of other Arabic-speaking countries on key issues such as women’s rights. Climate change policy might be framed as sitting within Tunisia’s reformist, constitutionalist and progressive politics and linked to key historic figures such as Ibn Khaldun and Tewhida Ben Sheikh, as well as the recognition of climate change in the 2014 constitution.

People are struggling and this is a way of making a difference

Inequality, unemployment and economic crises were cited as problems Tunisians face in the present and anticipate in the future. Young people and rural women in particular express fears and concerns that they will not be able to find jobs. Climate communication should not ignore these concerns and rather should discuss how climate change relates to economic issues.

On the other hand, the research suggests that climate change communication by politicians and decision makers should avoid the following approaches:

Negative statements about personal responsibility

Statements about personal responsibility in very negative terms tended to receive mixed reactions in the research – possibly because of Tunisia’s comparatively minor role in creating the problem. A better option may be to use positive framing to talk about responsibility.

Skirting around the truth or sounding like a politician

Participants in the research expressed cynicism about the government and many mentioned how environmental laws were not being upheld. Climate communication in Tunisia should not embellish or avoid the truth and should try to avoid sounding like a political speech.

Speaking to Tunisians: Developing Effective Climate Change Communication Strategies

Recent work in climate change communication in non-Western settings has stressed the need for locally-sensitive climate science, that is respectful of indigenous knowledge. Building on this work, in this exploratory piece, this paper considered how climate change communication in Tunisia should be attuned to specific, local experiences and climate pressures. In fact, recent climate change communication studies that, while important for pressing climate change communicators to think about language, who they are addressing, and the kinds of narratives that will resound with the public, have tended to be Western-centric in their approaches. For example, the African Climate Reality Project has successfully used storytelling and community engagement to raise awareness about climate change in several countries across the continent, including South Africa and Kenya. By drawing on similar strategies and adapting them to the Tunisian context, climate change communicators may be able to create a more impactful and locally-relevant message.

Given the local experiences and climate pressures that Tunisians are already facing, it is critical that climate change communicators in Tunisia develop clear and frank messaging that is sensitive to Tunisians’ hopes, desires, and fears. As mentioned earlier, people across Tunisia are well aware of the impacts of climate change and can see significant changes already happening around them, particularly abnormal changes to the seasons. Few Tunisians, however, linked human activities to rising temperatures and many were unaware as to which human activities contribute to climate change. Tunisians have the right to be better informed about the causes and potential implications of climate change for their country in the near future, and to claim the rights to a decent livelihood, equality and health that may be threatened by climate change. This requires clear and frank climate change communication that is sensitive to Tunisian’s hopes, desires and fears.

This short overview of climate change awareness and communication in Tunisia has demonstrated the urgent need for politicians and decision makers to pursue climate change communication strategies that are sensitive to local contexts, and how climate change is embedded in multiple social, economic and political pressures and dynamics. Without knowledge of Tunisia’s recent political developments, social and cultural dynamics, environmental conditions, colonial and post-colonial history, climate change communication in the country becomes unmoored from the lived experience of those it seeks to reach. While the policy suggestions listed above are tailored to the Tunisian context, it is hoped that the research offers a blueprint for grounded, bottom-up climate change communication that could be adapted to other countries in the MENA region and Global South more generally.

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