The goal of this report is to provide Tunisia with the tools required to proactively manage drought, enabling the country to reduce the effects of climate change and human-induced hazards (Bergaoui et al. 2015). Both of these negatively affect the availability of water, as well as livelihoods, sedentariness and employment, in turn creating political and geostrategic challenges.

This intervention includes enhancing the country’s ability to monitor drought, forecast seasonal rainfall and manage drought, as part of promoting the diffusion of norms from the Integrated Drought Management Programme (IDMP) in Tunisia, and to also set an example to Algeria, Egypt and Libya. Unlike Jordan, Lebanon and Morocco, the other Middle East and North Africa (MENA) countries are part of the United States Agency for International Development (USAID) MENAdrought1 programme (Sticklor 2020).

Tunisians did not benefit from the latest developments in strengthening drought hazard modelling and forecasting, or from drought action and alert planning.

The report was produced in the context of the CMI-led program on “Water Security Nexus in North Africa: Catalyzing Regional Coordination Around Climate Change, Resilience and Migration”, funded by the UK Foreign, Commonwealth & Development Office (FCDO). 

Citation: Bergaoui, K., and Belhaj Fraj, M. (2022). Enhancing Drought Monitoring to Support Management and Resilience-Building under Current and Future Climate Extremes. Tunisia. “The Water Security Nexus in North Africa – Catalyzing Regional Coordination Around Climate Change, Resilience and Migration” Project. Marseille: Center for Mediterranean Integration and UNOPS.