Tunisian coastal towns between the reality of urban concentration and the challenge of environmental quality: Example: the towns of Bizerte Lake

Abstract

Since independence and especially with the opening to globalization, coastal towns represented the "territory" of development in Tunisia thanks to the positive externalities they accumulated. The result: an urban and industrial concentration that has caused excessive pollution. The present investigation aims to evaluate the ability of Tunisia to reconcile its economic challenges and its environmental responsibility, by identifying the strategy and solutions taken by the country to face environmental impacts of the high concentration of population and activities in coastal townsand thereafter gain the challenge of sustainable development (at least as regards the environmental pillar) which it has committed since the early 1990s.Through this work, we have tried to answer the following question: how does the state reconcile the requirements of openness that leads to the concentration of activities in coastal cities (with multiple environmental repercussions), and its commitment to setting up sustainable development?