Women of the Oasis: Climate Change and Gender in Tunisia's Desert
In Tozeur, Tunisia's largest oasis city near the Algerian border, women hold the key to survival as climate change and economic transformation threaten an ancient desert ecosystem. This documentary photography project explores how oasis women preserve traditional food conservation techniques that sustain entire communities, while confronting unprecedented environmental and social challenges in the Sahara.
Tozeur represents the delicate balance between tradition and modernity in North Africa's oasis systems, ecosystems that stretch from the Sahara to Mongolia's deserts. According to the UN, women are 14 times more vulnerable to climate change impacts, yet they possess crucial knowledge for environmental adaptation and sustainable development in these fragile desert environments.
This photojournalism investigation documents the traditional three-level oasis agriculture that has sustained desert populations for centuries: date palms at the top level, fruit trees in the middle, and vegetables at ground level. While men traditionally manage agricultural production, women specialize in food processing and conservation—techniques vital for year-round survival in harsh desert conditions.
The work captures the stories of key figures including Khouloud Zammel, hydroelectric engineer and coordinator at La Rouche environmental association; Salwa Mlik, director of local radio station Djerid FM; Selly Rayes, project coordinator; and Fathia Arfaoui, an entrepreneur who transformed traditional date conservation into a growing business employing seven local women.
Through documentary photography, the project reveals how economic pressures and water scarcity have disrupted traditional oasis agriculture. Rising water costs, poor water quality due to high salinity, and the departure of farmers have forced abandonment of the lower agricultural levels, breaking the ancient symbiosis between human communities and desert ecosystems.
The investigation documents how women's traditional food conservation work—once purely domestic—has become crucial economic activity for household survival. Women process dates, tomatoes, and other oasis products using ancestral techniques, creating dried goods, powders, and preserves that provide year-round nutrition and income in an increasingly challenging economic environment.
Fathia Arfaoui's story exemplifies this transformation. Learning conservation techniques from her mother and grandmother, she completed entrepreneurship training through La Rouche's collaboration with Women's Enterprise for Sustainability (WES). Her date processing manufacture now exports products beyond Tozeur while preserving traditional knowledge and providing employment for local women in a region where female workforce participation remains limited at 25.85%.
The project examines the intersection of climate change, gender inequality, and sustainable development in Tunisia's desert regions. Despite representing 55.92% of university graduates in Tozeur, women face limited employment opportunities, with men having twice the likelihood of securing jobs in this conservative society.
Climate impacts documented include rising temperatures reaching 60°C in direct sunlight and 50°C in shade, forcing increased air conditioning use that contributes to further climate warming. Traditional stone architecture that naturally regulated temperatures has been replaced by modern buildings that require energy-intensive cooling, creating a destructive cycle affecting household budgets often managed by women.
The work also exposes emerging threats including a proposed phosphate mining project 10 kilometers from the oasis. Drawing from the devastating experience of neighboring Gafsa, where phosphate extraction contaminated water and soil according to the Environmental Justice Atlas, Tozeur's civil society organizations mobilize to protect their ecosystem from industrial exploitation.
Through collaborations with local organizations including La Rouche and international networks like RADDO (Associative Network for Sustainable Oasis Development), this documentation reveals how women's traditional knowledge and economic innovation represent crucial strategies for oasis survival in an era of climate crisis and globalization.
Tozeur, Tunisia. Co-authored with Dolores Mendo.
