Ichkeul National Park

• Construction of dams;
• Hunting;
• Grazing,
• Air pollution;
• Problems caused by siltation of the lake;
• Need to update the integrated management plan for the site

Previous deliberations:
Twenty-fourth session of the Committee – paragraph VIII.13
Twenty-fourth ordinary session of the Bureau - paragraph IV.12

New information:  IUCN has informed the Centre that reports it has received indicate considerable deterioration in the ecology of the site:

• total rainfall for the winter of 1999/2000 was below average and did not trigger the closing of the sluice gates at Oued Tinja; this resulted in sea water flowing into the Lake;
• the winter of 2000/2001 has been as dry as that of 1999/2000 and the sluice gates are likely to remain open causing further increases in the salinity of the Lake waters;
• no release of water from other sources has been made in an effective manner during the years 2000 and 2001; a recommendation of the mission in 2000 had suggested that the Joumine Canal be blocked to spread the water to the marshes, but attempts to do so failed due to the low amounts and the poor quality of water in the Canal;
• as salinity of Lake waters has increased in 2000 and 2001, the composition of water birds has become dominated by salt tolerant species such as shelducks and shovelers, resulting in a net reduction in the diversity of species wintering in the Lake.

At its twenty-third session, the Bureau had noted that the rehabilitation of Ichkeul had to be based on a reasonable time frame since "Inter-linked indicators such as salinity, availability of preferred species of food plants of birds and the number of wintering birds arriving at Ichkeul could fluctuate significantly, based on annual variations in rainfall and evapo-transpiration which affect water levels in the Lake"  At that time the Bureau had noted that plans for the provision of fresh water to the Lake would become operational by 2001.

IUCN has noted that the Sidi Barrak dam has been built and is now linked to the Tunisian water grid. However, a pumping station for transporting the water from Sidi Barrak into the Sedjenane from where it could reach Ichkeul has not yet been built.

A high-level meeting was held in 2000 with the participation of the Minister of Environment and the Secretary of State for Agriculture in charge of water issues to discuss the situation at Ichkeul. The meeting had formally recognised the ecological need for providing the Lake with freshwater – 20 million cubic meters of water had been prescribed as the need, although an earlier study carried out by the National Environment Agency had set the requirement at 80 million cubic meters of freshwater.

At the twenty-third session of the Bureau, the "Tunisian Observer informed the Bureau that three of the six dams that would have diverted waters coming into the Lake had been suspended ....". IUCN however has reported that the proposed dams on the Tine, Douimis and Melah Rivers, that flow directly into Ichkeul, appear to be still programmed.

A GEF Project has approved the first stage for preparing the management plans for three of Tunisia’s National Parks, one of which is Ichkeul. In the work for elaborating a management plan for Ichkeul, the GEF consultants have informed the State Party that unless a volume greater than the 20 million cubic metres of water is planned for the Lake, GEF does not consider it feasible to conserve the wetland biodiversity values of the Park. The consultants have, therefore asked the Tunisian authorities, inter alia, to clarify urgently whether additional water can be provided.

IUCN notes that at the twentieth session of the World Heritage Committee in 1996, when the site was placed on the List of World Heritage in Danger, the Committee informed the State Party   "...of the possibilities of the deletion of the property from the World Heritage List if rehabilitation of the site would not be possible".  IUCN notes this as an option for consideration by the Committee in case of no tangible improvements to the conservation of this site.

Principal issues:

Deterioration of Lake ecosystem integrity due to upstream development and agricultural encroachments; Lake rehabilitation efforts through steps to ensure annual minimum supplies of freshwater to the Lake. Infrastructure and managerial co-ordination to ensure effective implementation of conservation actions.

New information:              

In June 2001, the tweny-fifth session of the Bureau noted with concern the deteriortation in the ecology of the Lake during 1999-2000 as lower than average amounts of rain fell in the area. The Bureau, while acknowledging that the Sidi Barak Dam construction and its link to the Tunisian Water Grid have been completed, learnt that water releases from the Dam to the Lake had not yet commenced. The Observer of Tunisia informed the Bureau that the Lake needs 280 million of cubic meters of water annually and that the Sidi Barak Dam will serve as the stabilizer compensating for any annual shortfalls caused by low rainfall and/or high rates of evapotranspiration. He expressed the wish that the Bureau and the Committee provide adequate time for determining the efforts of the State Party to rehabilitate Ichkeul and support the extension and strengthening of the scientific monitoring programme that has been set up by the State Party.

In response to the recommendation of the twenty-fifth session of the Bureau inviting the State Party, Centre and IUCN to work together to prepare a progress report on benchmarks and related timetable for the monitoring for Ichkeul to the consideration of the twenty-fifth session of the Committee in December 2001, the Delegation of Tunisia to UNESCO transmitted a report, dated September 2001, entitled: "Ecosystem status and safeguarding measures for Ickeul National Park“. The report has been transmitted to IUCN for review. The report contains detailed information on actions taken to implement the several earlier recommendations of the Bureau and the Committee made over several years, and quantitative and time-series data on a number of parameters that may be useful in tracking changes in Lake ecology.  The Centre is awaiting IUCN comments and observations on the report submitted by the State Party