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ENVIRONMENT-ALGERIA: Fighting Desertification Through Conservation
By Kaci Racelma
ALGIERS, Feb 27, 2007 (IPS) - In May, Algeria will inaugurate a reserve around a small oasis in the south-west where plants and animals are to be protected in the service of a broader goal. Hopes are that the Taghit National Park will help stop the advance of the Sahara Desert, which already stretches across almost all of this North African country.
The project was initiated by the Friends of the Sahara Association - a founder member of the National Committee of Algerian NGOs Against Desertification - and the National Agency for the Conservation of Nature (Agence nationale pour la conservation de la nature, ANCN).
"The Taghit National Park covers a surface area of 250,000 hectares, which could be extended to 500,000 hectares with the inclusion of the neighboring Guir region," said Amina Fellous, an engineer at ANCN, which is tasked with leading the project.
The reserve is to include areas isolated from human activity, as well as perimeter zones where various pursuits - even for light and medium-sized industries - will be permitted on condition that they do not pollute, Fellous explained to IPS.
"In Taghit, any socio-economic activity having negative effects on water resources will not be allowed," she noted.
The project will seek to protect grasslands and restore palm groves, renew the planting of acacias, and reforest denuded land with indigenous species for the benefit of migratory species. Water points will be established in the park, and efforts made to develop the region's plant genetic resources.
The list of mammals to be protected makes mention of about 33 species, including the threatened sand dune cat, fennec (a small fox), Barbary sheep and three types of gazelle. (The term Barbary derives from the Berber people, and was formerly used by Europeans to refer to North Africa.)
To date, no less than 107 species of birds have been documented in the area - but an exhaustive list has yet to be compiled during different seasons, so as to include migratory birds.
About twenty birds feature on the list of protected species of Algeria. Some, like the houbara bustard, have become the subject of international conservation efforts.
Sixteen bird species that congregate around the Taghit oasis are considered endemic to North Africa and the Middle East, notably the Barbary partridge, houbara bustard and lanner falcon.
Furthermore, the Taghit park will aim to protect and promote the archaeological heritage of the area - and to develop tourist facilities that are in harmony with their surroundings.
Conservation will also support agricultural activity, says Malik Raheb: an agricultural engineer involved in conservation of forests at Ghardaïa, south of the capital - Algiers.
"The creation of the Taghit National Park, aside from its role of being a barrier to the desert, will also allow a still greater response to the agricultural needs of people in the region, as is already evidenced by the production of tomatoes and potatoes." (END)
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