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370 - Ancient Mediterranean water supply networks revived
March 2011
Years of drought had dried up the ancient water supply networks existing around the Mediterranean Rim. However, with rainfall returning over the past 5 years, the hydraulic heritage has come to life again. The names of the tunnels that carry the revived streams -khettaras in Morocco, foggaras in Algeria or qanâts in Iran- evoke the trickling sounds of water. These underground infiltration galleries are the most characteristic and original illustration of local communities’ recovery of ancestral schemes. As IRD researchers and their partners( 1) show, these water mines in the middle of the desert, most of which had been abandoned, have now been restored by oasis inhabitants. These communities are now reinvesting in the maintenance of khettaras and in agriculture, especially young people returning to rural environments after experiencing unemployment in towns and cities. This is a risk owing to the uncertainties of climate, but fully assumed to revive collective action and to reappropriate the rules governing water-supply access, indeed in anticipation of possible new shortages in the years to come.
A new satellite remote sensing tool for improving agricultural land use observation
May 2008
Tunisia’s arid regions: how can desertification control and socio-economic development be reconciled?
January 2007
