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CHAPTER 02. Study area: wilaya of Algiers and Tipaza
2.1. Choice of analysis
It is currently accepted that there are various sustainability, resource and environmental
status indicators. However, it is complex to impose a universal approach to environmental
accounting because of the differences between countries and regions of the world, the
distribution, the nature of goods and resources, and their use patterns. In the case of the
ecological footprint EF, the Global Footprint Network GFN encourages countries to establish
their own national or down-scaled accounts NFA mainly for monitoring their development and
for data dissemination. Indeed, the description of the “Algerian” case by the GFN is one of the
reasons for undertaking this analysis. In its open-data platform, the GFN (2022) presents
Algeria as a country in an ecological deficit since 1974, with a continuously growing national EF
that has reached 2.3 gha/inhabitant, i.e., an Algerian citizen appropriates more than two hectares
of the world's average production, whereas Algeria’s population have less than one global hectare.
Detailed by sector of activity or category of surface area use, according to the principle of the EF,
this deficit is manifested in the agriculture sector (cropland), forest products and CO2 sequestration
surfaces, with ecological deficits of 0.23, 0.13 and 1.33 gha/capita, respectively (GFN, 2022a). The
country is in an ecological balance in the fisheries and grazing land sectors. Nevertheless, the
NFAs are based on international synthetic data in most cases. Therefore, in addition to this
factor, the ambition of this work is to link top-down (standard, original model) and bottom-up
approaches to obtain a multilevel diagnosis and to assess the sustainability of the activity on
a reduced scale with locally produced input data. In this perspective, the study area comprises
two coastal wilayas: Algiers and Tipaza.
2.2. Selection of the study area: Coastal wilayas
2.2.1. Activity
Aiming to perform a comparative analysis between two cities with different levels of
development, depending on the intensity of activities and their requirement for natural
resources, the wilayas of Algiers and Tipaza were selected for an analysis of their respective
EF and BC. Algiers is an important development pole due to its status as the political and
economic capital of the country. This wilaya is also recognized as the main metropolis of the
country. By comparison, the wilaya of Tipaza, with an agricultural and tourist vocations, is in
a transitional situation in term of development with less intense activity. Moreover, the
agricultural and tourist potential of these wilayas is not fully exploited, particularly tourism,
which is limited to the coastal area and summer season. The contrast between both wilayas
is insightful and enables to explore the potential and probably foreseeable differences in
their EF.
CHAPTER 02. Study area: wilaya of Algiers and Tipaza
2.1. Choice of analysis
It is currently accepted that there are various sustainability, resource and environmental
status indicators. However, it is complex to impose a universal approach to environmental
accounting because of the differences between countries and regions of the world, the
distribution, the nature of goods and resources, and their use patterns. In the case of the
ecological footprint EF, the Global Footprint Network GFN encourages countries to establish
their own national or down-scaled accounts NFA mainly for monitoring their development and
for data dissemination. Indeed, the description of the “Algerian” case by the GFN is one of the
reasons for undertaking this analysis. In its open-data platform, the GFN (2022) presents
Algeria as a country in an ecological deficit since 1974, with a continuously growing national EF
that has reached 2.3 gha/inhabitant, i.e., an Algerian citizen appropriates more than two hectares
of the world's average production, whereas Algeria’s population have less than one global hectare.
Detailed by sector of activity or category of surface area use, according to the principle of the EF,
this deficit is manifested in the agriculture sector (cropland), forest products and CO2 sequestration
surfaces, with ecological deficits of 0.23, 0.13 and 1.33 gha/capita, respectively (GFN, 2022a). The
country is in an ecological balance in the fisheries and grazing land sectors. Nevertheless, the
NFAs are based on international synthetic data in most cases. Therefore, in addition to this
factor, the ambition of this work is to link top-down (standard, original model) and bottom-up
approaches to obtain a multilevel diagnosis and to assess the sustainability of the activity on
a reduced scale with locally produced input data. In this perspective, the study area comprises
two coastal wilayas: Algiers and Tipaza.
2.2. Selection of the study area: Coastal wilayas
2.2.1. Activity
Aiming to perform a comparative analysis between two cities with different levels of
development, depending on the intensity of activities and their requirement for natural
resources, the wilayas of Algiers and Tipaza were selected for an analysis of their respective
EF and BC. Algiers is an important development pole due to its status as the political and
economic capital of the country. This wilaya is also recognized as the main metropolis of the
country. By comparison, the wilaya of Tipaza, with an agricultural and tourist vocations, is in
a transitional situation in term of development with less intense activity. Moreover, the
agricultural and tourist potential of these wilayas is not fully exploited, particularly tourism,
which is limited to the coastal area and summer season. The contrast between both wilayas
is insightful and enables to explore the potential and probably foreseeable differences in
their EF.