240
M. Hadeid et al.
and management policies designed to develop these areas economically have not
prevented the creation of clear spatial inequalities, despite huge investments to open
up the social facilities and economic infrastructure of this vast and constrained area
by the creation of a relatively dense transportation network.
The regions of Touat, Gourara and Western Tidikelt are administratively part of the
Wilaya
1 of Adrar, a vast Saharan area occupying nearly 18% of national territory but
containing less than 1.2% of the national population and more than 12% of the total
Saharan population, according to a 2008 survey (Kouzmine 2007; Hadeid et al. 2018).
Having experienced the same development policies (administrative divisions, equipment program, agricultural development), this region of southwestern Algeria has
suffered from the same policy exclusions, leading to the marginalization of a number
of sectors and, consequently, a part of the population. Faced with this marginalization, traditional practices (sometimes informal), are maintained or even developed
in the face of insufficient state support, leading to the disruption of local ecosystems.
In some cases, these practices reflect the failures of civil society to address existing
spatial disparities and their environmental and health effects in this area. This has
resulted in the pauperization of the oases and a consequent mass departure of the most
vulnerable populations, from the least coveted ksour to the most dynamic cities. The
new rural policy launched in the 1980s through access to agricultural land ownership
and the PNDA
2 in 2000 came respectively with the aim of correcting the disparities induced by this urbanization policy, but the application of this vast program has
also been subject to criticism insofar as users have been much more attracted by the
generous subsidies of this program than by a genuine interest in reviving agricultural activity in these arid and semi-arid spaces. The balance sheet, particularly after
the State gradually withdrew its commitment to fund these agricultural development
operations, has been mixed. Faced with the disengagement of the State, the saturation
of the tertiary sector and the instability of oasis agriculture, a part of oasis society
has sought mechanisms to revive their activity and improve their standard of living.
Although interesting as well as ambitious, its solutions do not seriously address the
issue of sustainability and hence their effects on non-renewable water resources in
this vast, arid region. Thus, social strategies, or “social technologies” are really only
a form of temporary adaptation of a society to an immediate crisis situation in the
face of the State’s failure to create a public policy for effective management of these
arid, hostile spaces.
In addition to this territorial complexity, there are new challenges related to climate
change. The local expertise in water mobilization and tillage of people in the far south
has become a model for adaptation to climate change—not only to increasingly
extreme natural conditions but also to frequent social and economic changes. How
1 The Wilaya is an administrative entity, the equivalent of a “department” in France.
2 PNDA (National Agricultural Development Plan). This program represents, in a way, a return of
the State, particularly to boost agricultural activity after a period of disengagement that lasted more
than a decade (Hadeid 2011). The orientations contained in this agricultural program are intended
to ensure socio-economic and technical obligations (improving Algeria’s agricultural competitiveness, increasing production and yields), but they also and mainly aim at rebuilding the agricultural
territory, protecting fragile ecosystems and developing land for agricultural use (Bessaoud 2002).
M. Hadeid et al.
and management policies designed to develop these areas economically have not
prevented the creation of clear spatial inequalities, despite huge investments to open
up the social facilities and economic infrastructure of this vast and constrained area
by the creation of a relatively dense transportation network.
The regions of Touat, Gourara and Western Tidikelt are administratively part of the
Wilaya
1 of Adrar, a vast Saharan area occupying nearly 18% of national territory but
containing less than 1.2% of the national population and more than 12% of the total
Saharan population, according to a 2008 survey (Kouzmine 2007; Hadeid et al. 2018).
Having experienced the same development policies (administrative divisions, equipment program, agricultural development), this region of southwestern Algeria has
suffered from the same policy exclusions, leading to the marginalization of a number
of sectors and, consequently, a part of the population. Faced with this marginalization, traditional practices (sometimes informal), are maintained or even developed
in the face of insufficient state support, leading to the disruption of local ecosystems.
In some cases, these practices reflect the failures of civil society to address existing
spatial disparities and their environmental and health effects in this area. This has
resulted in the pauperization of the oases and a consequent mass departure of the most
vulnerable populations, from the least coveted ksour to the most dynamic cities. The
new rural policy launched in the 1980s through access to agricultural land ownership
and the PNDA
2 in 2000 came respectively with the aim of correcting the disparities induced by this urbanization policy, but the application of this vast program has
also been subject to criticism insofar as users have been much more attracted by the
generous subsidies of this program than by a genuine interest in reviving agricultural activity in these arid and semi-arid spaces. The balance sheet, particularly after
the State gradually withdrew its commitment to fund these agricultural development
operations, has been mixed. Faced with the disengagement of the State, the saturation
of the tertiary sector and the instability of oasis agriculture, a part of oasis society
has sought mechanisms to revive their activity and improve their standard of living.
Although interesting as well as ambitious, its solutions do not seriously address the
issue of sustainability and hence their effects on non-renewable water resources in
this vast, arid region. Thus, social strategies, or “social technologies” are really only
a form of temporary adaptation of a society to an immediate crisis situation in the
face of the State’s failure to create a public policy for effective management of these
arid, hostile spaces.
In addition to this territorial complexity, there are new challenges related to climate
change. The local expertise in water mobilization and tillage of people in the far south
has become a model for adaptation to climate change—not only to increasingly
extreme natural conditions but also to frequent social and economic changes. How
1 The Wilaya is an administrative entity, the equivalent of a “department” in France.
2 PNDA (National Agricultural Development Plan). This program represents, in a way, a return of
the State, particularly to boost agricultural activity after a period of disengagement that lasted more
than a decade (Hadeid 2011). The orientations contained in this agricultural program are intended
to ensure socio-economic and technical obligations (improving Algeria’s agricultural competitiveness, increasing production and yields), but they also and mainly aim at rebuilding the agricultural
territory, protecting fragile ecosystems and developing land for agricultural use (Bessaoud 2002).