Mohamed Ennabli Interview

Summary of the meeting :

On 04/14/22 we had the honor of meeting by videoconference the former Tunisian Minister of the Environment: Mohamed Ennabli. He held this position from 2000 to 2002.

In this interview, three main axes have been mentionned:

1. The actions implemented by the Tunisian state to fight against the climate crisis

2. The current global situation

3. Solutions to deal with it

Mr. Ennabli told us that various actions to fight against the negative effects of economic development and therefore of the environmental crisis had been put in place by the Tunisian State for a few years already. This consisted of the recycling of certain materials such as PET from bottles (which is carried out by the SOREAL Tunisia Company), in-depth studies on the composition of water or air (conducted in order to determine what deteriorates their quality and therefore against what should we fight) or even actions carried out at the level of the coasts to fight against the erosion or the submersion of the beaches (like APAL works: coastal protection and development agency in Tunisia with the financial aid of the German Republic)...

Finally, we discussed the fact that the developed countries, nowadays, pollute the most and that it is the developing countries like Tunisia who pay first the consequences: significant increase in temperature in the South, rising waters... Therefore, according to the United Nations Conference on Environment and Development (Rio 1992) it had been agreed by all the participating countries to help developing countries financially to develop sustainably. Because in such circumstances, solidarity between countries must take precedence: it is one of the main solutions for dealing with climate problems.

Indeed, the developed countries must not only fight the climate crisis in their regions, they must help their colleagues, further south and guarantee them good development! Finally, as the French philosopher Henri Bergson puts it perfectly: "To live consists in acting"... It is therefore necessary that we citizens also participate in this change. Let's not wait for others to do it for us, they never will. Finally, the best way to put an end to this destructive environmental crisis is to start by changing our habits, to change the world...