Once fruitful, Libyan village suffers from climate crisis 17/06/2024

Kabaw, like many villages in the Nafusa Mountains, is mainly inhabited by the Amazigh people, a non-Arab minority (Photo: Mahmud TURKIA)

By AFP - Agence France Presse

Once fruitful, Libyan village suffers from climate crisis

In the Libyan village of Kabaw, in the mountains of Nafusa, M'hamed Maakaf waters a diseased fig tree, as climate change causes residents to abandon their land and livestock.

Once prosperous and known for its figs, olives, and almonds, the fields around Kabaw, located some 200 kilometers (124 miles) southwest of Tripoli, are now mostly barren and hit by climate change-induced drought.

The area was once "green and prosperous until the beginning of the millennium," Maakaf recalled. "People used to come here and go hiking, but today it's so dry that it's unbearable."

"We no longer see the green meadows we knew in the 60s and 70s," added the 65-year-old man, wearing a traditional white tunic and sirwal pants.

Kabaw, like many villages in the Nafusa Mountains, is mainly inhabited by the Amazigh people, a non-Arab minority.

Battered by the sun and dry winds, the mountainous area is now struggling to bear fruit, facing a lack of rainfall and temperatures well above seasonal norms.

Libya, where around 95% of the land is desert, is one of the most water-scarce countries in the world, according to the United Nations.

Its annual rainfall in coastal areas has fallen from 400 millimeters in 2019 to 200 millimeters today, with water demand greater than what is available.

The Nafusa Mountains, situated at an altitude of almost 1,000 meters in western Libya, are home to around half a million people out of a population of seven million.

Driven by increased water stress, residents and their herds have gradually moved from the Nafusa Mountains and the surrounding plains.

- Exodus

Mourad Makhlouf, the mayor of Kabaw, says that the drought of the last decade has led hundreds of families to move to the capital Tripoli, and other coastal cities, where water is easier to access.

"It's not just about the scarcity of water or the death of crops due to drought," said Makhlouf. "There is a demographic and human dimension with the exodus of hundreds of families towards the capital and the coastal towns."

Suleiman Mohammed, a local farmer, fears that climate change will soon cause everyone to leave, as "living without water is certain death".

"How can we be patient?" he said. "It's gotten to the point where farmers are selling their animals because keeping them costs twice as much."

Next to a group of dead tree trunks, Maakaf laments the loss of "thousands of olive trees".

"Some were 200 years old and were inherited from our grandparents," he said.

In the hope of easing the burden, the local authorities have started selling subsidized water for 25 Libyan dinars (about $5) per 12,000 liters.

Tanker trucks make the journey between the water stations and the village, covering up to 50 kilometers and allowing some of those in need to support themselves.

"We manage to water our fields two to three times a week, but water is expensive," said Maakaf, adding that they also rely on private tankers that sell the same amount for up to 160 dinars.

- 'Emerging threats' -

The hydrocarbon-rich country is home to the world's largest irrigation project, the Great Man-Made River, its main source of water supply, built in the 1980s under the rule of longtime dictator Moamer Kadhafi.

Drawing fossil water from aquifers in the heart of the southern desert, the network of pipes provides around 60% of the national need.

But supplies remain insufficient amid the growing drought.

According to the World Resources Institute, an environmental research organization, Libya will face "extremely high" water stress by 2050.

The World Bank predicts that by 2030, the Middle East and North Africa region will fall below the "absolute water scarcity" threshold.

"Water scarcity is one of the greatest emerging threats facing Libya," the UN Development Program said in a study.

"The country needs to ensure equitable access to water for domestic and economic purposes."

"Climate-smart agricultural methods should reduce the overuse of water resources and... practices that contribute to soil erosion and desertification, which further affect productive sectors and food security."

Libya signed the 2015 United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change and ratified the Paris Climate Agreement in 2021.

However, the North African country has shown little progress in developing disaster risk reduction and climate adaptation strategies, as it continues to face divisions and conflicts after the fall of Gaddafi in 2011.

"The drought doesn't just concern the mountains of Nafusa, but the whole country," said Mayor Makhlouf.

"Libya needs a relief plan, which won't be the solution to everything, but will allow us to adapt."

Jihad Dorgham

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