Protecting the environment for sustained development: Tunisia and Senegal

Historically, environmental protection in Tunisia wasborn out of the cholera epidemic that swept the countryin 1969. In Senegal, on the other hand, it basicallybegan in the wake of the Rio Conference of 1992 andis therefore still very much in its infancy. Tunisia hashad institutions operating in the environmental field foralmost thirty years while Senegal is still in the processof establishing mechanisms and developing strategies.The two countries are also at very different levels ofeconomic and technical development. Environmentalproblems are caused by unsustainable use of naturalresources by rapidly expanding populations, particularlyin Senegal. Planning and monitoring is often virtuallynon-existent. In both countries, poor wastewatertreatment poses a severe environmental hazard.