biological diversity and tropical forests in tunisia - PART

Preface
This doczmect was prepared for the Agency for Ictercatiocal
Developnect (AID) ic resporse to FAA Amecdmects 118 acd 119, which coccerc
the cocservatioc acd erhaccemect of biological diversity acd tropical
forests. The statcs, trecds acd icfluences on the flora, fauca and
ecosystems are addressed ir- order to provide ac informatioc base for zse
by AIE/T;ci s j c reporting to ~ID/h'ashicgt.oc D. C., fornzlaticg actioc plans
ard preparic~ Fr-virocmectal Assessnects of proposed projects. The
doczi~r.t has beer cross-referecced by ecosystems acd gouvercorats to
facllitet~ 3vjrsr.n~ctal Assessmeet preparati on. This docmeet is also
ict ecded for _se by cor-govercnectal orgacj zatjor-s, docor orgar5 zatiocs
erd the Covercnect of Txisia.
Follovjrti. the preceder-t of the FAA amecdmects, there are separate
disc;;ssl3r.s OF bi."lagical diversity end tropical forests ic this ssrvey.
However, forests are a major compocect of biologi.ca1 divers%ty, so the
b,l% zf ecolcgical icfarnation has beec coccectrated ic Part I. Ic
liter at.^^^ describicg the ecosystems of TucisSa, certaic arabic terms are
so c~nr.3~. (s.;ch as 'd jeb~l' for n~xtaic) that they are used ic the text.
Ar. irkerect problem with local t.erms (iccludice canes of cities) that the
reeder sh~zld be aware of is that differecces ic ph0enet.i~ spellicgs are
fo..xd ic other docmects (ex. djebel, jebel, djebbel are all used ic the
literat-re). A short glossary has beec provided to define some of the
xfenil5 ar terms.
This sirvey was Pxded by AID/h'ashicgtoc t.hro~eh A~D/Tzcis. The
s;pym: giver by Peace Corps/Tc~isja, iccludicg use of a word processicg
conpiter, ir-formatior gathering assistacce acd moral support, is siccerely
appreciated. Icformati~c from the Directioc des Forets ic the form of
p~clished reports a ~ d disc~ssio~s comprises a large part of this stirvey.
Special thacks go to !!r. Selmi Khenaies, who greatly facilitated my work
ic kcjsia, acd to each of the icgeniezrs and gardes-chasse that
accompacied ne ic the field. Mr. Fichael Smart of the Ictercational
Vaterfowl Research kreau was an icvaluable soiirce of icformation on
wetlacds acd ecvjrocmectal coccercs ic Tur.isia, and gzided me to the most
imp3rter.t locations ic the field. I an also grateful to Thorstoc Weilbel
of the GTZ for vegetatioc icformatioc and a home base ic Tsnis.