Data on Land Cover Transitions and Threats to Almond Tree Diversity in the Central-East of Tunisia

EasyChair Preprint 15880

Abstract

Over the past decade, rapid urbanization and climate change have impacted urban and peri-urban agriculture, as well as the diversity of indigenous fruit tree ecotypes, particularly in Kalâa Kebira, in the Sousse governorate. This study, based on satellite imagery (Landsat 5, 7, and 8) analyzed using QGIS, mapped the evolution of urbanization and the degradation of almond orchards between 1980 and 2023. In 1980, tree crops covered 3,234.2 hectares, while urban areas spanned 145 hectares. By 2012, urbanization reached 890 hectares, with a slight increase in tree crops (3,266.9 hectares). However, in 2023, a loss of 621 hectares of tree crops was recorded, while urbanization progressed by 46.83%, reaching 1,307.2 hectares.

Survey data analysis highlights an urgent threat to almond cultivation, specific to this region where agriculture, particularly almond farming, holds significant socio-economic importance. Three types of agriculture are identified: entrepreneurial, focused on commercial and professional practices; family-based, centered on food self-sufficiency; and mixed, combining commercial and subsistence aspects while maintaining a strong interaction with the urban environment. Furthermore, the results emphasize the richness and preservation of indigenous almond tree ecotypes in Kalâa Kebira, preserved through seed exchanges and farmers’ preference for local cultivars, well adapted to environmental conditions and offering high nutritional value. However, these farmers express concerns about the future of this biodiversity, threatened by urbanization, land sales, and the lack of knowledge transfer to future generations.

The results highlight the urgency of adopting sustainable management of indigenous fruit trees, particularly almonds, by implementing an in-situ conservation strategy. Without these measures, this diversity could be replaced by foreign cultivars and disappear due to drought, leading to a significant loss of biodiversity.

Keyphrases: Indigenous Almonds., Urban and Peri-Urban Agriculture (UPA), anthropogenic pressure, remote sensing, urban dynamics

@booklet{EasyChair:15880,
  author    = {Waddah Ghenimi and Hassouna Gouta and Emmanuel Geoffriau and Nathalie Carcaud and Faiza Allouche Khebour and Hichem Rejeb},
  title     = {Data on Land Cover Transitions and Threats to Almond Tree Diversity in the Central-East of Tunisia},
  howpublished = {EasyChair Preprint 15880},
  year      = {EasyChair, 2025}}