Monocultures in Southern Tunisia: Promising Employment, Promoting Desertification and Displacement

This chapter explores the socio-ecological transformations unfolding in the oases of southern Tunisia, driven by land grabbing and the expansion of export-oriented monoculture agriculture, with a particular focus on the Deglet Nour date industry. Once managed as commons, southern Tunisian lands have undergone fragmentation and dispossession through colonial and post-colonial processes, further intensified by structural adjustment policies and pressures from global markets since the 1980s. Tunisia’s integration into global capitalist supply chains, combined with its proximity to the European Union, has deepened economic dependency and accelerated environmental degradation. Drawing on a political ecology framework, this chapter traces the historical shift from communal land tenure to privatization, critically examining the environmental and social consequences of Deglet Nour monocultures. Positioning Tunisia as a “commodity frontier,” the chapter illustrates how global market forces reshape local ecologies and social relations, while fueling socio-ecological movements that advocate for food sovereignty amid ongoing crises related to land, labor, and migration.