Climate Security Perceptions in Tunisia: Food Security as a Dominant Paradigm
Résumé
During its membership of the United Nations Security Council (UNSC) (2020-2021), Tunisia was an active supporter of climate security and contributed to the routinisation of the issue in the discussions that took place during that period. In April 2020, Tunisia even co-organised an Arria Formula debate on climate and security risks, during which its representative advocated for the inclusion of the topic at the UNSC. He particularly insisted on the fact that climate change threatens the livelihoods of already vulnerable populations and that it could exacerbate existing conflicts, especially if the UN does not have the appropriate tools to cope with the situation. In this chapter, thanks to an open-source study of official documents and statements made by officials and ministries, we will study how climate security is perceived and framed by the Tunisian government, and what policies it tries to put in place to address this issue at both domestic and international levels.