A boy holding a placard with a slogan: No to Shale Gas. Protest in Ain Salah, Algeria in February 2015. Photo Credit: BBOY LEE I simply don't believe in neutral discourses. My perspective is not one of academics and university people who choose to be neutral in face of injustices and oppression, and who justify this by saying they are objective in order to be accepted by the dominant discourses and other structures of power. My perspective is one of an activist, which I hope is progressive, radical, and decolonial in the sense that it is anti-systemic and resolutely in active solidarity with the oppressed and the "wretched of the earth" in their struggles to achieve social justice.
I explore three themes in this article. I will start by giving an idea about the ecological and climate crises in the Maghreb region (Algeria, Morocco, and Tunisia) then go on and illustrate how the neoliberalisation of environmental governance is being enacted there. I will end by putting forward a critique of some of the concepts of ‘justice’ used to talk about the injustices of facing and dealing with environmental degradation and anthropogenic global warming.
Ecological and climate crises in the Maghreb region
Anthropogenic climate change is a reality in the Maghreb and it is undermining the socioeconomic and ecological basis of life in the region. Tunisia, Algeria and Morocco witnessed severe heat-waves during the summer of 2015 and an ongoing drought this year, which has been catastrophic for agriculture (particularly the small peasants in Morocco). The desert is growing, eating the land around it, placing huge pressure on already-scarce water supplies. Seawater intrusion into ground water reserves, as well as groundwater overuse will put these countries in the category of those who suffer from absolute water poverty.
