Crossroads of biodiversity - Les Guerbes, Algeria

Algeria is huge, the second largest country in Africa, and it is nine-tenths desert. The majority of the population lives clustered in the shadow of the Atlas mountains along the narrow, relatively moist, thousand kilometre-long strip of Mediterranean coast.

In the northeast near the Tunisian border, between the desert and the moist coastal strip, rivers run down from the mountains and meander through wind-shaped coastal dunes, forming seasonally flooded depressions known as chotts and sebkhas.

Wetlands of international significance
Some of these depressions retain water even in dry times, supporting vegetation which stabilises this shifting landscape and enhances its water-holding capacity. These wetland habitats are so diverse and biologically important, many have been designated Important Bird Areas and wetlands of international significance under the Ramsar Convention.

West of El Ka National Park, between Skikda and Chetaibi, Les Guerbes wetlands complex is part of this crossroads of biodiversity. From alder groves and riparian forests to aquatic ferns and water lilies, there are well over 200 plant species, of which 42 are rare or very rare.

Support many threatened bird species
The wetlands support numerous migratory and shore birds, including the threatened white-headed duck, marbled teal and ferruginous duck. Twenty-seven species of damsel- and dragonflies dip and skim over its puddled surfaces. In recognition of its biodiversity values, the site was awarded a Ramsar listing in 2001.

This is an area that has been settled from the beginning of history, influenced by Romans, Carthaginians, Berbers and Arabs. Farmers depend on the land's precious moisture to graze livestock and grow crops - melons, tomatoes, wine grapes.

The pressures of agriculture
Dams on some of the rivers now control the flooding and have changed the natural wetland cycles. Due to increasing demands for land to produce seasonal cash crops, woodlands are being cleared, laying the disturbed land open to erosion, while irrigation depletes groundwater. On this narrow edge of the continent, the threat of desertification is never far.

WWF - working with the government and the UN
WWF is working with the Algerian government and the United Nation Development Programme to ensure a sound management plan for the wetlands complex of Les Guerbes. The plan must look beyond the wetlands boundaries to integrate the variety of human activities which currently depend on the wetlands' natural resources, and honour the rights and expectations of the local communities.