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Bangor University DOCTOR of PHILOSOPHY Bangor University DOCTOR OF PHILOSOPHY Deforestation in Jefara Plain, Libya: Socio-economic and Policy Drivers (Algarabulli District case study) Alsoul, Adnan Award date: 2016 Awarding institution: Bangor University Link to publication General rights Copyright and moral rights for the publications made accessible in the public portal are retained by the authors and/or other copyright owners and it is a condition of accessing publications that users recognise and abide by the legal requirements associated with these rights. • Users may download and print one copy of any publication from the public portal for the purpose of private study or research. • You may not further distribute the material or use it for any profit-making activity or commercial gain • You may freely distribute the URL identifying the publication in the public portal ? Take down policy If you believe that this document breaches copyright please contact us providing details, and we will remove access to the work immediately and investigate your claim. Download date: 09. Oct. 2021 Deforestation in Jefara Plain, Libya: Socio-economic and Policy Drivers (Algarabulli District case study) A thesis submitted for the degree of Doctor of Philosophy to Bangor University by Adnan H K. Alsoul M.Sc. School of Environment, Natural Resources and Geography Bangor University May 2016 Contents Dedication Dedication This thesis is dedicated to my beloved parents for their invaluable contribution towards my success. Also to my beloved wife for her encouragement, understanding, patience, moral and material support and willingness to share difficulties which I encountered during the tenure of my study. Additionally it is dedicated to my daughters Razan and Rawan. Thank you all very much and Allah bless us all. iv Contents Acknowledgements Acknowledgements First and above all, I praise Allah, the almighty for providing me this opportunity and granting me the capability to proceed successfully. This thesis appears in its current form due to the assistance and guidance of several people. I would therefore like to offer my sincere thanks to all of them. I take this opportunity to express my deep gratitude in particular to Dr. Robert M. Brook, my main research supervisor, for his scholastic guidance, advise, constructive criticism, support, encouraging insight, and friendship throughout the course of this research. His informed knowledgeable opinions and advice guided me forward step by step. I do not have enough words with which to express my feeling of gratitude to him. I am also indebted to Dr Neal Hockley for informed comment and constructive advice whenever it was required, also with resolving the effects of political influences affecting my progress along my chosen path of study. I owe a sincere thanks to Ian Harris and Andrew Packwood at Bangor University for their help and support with the technological aspects of GIS and RS; to my committee members specially Prof. Morag McDonald for her constructive comments and advice during my annual committee meeting; to Dr Amin Kamete who was my original co-supervisor from 2010-2011 prior to moving to Glasgow University; to my friend Yasir Edowid. I owe a big thanks to the Agronomist and Forestry expert in the Ministry of Agriculture, Libya, Mr Faraj Idris who has facilitated my studies from my initial proposals when I was in Libya to the culmination of my studies here in Bangor. I would like also to thank the varied individuals in the Ministry of Agriculture who contributed to my research and thesis in Libya - Adnan Jebriel; Dr Bashir Nwer; Mr Adnan Sbeita and the forestry expert Khalifa Khatabi who was the administrator of Sand-dune fixation and afforestation campaigns in Algarabulli District from 1955 to 1973; to Dr Khaled Ben-Mahmoud. I wish to register my gratitude to Forest Department staff in Algarabulli District for their invaluable support during my fieldwork, in Libya. I am very much grateful to all respondents who shared their views and spared their valuable time in discussing to have their perception of forest and deforestation. Last, but not least, to Mohammed Idris who helped me in any way he could from my home country of Libya. It is sad that he did not survive to see the fruits of his efforts and my labour. v Contents Abstract Abstract Deforestation has many negative effects on the environment. In North Africa the most dramatic are a loss of habitat for wildlife, desertification, soil erosion, and climate change. In the Jefara plain, Libya, tree planting was undertaken to combat desertification and stabilize sand dunes and by 1984, 248,000 ha had been planted. However, these forest now suffer from severe deforestation, leading to serious encroachment of sand dunes, which now puts at risk those areas converted to agriculture. The major objective of this thesis was to understand the real causes of deforestation focussing mainly on socio-economic and policy drivers in Algarabulli District. Interviewed respondents stated that deforestation commenced in 1986, the major direct causes being agricultural expansion, building and road construction, and land trading. However, the major indirect cause contributing to deforestation was reported to be the change of forest governance in 1986; this led to an increase in corruption and a decrease in law enforcement, resulting in many land allocation contracts being issued to officers and government officials who then cleared forestland for themselves and later by local people. They reported that deforestation increased dramatically in the study zone after the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, due to the total breakdown in governance. Interviews were also conducted with 20 government officials (in the Ministry of Agriculture and legal experts of in administrative and real estate law) Legislation, Forest Department records and policies were also reviewed. These findings agreed with those from research with local residents. Officials added that the former regime contributed to destruction of the forests indirectly by: giving orders to abolish the Ministry of Agriculture several times, encouraging burning of the Land Registry Centres, and distributing forest land to officials, all of which led to an increase the corruption and lack of law enforcement. This was despite the de jure adequacy of forest protection legislation. Remote sensing, using SPOT imagery was used to estimate the rate of land cover change. The results of supervised classification and ground truething showed a remarkable degree of agreement with other two methods (local residents’ estimates and Forest Department records): 27% of total forest area was cleared between 1986 and 2010, but after the fall of the Gaddafi regime another 35% was cleared between 2011 and 2013. Currently only 36% of the originally planted forest remains. vi Contents Abstract Finally, a survey was conducted with 43 forest clearers. The results showed that population growth and density had not contributed to deforestation. Analysis of the characteristics of forest clearers found that 93% of respondents were educated, 100% were employed and their income was slightly higher than respondents who had not cleared forests. The main purpose of clearing forest after the 2011 uprising was to sell the land illegally, due to a tenfold increase in land prices, which incentivised land speculation and forest clearance as a means of money laundering. If deforestation continues at the current rate, all forests will be lost within three years. Due to the total breakdown in governance, deforestation in Libya nowadays is one of the biggest environmental challenges. vii Contents Table of Contents Table of Contents Contents Declaration ............................................................................................................................................... i Dedication .............................................................................................................................................. iv Acknowledgements ................................................................................................................................. v Abstract .................................................................................................................................................. vi Table of Contents ................................................................................................................................. viii List of Tables ........................................................................................................................................ xii List of Figures ...................................................................................................................................... xiii List of Abbreviations and Acronyms ................................................................................................... xvi 1 General Introduction .................................................................................................................... 1 1.2 Outline of the study ....................................................................................................................... 3 1.2.1 Context of the research .......................................................................................................... 3 1.2.2 Thesis research questions ....................................................................................................... 3 1.3 Thesis Structure .......................................................................................................................
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