Contenu du sommaire : Appropriations des ressources naturelles au sud de la Méditerranée

Rights of access or right to circumvent?
This paper examines the normalization processes and disciplinary techniques used by the Algerian state to govern and manage its natural resources. A comparative study of two marine nature concessions in the El Kala National Park highlights both biopolitical issues. In the first concession (a concession governed and legitimized by state law), law enforcement is made difficult by the multiplicity of regulations and inadequate monitoring. In the second (illegal) concession, conservation regulations are enforced using disciplinary methods that fall outside the boundaries of the law.

State-owned land in Tunisia
Following the nationalization of land on 12th May 1964, the Tunisian state inherited vast areas of land previously under colonial rule. The removal of traditional rights during the colonial era and the introduction of modern law by the protectorate meant that colonial land was defined as part of the public domain. During the colonial era, the land management system involved allocating land to colonial settlers. The land in question was recovered by the state after independence and has come to play a central role in agricultural policy-making. This was made possible by the Tunisian land tenure system, a system founded on different legal sources. This paper highlights the manipulation of laws and their use for political purposes from the protectorate up to the revolution of January 2011.

Property, land appropriation and the practice of law in a steppe region (Algeria). The question of rural land use and tenure in Algeria remains an important issue because of the policies of dispossession, nationalization and socialization implemented from the colonial period right up the present day. Based on a case study in a steppe province of western Algeria, this paper examines the effects of the law governing access to agricultural land (loi d'accession à la propriété foncière or APFA) introduced in 1983 and suspended in 2008 in favor of a new policy. Operating within the framework of the socio-anthropology of law applied to a Muslim context, the paper examines the acquisition of agricultural land (or properties used for agricultural purposes) formerly owned by the state (i.e. defined as public land). The paper discusses the conflicts caused by the new law. The analysis provides an understanding of current operating rules and norms, perceptions and interpretations of the law in land disputes, the uses of the law, the role of law enforcement institutions (i.e. judicial and/or administrative institutions), and the role and position of the agents operating within these institutions.

The re-appropriation of water in overexploited river basins
Overexploited river basins have led to disputes over the use of water resources. The multiple uses that have developed over time are generally intertwined and characterized by nested and overlapping levels of decision-making forming a complex governance system. This paper focuses on the Tensift river basin (an area that includes Marrakech and the Haouz plain), in an area where water is a key resource for regional development, particularly for the largest and most water-dependent sectors (i.e. agriculture, tourism and urban expansion). Because they are competing sectors, their increasing needs inevitably translate into reallocations among users and sectors. After describing the hydrology of the basin, the paper examines how reallocations occur, whom they benefit, and how they are discursively justified. Three examples of the most significant cases of water reallocation are examined in detail. The challenges they represent will serve as a basis for an analysis of the Tensift river basin agency and its assumed regulatory role.

Between centralization and local appropriation
This study examines the centralization of water management in Akkar (North Lebanon) and the conditions of access to drinking water that centralization entails for local populations. In a peripheral region severely affected by poverty, some villages have been forced to develop local services managed by committees or municipalities tasked with remedying the weakness or absence of public service networks. Following the water sector reform, new regional water management organizations were created to replace the existing local bodies, widely viewed as inadequate and inefficient. Focusing primarily on the reform of public services and the search for financial autonomy, the new bodies are currently seeking to increase their revenue by broadening their activities, increasing their rates and eliminating competing solutions. However, there has been resistance to centralization at a local level.

The appropriation of hydraulic resources and processes of exclusion in the Sidi Bouzid region (central Tunisia). In August 1986, the Tunisian government implemented a structural adjustment program covering a vast array of broadly liberal economic reforms that have radically changed the conditions governing the production and reproduction of family farms. A process of differentiation and exclusion has emerged, resulting in the marginalization and even destruction of small-scale family farming. This process is largely the result of recent changes to irrigation policy and the laws governing access to land. A good example of this is the Sidi Bouzid region, where the liberalization of access to water and land has increased the pressure on resources and led to increased competition, causing the least efficient farms to abandon irrigation altogether.

Water management in Lebanon: a confiscated reform?
The premise of this paper is that there has been a significant shift in the prevailing discourse on water resources in Lebanon over the past century. In contrast to the widespread confidence in the country's abundant water resources at the beginning of the 20th century, the dominant view today is that there is likely to be a serious water shortage by 2030. This discursive shift contrasts sharply with the legislative and regulatory inertia surrounding water laws despite repeated attempts at modernization by successive regimes and authorities (Ottoman Empire, French Mandate and modern state). Water rights in Lebanon have always been closely linked to land tenure. Today, the appropriation of land and water resources is a major focus of political and economic debate. This paper has two objectives. First, it provides a historical overview of legal and institutional reforms adopted in the water sector. A distinction is made between four main periods: the Ottoman period (Mecelle), the French Mandate period, the post-independence period (1943-1990) and the post-war period (i.e. the reconstruction period). The paper shows that there have been constant and intense power struggles between multiple actors seeking to maintain multiple systems of resource appropriation.

Appropriation and resources
In the Jerid region of south-western Tunisia, the dynamics governing the appropriation of resources vary depending on the type of resource. While it has yet to gain control of genes, the state has appropriated and secured control of key natural resources such as water and land. In the Jerid region, agriculture is concentrated in oasis areas (palm groves) forming unique ecosystems. Based on a field study conducted since the 2011 revolution in an area already examined prior to the revolution, this paper highlights the current dynamics at work in the region and provides a basis for rethinking the concept of “appropriation”. It is important to emphasize that “appropriation” is not simply a matter of appropriating material resources, but also concerns the appropriation of uses, practices and ways of relating to the world. This paper suggests that skills such as these are more likely to be found among local farmers than among agricultural policy-makers and bureaucrats, i.e. the official bearers of agronomic knowledge, power and legitimacy.