INGENIOUS SYSTEMS THREATENED WITH EXTINCTION; CASE OF THE GHOUT SYSTEM

Abstract

The life of the Oasis remains singular in more ways than one. To survive in a hostile environment, oases have developed ingenious techniques, adapted to local conditions, but also social forms closely aligned with the former. For millennia, the management of clean water in each Oasis has managed to maintain a balance between scarce water resources and growing food needs. The intrusion of the modern world into the Oasis by means of technological means, by motorization and industrialization has caused major upheavals. The ‘Ghout’, this agrarian crater remains in place until today and embodies a sustainability where the local producer is characterized by his wisdom and his perfect knowledge of the environment in which he lives. The local peasants, unable to bring water to them, decided to go to it via this ingenious system. In recent decades, and unlike some Saharan regions that suffer from a lack of water, the Souf region has suffered from a problem of rising water levels that has had a negative impact on the state of ‘Ghouts’. The purpose of this study is to establish an inventory of the situation in two areas of the large agro-ecological region (Souf), based on local potential criteria, The situation and future of the ‘Ghout’ system and the strategies of local actors to combat the phenomenon of upwelling. Our field investigations reveal that it is under the combined effect of urban expansion and the problem of rising water tables that the ‘Ghout’ system is currently in a dying phase.