National Parks
Djibouti's biodiversity, like that of the Horn of Africa, is fragile and threatened. To protect species, the country has banned hunting - including underwater hunting - throughout its territory.
Day Forest National Park: located to the west of the Gulf of Tadjourah, this park is home to the relics of a primary forest composed mainly of African juniper(Juniperus procera), which is threatened with extinction. It boasts a unique biodiversity of flora and fauna, including an endemic species of bird, the Djibouti francolin.
Moucha and Maskali islands: located off the Gulf of Tadjourah, these islands boast exceptional biodiversity, including an endemic species, the white iris gull, as well as beautiful mangrove swamps and sandy beaches. The seabed is richly endowed with coral gardens and numerous species of fish. Although the southern part of Maskali is a nature reserve and both islands are part of a marine protected area, there is sometimes uncontrolled dumping of waste, and these areas are coveted by foreign investors. Visitors to these islands are encouraged to show the utmost respect for all living things (by adopting a "zero waste" approach, for example, or by using sunscreens without chemical filters, which have harmful effects on coral).
Threats to the Red Sea
The Red Sea is rich in biodiversity, with over 200 species of coral and an extremely varied fauna. A narrow strip bordered by eight countries, this fragile environment is home to one of the world's most important maritime trade routes, via the Bab-el-Mandeb Strait. This activity poses a threat to ecosystems, notably through the emptying into the sea of ships' various tanks (ballast tanks, which contain seawater pumped from another region and which, when discharged, can unbalance local ecosystems, or mud tanks, which contribute to the contamination of the environment through their discharge into the sea).
The Red Sea also faces a major threat, a veritable sword of Damocles hanging over it since 2015. A tanker, the Safer, has been immobilized in Yemeni waters by the rebel Houthi faction, and its dilapidated condition threatens to spill over a million barrels, or more than 160 million liters of oil, into the Red Sea. Despite UN intervention in the summer of 2020, the situation is bogged down with no solution in sight. A spill or explosion of the cargo could cause extremely serious damage to marine biodiversity. Added to this is the lack of wastewater and waste treatment infrastructures, correlated with the increase in flows (linked to population growth) which contributes to the pollution of the waters of the Red Sea, with health and environmental impacts.
The issue of water resources and climate change
Water resources are scarce in the country, and groundwater is insufficient to meet the country's growing needs, which have tripled in the last thirty years due to population growth and urbanization. This state of water stress poses a threat not only to drinking water supplies, but also to agriculture and livestock farming. Ongoing climate change is exacerbating periods of drought, accelerating the country's desertification and raising the spectre of food insecurity in a country already suffering from malnutrition. Global warming is also contributing to rising sea levels and temperatures, which will accelerate coastal erosion and the decline of biodiversity. It also contributes to the establishment of disease-carrying species, such asAnopheles stephensi, a mosquito native to Asia that has been recorded in Djibouti since 2012, and is responsible for a resurgence of malaria in the country.
Action on climate change
Djibouti is a signatory to the Paris agreements, which aim to limit temperature rises to +2°C by the end of the century, compared with the pre-industrial period. To achieve this, Djibouti has embarked on measures to mitigate global warming, with an ambitious program aimed at achieving a 100% renewable energy mix by 2035 through the production of renewable energies: solar, wind and above all geothermal, thanks to the potential of the country's subsoil. But the challenge is enormous.
Measures to adapt to climate change have also been put in place, to promote food resilience, with local agriculture and livestock farming based on small herds that are well fed and watered locally. These include the construction of boreholes and dykes for irrigation and livestock watering, training for farmers, farmland rehabilitation and reforestation projects. In order to preserve groundwater, desalination and wastewater treatment plants have been set up in Djibouti, with the water being reused for agricultural purposes. However, the wastewater treatment system is still limited, if not non-existent, and the massive exploitation of groundwater is depleting water resources.
A great green wall from Dakar to Djibouti
Launched in 2007, the project's initial aim was to combat desertification. Over the years, the project has expanded beyond reforestation to include actions in partnership with local populations along an 8,000 km strip of land spanning 11 countries, from Dakar to Djibouti. The 2030 objective: to restore 100 million hectares of degraded land. But this ambitious ecological project suffers from a cruel lack of funding, and has to deal with the sometimes sensitive situation of the countries it crosses (conflicts and terrorist threats). To date, only 5% of the "Great Green Wall" has been completed.
