According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature, the island is potential “the most important coastal and marine site in the west of the country in terms of biodiversity”.
In the far west of Libya, about fifteen kilometers from the Tunisian border, a postcard decor welcomes the visitor: peninsula at low tide, the island at high tide, pristine waters, fine sand… Farwa is a piece of land of 470 hectares where thrive date palms are beaten by the sea breeze and different species, such as turtles and flamingos. Known for its exceptional wildlife, the island is threatened by pollution and illegal fishing, much to the chagrin of a handful of environmental activists who are trying to save it.
Wild and uninhabited, it was for decades a privileged destination for school excursions: in spring, Farwa is one of the rare Libyan staging posts for migrating birds preparing to cross the Mediterranean. “It is one of the most important areas in Libya for many migratory birds,” says Tarek Jdeidi of the University of Tripoli. According to the International Union for the Conservation of Nature (IUCN), the island is potential “the most important coastal and marine site in western Libya in terms of biodiversity”.
The former leader Muammar Gaddafi wanted to build a seaside resort there with luxury hotels, “floating” villas, and a golf course. It was in 2005, when the country, long ostracized from the international community, began to open up timidly after becoming more frequentable. Finally preserved from town planning – the only construction found there is an old dilapidated lighthouse erected by the Italians in the 1920s – it sees dozens of Libyan visitors pouring in every weekend who “leave their garbage behind them.», Sighs Faouzi Dhane, from the Bado environmental association.
Heavy metals and blasting
In addition, the Abu Kammache petrochemical complex, located not far from the island, has for years “spilled heavy metals like lead”. And if he lowered the curtain a few years ago, the impact of this pollution “is still palpable”, regrets Mr. Dhane.
But it is above all the intensive and unregulated fishing that worries the defenders of the island: the fishermen, who come from the Berber-speaking town of Zwara, 40 km away, “respect nothing: they fish all the time, unregulated way, and practice fishing with explosives ” , however prohibited, underlines the environmental activist. In this country in chaos since the fall of the Gaddafi regime in 2011, divisions and power struggles have prevented any control, despite the existence of a legal framework supposed to regulate fishing activities.
The symbol of the island, the loggerhead turtle ( Caretta caretta ), an endangered species, is among the first victims. “Turtles are sometimes caught in fishing nets when they are not killed by fishermen who fear their bites”, worries Mr. Dhane. The Bado association also strives to save as many clutches as possible, including protecting the nests from predators and looters who resell the eggs at high prices.
“A real environmental disaster”
Chaouki Mouammar, the researcher in archeology, is a regular on the site. If he is interested in the distant past of the island – tools from Roman times, tombs, and even an oven have been discovered there – he is equally worried about its future, threatened by the spills of the former petrochemical plant – “a real environmental disaster” -, but also by the “rise in sea level” . Because Farwa, a thin strip of sand between the brown water of the marsh, where algae and corals proliferate, and the crystal-clear water on the seaside, “risk being swallowed up if measures are not taken to try to contain the sea”, alert Mr. Mouammar.
The end of the fighting, in the summer of 2020, and the installation at the beginning of the year of a new government responsible for leading the transition between now and the legislative and presidential elections, in December, did not change anything for the Isle. While waiting for a return to law enforcement, environmental associations refuse to stand idly by. “We are trying to educate fishermen, in partnership with international NGOs such as WWF [World Wide Fund for Nature] “, announces Mr. Dhane, whose association “also organizes conferences and awareness campaigns in schools”.
