Speaker
Description
In the current situation of severe climate stress, anthropogenic pressures on the planet have resulted in the profound fragility of the natural environment. The effects on territories are striking and have led to the reduction or loss of habitable and cultivable land (IPCC, 2019), meaning that resources may soon be insufficient for all. According to the FAO, by 2050, the world will need to grow 50% more food to feed the projected population of 9 billion people (FAO, 2009).
We must search for ever more effective solutions for food supply which are economically, socially and environmentally sustainable. This is inevitably linked to issues of the careful organization and management of territory and human habitats. This contribution will present an example of food self-production that stems from a condition of need, which can be a valid model for analysis because of the extreme conditions of the context.
This is the case of the Sahrawis and the self-organization of their refugee camps in the Tindouf Hammāda, Algeria. These desert people, forced into refugee status due to unresolved geopolitical events, have been displaced from their lands since 1976 and have taken refuge in temporary camps (Loewenberg, 2005). Over nearly 50 years, they have become stable proto-urban models, where nearly 200,000 people live today (Herz, 2013). Here, where food comes mainly from international aid, self-government and mutual support have led the Sahrawis to create spaces dedicated to pastoral and agricultural practice, both community and family-based (Wilson, 2014)
Over the past 15 years, the Sahrawis have shown an increasing willingness to establish gardens and livestock fences near their homes to support their own alimentation. The support of international projects and the work of many NGOs, such as the Eco-institute RESEDA and the Africa ’70 Movement, are helping the Sahrawis to move away from these experiences of subsistence family farming to community farming practices (RESEDA, 1999). This will mitigate food security problems and promote the management of scarce resources, namely water and organic soil, in one of the driest areas of the Sahara.
Educational support is being provided to families, for example, by the Center for Agricultural Experimentation and Training. This enables them to experiment with agricultural techniques and the resilience of seeds and crops. Family farming practices are being supported by introducing aspects of hydroponic farming, circular production systems, linking livestock and agriculture, and the principles of agroecology (Wezel et al., 2009).
Methodologically, the research was conducted during a PhD activity, between November 2020 and January 2024, through library and archival research and site visits that served as field surveys, information gathering, interviews and drawings (Roccaro, 2023). All this material forms the basis of this contribution. The intention is to introduce participatory models of resource management (primarily water and soil) and agroecological principles which complement or even replace the old models that are no longer sustainable into the discussion of food supply for urban and urban-rural communities.
In the widespread condition of global uncertainty, this example can be seen as an interesting model of practices in which socioeconomic and environmental demands are combined to adapt to the harsh Saharan life. This approach allows for a possible dialogue between ecological relations, energy sustainability and cultural reworking processes, which underlie the future of humanity.
In conclusion, the study of spontaneous and temporary self-constructed settlements in hostile habitats could lead to fruitful reflections on the management of anthropized territory. In addition to being places of survival, they are also examples of adaptation and frugality, outposts of habitability in extreme contexts of an increasingly crisis-ridden planet.
References
Dalgaard Tommy, Hutchings Nicholas & Porter John R. (2003) Agroecology, scaling and interdisciplinarity. Agriculture, ecosystems and environment, 100, 1, pp. 39-51.
Eco-institute RESEDA (1999) Orti solari familiari nel campo rifugiati Saharawi di Dakhla. Huertos Solares en el Campamientos de refugiados Saharauis de Dakhla, Tindouf (Algeria). [Online] available at: http://www.resedaweb.org/salvaguai/Documenti/Progetto%20Orti%20solari%20light.pdf.
FAO (2009) Global agriculture towards 2050. [Online] available at: https://www.fao.org/fileadmin/templates/wsfs/docs/expert_paper/How_to_Feed_the_World_in_2050.pdf
Herz, Manuel (2013) From Camp to City: Refugee Camps of the Western Sahara. Zurich: Lars Müller.
IPCC (2019) Climate Change and Land: an IPCC special report on climate change, desertification, land degradation, sustainable land management, food security, and greenhouse gas fluxes in terrestrial ecosystems. [Online] available at: https://www.ipcc.ch/srccl-report-download-page/.
Loewenberg, Samuel (2005) Displacement is permanent for the Sahrawi refugees. The Lancet, 365, pp. 1295-1296.
Roccaro, Daniele (2023) Importance of Self-built Temporary Spaces, Between Traditional and Transitory Architecture: The Saharawi Wilāyāt in the Algerian Desert. Journal of Traditional Building, Architecture and Urbanism, n. 4, pp. 294-310.
Wezel, Alexander et al. (2009) Agroecology as a science, a movement and a practice. A review. Agronomy for Sustainable Development, 29, 4, pp. 503-515.
Wilson, Alice. (2014) Ambiguities of Space and Control: When Refugee Camp and Nomad Encampment Meet. Nomadic Peoples, 18 (1), pp. 38–60.
| Keywords | Sustainable food supply; Agroecology; Hydroponics; Participatory processes, Self-built architecture. |
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| Best Congress Paper Award | Yes |
