Hammamet, Tunisia: In the Tunisian seaside town of Hammamet, bulldozers diligently dump sand from the nearby desert onto a popular beach to prevent it from disappearing due to erosion.
“This beach is the postcard image of Hammamet,” said environmentalist Chiheb Ben Fredez, looking wistfully at the city's iconic Yasmin beach.
“It's been in our minds since our childhood,” he added, as workers worked to restore the central Tunisian waterfront to its former sandy glory.
Like many other coastal areas in North Africa, severe erosion has eroded Hammamet's sandy beaches in recent years, taking a toll on the holiday hotspot 65 kilometers (40 miles) east of the capital, Tunis.
Coastlines around the world are in constant natural flux, with seas claiming and depositing sediment.
But human activities, including coastal property development and offshore sand mining, significantly accelerate beach erosion.
Among other effects, construction and coastal protection in an area can prevent sediment from traveling along the coastline, leaving existing beaches deprived of new material.
Studies have also shown that the effects of climate change, including rising temperatures and sea levels, are increasing the incidence.
In the Mediterranean, where the British National Oceanography Center says sea level has risen at a higher rate in the past 20 years than in the entirety of the 20th century, shorelines are changing rapidly.
According to the United Nations, the ocean is also warming 20 percent faster than the rest of the world.
Tunisia's coastline has become a key asset for the Mediterranean country's struggling economy, as it aims to host around 10 million tourists this year.
Tourism accounts for up to 14 percent of the country's gross domestic product, providing thousands of jobs in a country where unemployment is 16 percent and 40 percent among youth.
Tunisia has already lost more than 90 kilometers of coastline to erosion, according to official figures from last year.
Of the country's 570 kilometers of sandy beaches suitable for swimming, 190 kilometers are at risk of disappearing, according to Tunisian reports.
Most of the beaches affected by erosion are near cities.
Tunisian environmental groups, as well as the government's Coastal Protection and Development Agency (APAL), blame the rapid erosion mainly on human activity and construction on the coast, which they say is exacerbated by climate change.
“Construction projects are not designed to respect coastal mobility,” an APAL official told AFP.
Authorities last month brought in about 750 lorries full of sand from the inland desert province of Cairo, some 110 kilometers away, to save Tunisia's worst-hit Hammamet beach, according to the World Bank.
APAL, run under the Ministry of Environment, was in a race against time to replenish the beach ahead of the peak tourist season.
But while beach restoration, known as beach nourishment, may be a quick fix, “it's not a sustainable solution,” said Ben Friedz.
“This sand cannot last for long,” added the general secretary of the Environment Education Association.
“It can be swallowed up in a few days by a storm,” he said, adding that the same was true in the summer of 2023.
The process can also prove costly.
Coastal authorities estimated the cost of 3.9 million Tunisian dinars ($1.25 million) to restore sand on three beaches in Hammamet, Monastir and Sfax.
But for locals, restoring their precious beach is worth the money.
Yasmin Beach is “a showcase for Hammamet,” said Narjes Bauskar, who runs the city's Menara Hotel and heads the regional hotel federation.
“We must take back our beaches that the sea swallows,” she said, calling for a balance between protecting the landscape, nurturing local and foreign visitors alike, and fighting coastal erosion.
She said, 'It is a priority for us not to touch the beauty of the city.
Bauskar said she has seen a growing awareness among officials, but filling beaches with sand is still a gamble.
“We don't know how the ocean will react,” he added.
