Environmental problems and endangered species.

Tunisia is undergoing rapid development. It has a range of environmental problems including soil erosion (Erosion threatens 76% of the nation's land area), limited water supply (only 58% of the people living in rural areas have pure drinking water), desertification, sedimentation and reduction in biological diversity (endangered species and ecosystems) that are partly caused by the climate and compounded by development processes such as industrialization, urbanization and population growth. Hence, Tunisia is suffering from an inevitable dilemma: environmental protection on the one hand and sustainable development on the other hand. In 2001, 11 of the nation's mammal species and 6 bird species were endangered (other species). Six types of plants were also endangered. Endangered species in Tunisia include the Barbary hyena, Barbary leopard, two species of gazelle (Cuvier's and slender-horned), the Mediterranean monk seal, Oryx, and Moroccan dorcas gazelle. The Bubal hartebeest has become extinct. The A World Wildlife Fund project succeeded in rescuing the Atlas deer from near extinction.