Country

Algeria

Explore historical and projected climate data, climate data by sector, impacts, key vulnerabilities and what adaptation measures are being taken. Explore the overview for a general context of how climate change is affecting Algeria.

Adaptation

Algeria plans to develop a National Adaptation Plan giving priority to protecting the population and preserving natural resources and key infrastructure. The adaptation efforts will aim to reinforce ecosystems resilience from floods and droughts, fight against erosion and rehabilitate degraded land to combat desertification and integrate impact of climate change into sectoral strategies, political stability and national security. The country will also increase its efforts on water management, health services and assessment, climate smart agriculture.

Adaptation Options for Key Sectors

  • Improve collection and storage of rainwater at the watershed level.
  • Preserve vegetation cover forms to protect soils through the control of clearing and overgrazing, which render soils barren due to desertification.
  • Research drought-resistant and heat and salinity-tolerant crops.
  • Adapt farming practices, including changing cropping patterns, using crops with a shorter growing cycle or later maturing varieties, changing the cropping calendar, etc.
  • Enhance awareness and capacity building for farmers regarding the impacts of and adaptation to climate change.
  • Improve access to information and public awareness regarding forest protection.
  • Implement urban forest belts (belts and green spaces, plantation roads).
  • Strengthen the capacity of the forestry administration and ensure sustainability over time.
  • Intensify programs to reforest 14% of the northern part of the country.
  • Increase capability for desalinization of water, especially in coastal regions, using cogeneration technology. Proposed plants, for example in Arzew, would produce 180 megawatts and at the same time desalinize an estimated 40,000 cubic meters per day.
  • Improve water conservation by controlling water leakages.
  • Improve collection and storage of rainwater at the watershed level via re-vegetation techniques and intensive soil protection and restoration.
  • Invest in efficient irrigation systems (e.g., piped conveyance and distribution, pressurized irrigation and wastewater reuse).
  • Monitor groundwater use for supplementary irrigation.
  • Adopt integrated management of water resources at all levels (e.g., water resource evaluation and monitoring, infrastructure to encourage efficient and sustainable use, promotion of basin-level planning and management, and watershed management in key catchments).
  • Develop a progressive water pricing policy.
  • Modernize distribution networks in major urban coast centers to measure consumption and reduce losses due to water leaks.
  • Implement integrated coastal zone management programs.
  • Control urbanization and degradation of coastal areas.
  • Protect sensitive natural and cultural sites.

Gaps and Needs

  • Research is needed to better understand and manage local change and the impacts of climate change.
  • Further studies of dam sites and the design of new dams should consider future climate projections and extreme hydro-meteorological conditions.
  • Capacity should be built to use, modify and develop appropriate modelling, forecasting and decision support tools and software.
  • Existing coping mechanisms of communities to climate variability should be inventoried and experiences that can be replicated or scaled up identified.
  • Training is needed in technical and economic assessment of different options in response to climate change.
  • An improved knowledge base should be invested in related to hydro-meteorological data collection and analyses, forecasting and early warning systems with a robust dissemination strategy and the development of tools to guide decision making.
  • Robust data sets should be developed for regional and seasonal modeling and for forecasting through the interpolation of rainfall and temperature data from satellites, such as METEOSTAT.
  • A national Geographical Information System (GIS) could facilitate improved data analysis, sharing and coordination to provide information to facilitate quicker decision making.
  • A system of hydrological forecasts tailored to the specific characteristics of various watersheds of the country should be developed.