Lake Ichkeul () is a

lake A lake is often a naturally occurring, relatively large and fixed body of water on or near the Earth's surface. It is localized in a basin or interconnected basins surrounded by dry land. Lakes lie completely on land and are separate from ...

in northern

Tunisia Tunisia, officially the Republic of Tunisia, is a country in the Maghreb region of North Africa. It is bordered by Algeria to the west and southwest, Libya to the southeast, and the Mediterranean Sea to the north and east. Tunisia also shares m ...

, located 20 kilometres (12 miles) to

Bizerte Bizerte (, ) is the capital and largest city of Bizerte Governorate in northern Tunisia. It is the List of northernmost items, northernmost city in Africa, located north of the capital Tunis. It is also known as the last town to remain under Fr ...

, the northernmost city in Africa on the

Mediterranean Sea The Mediterranean Sea ( ) is a sea connected to the Atlantic Ocean, surrounded by the Mediterranean basin and almost completely enclosed by land: on the east by the Levant in West Asia, on the north by Anatolia in West Asia and Southern Eur ...

. The lake and

wetlands A wetland is a distinct semi-aquatic ecosystem whose groundcovers are flooded or saturated in water, either permanently, for years or decades, or only seasonally. Flooding results in oxygen-poor ( anoxic) processes taking place, especially ...

of Ichkeul National Park are an important stopping-over point for hundreds of thousands of

migrating birds Migration, migratory, or migrate may refer to: Human migration * Human migration, physical movement by humans from one region to another ** International migration, when peoples cross state boundaries and stay in the host state for some minimum le ...

each year. Among the lake's visitors are

duck Duck is the common name for numerous species of waterfowl in the family (biology), family Anatidae. Ducks are generally smaller and shorter-necked than swans and goose, geese, which are members of the same family. Divided among several subfam ...

geese A goose (: geese) is a bird of any of several waterfowl species in the family Anatidae. This group comprises the genera '' Anser'' (grey geese and white geese) and ''Branta'' (black geese). Some members of the Tadorninae subfamily (e.g., Egyp ...

stork Storks are large, long-legged, long-necked wading birds with long, stout bills. They belong to the family Ciconiidae, and make up the order Ciconiiformes . Ciconiiformes previously included a number of other families, such as herons and ibise ...

s, and pink flamingoes.

Dam A dam is a barrier that stops or restricts the flow of surface water or underground streams. Reservoirs created by dams not only suppress floods but also provide water for activities such as irrigation, human consumption, industrial use, aqua ...

construction on the lake's feeder rivers has produced major changes to the

ecological Ecology () is the natural science of the relationships among living organisms and their environment. Ecology considers organisms at the individual, population, community, ecosystem, and biosphere levels. Ecology overlaps with the closely re ...

balance of the lake and wetlands.

History

In the reign of the

Hafsid dynasty The Hafsid dynasty ( ) was a Sunni Muslim dynasty of Berbers, Berber descentC. Magbaily Fyle, ''Introduction to the History of African Civilization: Precolonial Africa'', (University Press of America, 1999), 84. that ruled Ifriqiya (modern day Tu ...

, Lake Ichkuel was a reserve during the 13th century. It later became the property of the public domain in the early 20th century during French rule. Since 1980, it has been a

UNESCO World Heritage Site World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an treaty, international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural ...

. Because dams have sharply reduced the freshwater inflow to the lakes and

marsh In ecology, a marsh is a wetland that is dominated by herbaceous plants rather than by woody plants.Keddy, P.A. 2010. Wetland Ecology: Principles and Conservation (2nd edition). Cambridge University Press, Cambridge, UK. 497 p More in genera ...

es, the

reedbed A reedbed or reed bed is a natural habitat found in floodplains, waterlogged depressions and estuaries. Reedbeds are part of a succession from young reeds colonising open water or wet ground through a gradation of increasingly dry ground. As ...

sedges The Cyperaceae () are a family of graminoid (grass-like), monocotyledonous flowering plants known as sedges. The family is large; botanists have described some 5,500 known species in about 90 generathe largest being the "true sedges" (genu ...

, and other fresh-water plant species have been replaced with salt-loving plants. These changes have produced a sharp reduction in the migratory bird populations, which depend on the mix of plants that used to exist. According to the UNESCO Website, the Tunisian government has undertaken some steps to retain

freshwater Fresh water or freshwater is any naturally occurring liquid or frozen water containing low concentrations of dissolved salts and other total dissolved solids. The term excludes seawater and brackish water, but it does include non-salty mi ...

and reduce

salinity Salinity () is the saltiness or amount of salt (chemistry), salt dissolved in a body of water, called saline water (see also soil salinity). It is usually measured in g/L or g/kg (grams of salt per liter/kilogram of water; the latter is dimensio ...

, and the lake was removed from UNESCO's list of World heritage in danger in 2006. However some reports from the

World Conservation Union The International Union for Conservation of Nature (IUCN) is an international organization working in the field of nature conservation and sustainable use of natural resources. Founded in 1948, IUCN has become the global authority on the statu ...

suggest that the salinity has already become excessively high and the possibility for rehabilitation may be rapidly disappearing.

Ichkeul National Park

Ichkeul National Park is a World Heritage Site located in the north of

, 25 km southwest of

and 15 km north of

Mateur Mateur ( ') is a town in northern Tunisia. It is located at around , close to the Lac Ichkeul National Park. Overview Located in the southwest of the governorate of Bizerte, Mateur is the county seat of a delegation of 61,919 inhabitants (2 ...

. The park has been on the

UNESCO The United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO ) is a List of specialized agencies of the United Nations, specialized agency of the United Nations (UN) with the aim of promoting world peace and International secur ...

list of

World Heritage Sites World Heritage Sites are landmarks and areas with legal protection under an international treaty administered by UNESCO for having cultural, historical, or scientific significance. The sites are judged to contain "cultural and natural heritag ...

since 1980, and between 1996 and 2006 the park has also been on the group's

list of World Heritage in Danger The List of World Heritage in Danger is compiled by the United Nations Educational, Scientific and Cultural Organization (UNESCO) through the World Heritage Committee according to Article 11.4 of the World Heritage Convention,Full title: ''Conv ...

. The park is managed by the Tunisian Ministry of Agriculture. The flowering plant Nabli found only in Tunisia was harvested in 1965 in the Park.

Gallery

Image:Parcichkeul3.jpg, View of Ichkeul National Park Image:Ichkeul002.jpg, Lake landscape Image:Ichkeul003.jpg, Lakefront

References

External links

UNESCO website

ACST Photos: Exploring Lak Ichkeul

National Aeronautics and Space Administration
{{authority control Bizerte

Ichkeul Lake Ichkeul () is a lake in northern Tunisia, located 20 kilometres (12 miles) to Bizerte, the northernmost city in Africa on the Mediterranean Sea. The lake and wetlands of Ichkeul National Park are an important stopping-over point for hundreds ...

National parks of Tunisia World Heritage Sites in Tunisia Biosphere reserves of Tunisia Protected areas established in 1980 Archaeological sites in Tunisia Ramsar sites in Tunisia World Heritage Sites in Danger