Promoting Peri-urban Agriculture: A Remedy for Climate Change. Case of the Town of Delly Brahim in Algiers

Abstract

The issue of promoting peri-urban agriculture seems to be an important one in response to the various current concerns about the future of cities in the face of climate change. At first glance, these urban and peri-urban agricultural areas, which in the past served as a shelter for cities, are now threatened and increasingly losing their function of protecting urban areas from climatic hazards. This question is a priority when considering the future of agriculture in the context of urban expansion. We are therefore raising a number of concerns linked to multiple issues: significant reduction of land available for local agriculture, accelerated degradation of the city's natural environment, fragmentation of ecosystems, and deterioration of air and water quality. Around these questions, this research is structured to provide theoretical and practical knowledge that will enable us to place urban and peri-urban agriculture at the heart of urban concerns, in a perspective of reaction to climate change. The interest of this work is reinforced in the case of peri-urban areas surrounding the capital of Algeria, Algiers, such as the commune of Delly Brahim: a concrete example of a territory concerned by the subject. On the one hand, this periphery boasts important agricultural production zones in close geographical proximity to the capital Algiers, and on the other, it plays a fundamental economic, environmental, and landscape role in relation to its region. Between its dense urban residential areas, agricultural lands, and natural areas rich in resources, this territory is today confronted with numerous environmental vulnerabilities. The aim is therefore to examine the issue of preserving the agricultural sector and its role in mitigating climate change. This study is based on data collected in 2020 to analyze the current and future dynamics of these territories.

Keywords

• Climate change
• Urban and peri-urban agriculture
• Delly Brahim
• Local Agricultural practices
• adaptation strategies