Worsening drought in Tunisian wetlands disrupt migrating birds transit: Months of drought and a ferocious heatwave in Tunisia has left its Ariana lagoon parched, disrupting the flocks of migrating birds that use the wetlands as a transit between Africa and Europe, Reuters reports. Another nearby lagoon called Sijoumi — often more reliable than the Ariana lagoon — is also now half empty. Environmental activist Radhia Haddad and scientific coordinator of Tunisia's Bird Lovers Association Hicham Azafzaf both confirm that they have not seen the wetlands this dry in decades, the newswire notes.

Tunisia is located in an essential migrating route: “Tunisia is on the main migration route for hundreds of bird species and its large wetlands are a haven for wading birds that journey north across the Sahara or south from the Arctic and northern Europe,” Reuters writes. While birds usually lay their eggs on small islands in the lagoon, this year “there has been no nesting there at all,” Haddad says.

The country’s winters are becoming drier: Tunisia recorded the highest maximumtemperatures on record, reaching 49.0°C, on June 23. This poses a sign of much hotter summers to come, the newswire explains. “There are several species that no longer come to Tunisia in the winter,” Azafzaf said, adding that only 400-600 white fronted geese stopped at Ichkeul National Park west of Tunis this year, compared to some 30k in previous years.

Wetlands also help control extreme temperatures: Lagoons and other wetlands are important for human residents too, regulating temperature during heatwaves and helps avert dangerous floods by absorbing rainfall from sudden storms, the newswire explains.

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