Tunisian scientist and academic Semia Gharbi has just been awarded the Goldman Environmental Prize, often referred to as the « Green Nobel, » for the African continent. This prestigious recognition honors her efforts in 2022 to expose a waste trafficking network between Italy and Tunisia.
Gharbi, an environmental activist, played a key role in bringing the scandal to light. Her actions helped uncover a network involving over 40 corrupt officials and other individuals implicated in the illegal transfer of waste between the two countries. As a direct result of this exposure, 6,000 tons of illegally imported household waste were returned from Tunisia to Italy.
Following the case, the European Union strengthened its procedures and regulations regarding the transboundary movement of waste. It is worth noting that in Tunisia, in addition to national regulations, the export and import of waste are governed by the Bamako Convention, the Basel Convention, and EU policies. According to these agreements, sending waste to non-EU countries for landfilling is prohibited, and export is only permitted if the receiving country has the capacity and infrastructure to recycle the waste properly.
However, in 2020, the Organisation for Economic Co-operation and Development (OECD) estimated that wealthy countries were illegally exporting 1.7 billion tonnes of waste to developing nations as part of the global “waste trafficking” crisis.
A scientist and environmental educator, Semia Gharbi, 57, has more than 20 years of experience as an environmental protection activist. In 2011, she founded the Environmental Education Association for Future Generations, an NGO that works closely with Tunisia’s Ministry of Education to raise awareness about the risks of toxicity and hazardous chemicals.
She is also the MENA (Middle East and North Africa) regional coordinator for the International Pollutants Elimination Network (IPEN) and a co-founder of the Green Tunisia Network (RTV), a coalition of over 100 environmental organizations.
The Goldman Environmental Prize, established in 1989 by California philanthropists Rhoda and Richard Goldman, honors grassroots environmental heroes from each of the world’s six inhabited continental regions every year.
