Cité des Sciences hosts climate symposium on adaptation and innovation

The Cité des Sciences in Tunis, is hosting a climate symposium on Saturday as part of Tunisia's activities marking World Environment Day.

The symposium, titled "Climate: Rethink, Act, Innovate", is being held at the Cité des Sciences auditorium and Hall Al Khawarizmi from 08:30.

The programme combines lectures, workshops and exhibitions of environmental projects, with sessions on adaptation, resilience, innovation and the role of communities, according to organisers. Academics, public and private sector representatives, civil society organisations and young people have been invited to take part.

The symposium forms part of an international cooperation project, Saison méditerranéenne: Urgence environnementale (Mediterranean Season: Environmental Emergency), run with the Institut français de Tunis and several Tunisian scientific and research institutions.

World Environment Day is marked each year on 5 June. The 2026 global observance is hosted by Azerbaijan in Baku, under the theme "Inspired by Nature. For Climate. For Our Future."

For Tunisia, the subject is immediate. Climate change is increasingly present in debates on water cuts, food prices, farming output, public health, tourism, energy demand and urban planning.

The choice of the Cité des Sciences gives the symposium a public education dimension as well as a scientific one. The institution is one of Tunisia's main spaces for bringing science to wider audiences, especially students, families and young people.

The programme is expected to look beyond diagnosis and toward practical responses. In Tunisia, adaptation can include better water management, drought monitoring, climate smart agriculture, cleaner energy use, local resilience projects and stronger links between researchers, public institutions and communities.

The symposium also reflects a wider shift in how climate is discussed in the country. Once largely confined to specialist circles, the issue is now increasingly connected to daily life, from water availability and heatwaves to agriculture and coastal planning.

The symposium lasts a day. The pressures it addresses, on water, farming and heat, are now a permanent part of Tunisian life