IUCN-Med has conducted a study that deals with the governance system of oases, with particular interest in Tunis question. It has been financed by UKAid, in the framework "Improvement of Governance of Natural Resources to Reduce Rural Poverty".

The results point out good governance as a key factor to this issue. Good governance involves the establishment of a legal framework that should be consistent and realistic with the management of these resources; the awareness of population in a rational employment of oasis and the improvement and impulse of NGO and local institutions competences to manage properly their natural resources.

Throughout this work, we have set three general objectives: to analyse the political and social conditions of the governance of natural resources in Tunis; to review the juridical and institutional aspects of the oasis systems in the country; and to identify the gaps and problems related to citizens participation in decision-making processes and in management of natural resources in oases.

This study also includes a general and regional analyse of governance in arid lands, as well as some recommendations to improve institutional work in the field of governance of natural resources in oases.

IUCN-Med is developing similar studies, with the support of the Spanish Agency for International Development Cooperation (AECID) in Morocco and Algeria, whose results will be the base to create a complete programme to support good governance in oases in these three countries.