Effect of EU bilateral trade agreement on the sustainability of the Tunisian olive oil value chain

In regard to the Tunisian olive oil value chain, we start our report by studying the link between Tunisia's economy and the SDGs. Among these SDGs, number 2 (zero hunger) and number 6 (water issues) fall directly in the scope of our study. This focus on the SDGs is followed by a desk analysis where we go over Tunisia's olive oil bilateral trade with the EU, it's export channels and why the Deep and Comprehensive Free Trade Agreement (DCFTA) is still not ratified by still in discussion. Using OECD's Sustainability Impact Assessment (SIA) methodology, we look at the potential impacts that the implementation of the DCFTA could cause at the macroeconomy level, at the social and human rights level, on the environmental level and at the developmental level. We then study the Tunisia olive oil value chain. In doing so, we look at its overall structure, the olive tree cultivation systems, the water issues in Tunisia and the main strategies to overcome the problem of water scarcity. Finally, we conduct qualitative research by interviewing (semi-structured) four groups of stakeholders (government officials; national industry representatives, traders and processors; local civil societies and NGOs; and farmers' unions). Our aim is to have to study their discourse on the potential DCFTA and how it impacts the environment. Our findings in that in order to preserve sustainability, there should be a change on how Tunisia's olive oil is exported. Instead of mostly being sent in bulk to the UE to be bottled and branded as European olive oil, it should be directly bottled in Tunisia, certified organic and sold with a higher added value. However, as we see in our report, for many reasons this is not possible.