ocr: Desertification is a serious problem in the Largely arid central and southern regions. However, the dominant environmentalissue is the rapid expansion oftourism since the 1980s.Large, insensitively designedhotel and resort developments, which do not : fit in with the local architecture, are spoiling coastal areas such as the Isle ofJerba and Hammamet. Tourism is also maling an impact on the fragile desert ecology ofthe south, previously protected by its isolatedposition.
