As part of the Nile Delta protection project, currently implemented by Egypt in cooperation with the Green Climate Fund (GCF), an affiliate of the Food and Agricultural Organization (FAO), a new detection system to monitor the impact of climate change along the Mediterranean shores is going to be established.
Mohamed Abdel Ati, minister of irrigation and water resources, assured in statements to media outlets on Monday that the new on-going project aims to reduce the impact of climate change on Egypt’s shores, especially after it became extremely noticeable during the past period.
Head of the Shores Protection Authority Mahmoud el-Saadi said in another statement on June 18 that the GCF’s fund for the project is the biggest grant Egypt has obtained to help adapt to climate change. Egypt’s Irrigation Ministry will contribute LE 140 million to the project.
Recently, several concerned voices have been raised demanding the government to take several serious steps regarding the climate change impact on Egypt’s environment.
In statements to Egypt Today last May, parliamentarians argued that the government needs to provide alternative agricultural crops which consume little water to decrease the lands’ damage. They also demanded developing different irrigation systems for fields and providing the needed instructions for farmers to protect their lands.
Parliamentarian Shereen Farag told Egypt Today that former Minister of Environment Khaled Fahmy needs to announce his plan regarding climate change effects on the agricultural lands, along with setting a proactive plan to deal with it in the early stages in the future.
“The government needs to take into its consideration climate change causes and study how it will affect our agriculture lands and accordingly our crop production,” Farag said, adding that the same demands have been issued earlier to the government; however nothing happened.
Egypt’s weather has been witnessing severe changes during the past period and varied between extreme cold and rain to sandstorms and high temperatures.
Last April, thunderous clouds and heavy rains were witnessed on the northern coast of Egypt, the Delta and Cairo, and showers were witnessed over the Red Sea mountain range, Sinai and some areas in the south.
Rainfall throughout the capital caused some buildings, houses and bridges to collapse; some governorates such as Suez, Ain Sokhna and Ismailia were also affected.
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