It may be so for the expats and investors but definitely not for the people living in Cairo and Alex and already suffering from pollution, congestion, and more. “Swiss urban sociologist, Jerome Chenal, told Afrique Mediterranee Business, the Paris-based magazine that commissioned the study that “until now, rankings for Africa were done for investors and expatriates”. “We never asked how people lived, whether young or old, rich or poor,” Chental told AFP.”  

https://vimeo.com/180717384

  STAT AMOUNT DATE RANK HISTORY CO2 Emissions per 1000 1.83 2003 89th out of174 Climate change > CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production, total >Million metric tons 86.05 2011 25th out of137 Climate change > CO2 emissions from electricity and heat production, total >Million metric tons per million 1.08 2011 76th out of137 Current issues agricultural land being lost to urbanization and windblown sands; increasing soil salination below Aswan High Dam; desertification; oil pollution threatening coral reefs, beaches, and marine habitats; other water pollution from agricultural pesticides, raw sewage, and industrial effluents; limited natural fresh water resources away from the Nile, which is the only perennial water source; rapid growth in population overstraining the Nile and natural resources 2011 Ecological footprint 1.7 2000 81st out of141 Marine fish catch 155,133 tons 1999 47th out of139 Pollution perceptions > Air pollution 82.86 2014 3rd out of59 Pollution perceptions > Air quality 17.14 2014 57th out of59 Pollution perceptions >Clean water 27.78 2014 49th out of59 Pollution perceptions >Drinking water pollution 61.81 2014 9th out of59 Pollution perceptions >Drinking water quality 38.19 2014 51st out of59 Pollution perceptions >Noise and light pollution 75 2014 2nd out of59 Pollution perceptions >Water pollution 72.22 2014 11th out of59 Proportion of land area under protection 11.23% 2012 122nd out of 217 Transport CO2 emission index 12,633.71 2014 1st out of38

Egypt: The question of the environment On the occasion of World Environment Day (WED), Daily New Egypt examines the status of environmental rights in Egypt, the main environmental challenges, and the government’s strategies regarding the environment. Sarah El Masry June 5, 2013 Rubbish accumulating to form piles on the roads of Cairo; a source of organic waste that remains unutilised. (Photo by Hassan Ibrahim ) Since 5 June 1973, the world has been commemorating efforts exerted to raise awareness about environmental issues. The day is supported and its activities are organised globally by the United Nations Environment Programme. Each year a theme is chosen to raise awareness about a particular environmental issue and for the year 2013, the theme is an “anti-food waste and food loss campaign that encourages reducing your ‘foodprint’”. This year the celebration event will be hosted by Mongolia with the slogan “Think, Eat, and Save”. For the occasion, the Ministry of Environmental Affairs has organised a contest for children and adults in addition to sponsoring several other activities such as marathons to raise awareness about environmental issues in Egypt. However, with Egypt facing the recent Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam crisis with Ethiopia, many questions about Egypt’s environmental policies have been raised. Is the environment a priority for the current government? How is the current regime planning to deal with environmental issues in Egypt? And how effective are the current policies? Environmental challenges in Egypt According to the World Health Organisation (WHO), the latest samples taken from sewage water in two areas of Greater Cairo in December 2012 were positive for poliomyelitis, a disease Egypt fought in the past previously managed to stop spreading in 2004. The WHO also reported that Egypt’s annual mean of the concentration of particulate matter is 138 PM10 ug/m3 which ranks Egypt as the country with the sixth (out of 91 sampled countries) most harmful air which may result in respiratory diseases. “Unfortunately, we suffer from much pollution in three of the main environmental components; air, water and food,” says Salah El-Haggar, a professor of energy and sustainable development and the chairman of the Mechanical Engineering Department at the American University in Cairo. “Pollution in the air coming from car exhausts and rubbish and agricultural waste burning is so severe. For the water, we face major problems especially in rural areas where sewage treatment facilities are not established and therefore the people throw their sewage in the water canals. As a result, the drinking water and the soil are polluted. Our usage of chemical fertilisers and pesticides and using sewage water as a source for neutrons and land reclamation contaminate crops with harmful chemicals and microbes coming from sewage water.” El Haggar believes that the impact of pollution in these three elements is gravely affecting public health. The proof is how the Egyptian society is plagued with Hepatitis A, B and C, kidney failure and cancer. The persistency of pollution endangers and threatens Egypt’s public health by bringing back diseases the country previously thought were eradicated. Hesham Zayed is the president of the Egyptian Green Party. Established since 1990, the party has been working on and lobbying for several environmental issues such as clearing landmines near Egypt’s North Coast. The party is a political movement charged by a holistic environmental vision for Egypt which they believe the Egyptian government has lacked for years. “Energy and water should be the priority of this government because we [the Green Party] believe that every society is dependent on energy, water and human beings. We have the human element, but the other two are completely mismanaged,” says Zayed. ) Lacking environmental rights The “developed” world with the cooperation from “developing” countries has signed protocol, agreements and treaties under the umbrella of the United Nations in order to ensure environmental rights for the world’s citizens. Today, these rights are equated to guaranteed human rights that countries try to achieve. Environmental rights stipulate the right of everyone to a healthy, unspoiled and sustainable environment that will help realise food security, the right to water and the right to sustainable livelihood. For one environmental researcher, this doesn’t necessarily translate into what is happening in Egypt “For me environmental rights entail equitable sharing of resources and in Egypt the sharing equation is always skewed in favour of investors,” says Reem Labib, an environmental justice researcher at the Egyptian Initiative for Personal Rights (EIPR). “The community where industrial projects are established are the ones who bear the grunt and the impact without many of the benefits.” Labib cites a stark example for how projects impact communities negatively. A new nuclear plant being promoted by the current government is planned to be constructed in El Dab’ah in the west of the North Coast. The government called it a “national project” and therefore the land for the project was taken away from the original inhabiting community. “This land has been owned by the Bedouins for 30 years, it’s the land of their ancestors. It has been stripped away from them with no proper compensation yet. That’s why the community mobilised against this injustice,” Labib says. Labib explains that before any project takes place, there is an environmental assessment that is carried out to guarantee the community and environment are not harmed by the project. “If the project is big, there is usually a public hearing. However, it is cosmetic. Sometimes it is announced a day before the hearing or even hours ahead which result in very low turnout,” she elaborates. Mohamed El Zayyat, an engineer at an environmental consultancy firm approved by the Egyptian Environmental Affairs Agency (EEAA) to conduct environmental impact assessments (EIAs), disagrees with Labib’s negative perspective on governmentally approved EIAs. “Conducting EIAs is a commitment on the EEAA and they always have comments for the projects and sometimes they disapprove projects if its activity could be or are detrimental to the environment and the surrounding community,” he explains. “The EEAA also regularly monitors some projects such as cement factories which produce some of the most harmful air pollutants. From my work, I have seen fines imposed on factories,” he adds. However with the lack of environmental rights, Labib believes that the government will not be able to face the challenges at hand. There needs to be change in the way policies are shaped, she says. “From looking at the direction Egypt is going, the country is following the same economic policies that favour profitability more than sustainability,” Labib says “This has not changed since the revolution despite many being optimistic about it. For example, there is no serious effort from the government to shift from a fossil-fuel driven economy.” To Labib, the “problem is that we use a political discourse that perceives the environment to be separate from the rest of the system. However, the environment is directly related to public policy, politics and the economy. In addition to the limited conversation about environmentalism in public discourse, Labib believes “transparency, accountability and participation to solve the [environmental] issues… are missing from every level within civil and public society.” A picture shows the polluted Great Temple of Ptah in the Mit Rahina village (Memphis) near Giza, 35 kms south of Cairo (October 26, 2010) (AFP Photo/Khaled Desouki) Is the environment a priority for the current the government? “No,” says Zayed. “The government is bankrupt; they have no vision for anything. No political vision, no environmental vision, nothing really and that is why they are failing.” According to Zayed, when the constitution was in the making, almost every political party, regardless of their different political ideologies, sat together with the current government to raise awareness about the environmental rights deserved by all Egyptians. “They adopt environmental rights in principle and refer to them in the constitution, without referring to which governmental bodies are held accountable. This makes the constitution vague,” the Green Party leader says. “The word ‘sustainability’ is thrown in [the constitution] in a general way with no specific context. We raised our issues with the draft to the Constituent Assembly, but the assembly did not care about content of the draft; they only cared that it was passed and approved,” Zayed explains. The proof Zayed uses to show the government’s misdirection, lack of vision and mismanagement of environment issues is a confrontation between the government and civil society regarding the construction of the nuclear power plant in Al Dab’ah. Like EIPR, the Green Party and other environmental specialists completely oppose the project for its lack of economic viability due to importing nuclear fuel and the difficulty of disposing nuclear waste. “I do not know why we resort to a nuclear solution while we have the wind and the sun; both are economically less costly, renewable and clean,” Zayed says. “The government has starting selling the nuclear dream to the people as if it’s the magical solution to Egypt’s problems, while in fact it’s catastrophic for Egypt, especially since the country possesses safer alternatives.” Zayed infers that the project is merely a political move to improve the image to raise the popularity of the regime. In response to the government’s nuclear plans, the Green Party started a campaign to raise awareness about the plant and its financial and environmental costs, and Zayed says he is confident public awareness of the project has increased as a result of the campaign. Burning hay in a field close to the Nile delta town of Zagazig, 90 kms north of Cairo is a serious source of environmental pollution in Egypt. The WHO also reported that Egypt’s annual mean of the concentration of particulate matter in the air is 138 PM10 ug/m3 which puts Egypt in the sixth rank among 91 sampled countries. (AFP Photo/Cris Bouroncle) Possible solutions? Many governmental bodies have been designated to handle environmental issues such as the Ministry of Environmental Affairs and its executive substructure the EEAA, the Ministry of Agriculture and Land Reclamation, the Ministry of Electricity and Energy, and the Ministry of Local Governance. Labib believes having two ministries such as EEAA and the Ministry of Local Governance conducting EIAs for construction and engineering projects makes the mandate of the EEAA weak and leaves room for corruption and laxity. El Haggar, on the other hand, believes that each governmental body has a certain responsibility, but there needs to be mechanisms that ensure these responsibilities are carried out. According to the professor, the government has a few plans and solutions to the environmental issues that plague the country. The first, he says, is in law enforcement. He believes that Egypt has drafted and passed into law more than enough environmental regulations since 1967. “Our problem is enforcement. I would say 60-70% of environmental regulations are not enforced. I think enforcement is the first step to reform the system,” the sustainable development professor says. “There isn’t enough awareness about the importance of enforcing environmental regulations, and the impact of implementing them is not clear to the public. By enforcing the laws, we do not mean just punishing violations, but also providing incentives.” According to El Haggar, the government under the Ministry of Local Governance has launched a new initiative to jumpstart the organic fertilisers industry in Egypt. Although the industry is already there on a very limited basis, the initiative intends to spread it on a wider scale, in the hope that these organic fertilisers replace chemical ones. El Haggar, who has been providing technical support for the project, is optimistic about the expected benefits of utilising organic fertilisers. He believes that the excess organic waste that pollutes Egypt could be turned into an opportunity to make some money. “Not only will the initiative benefit crop yields, but if we used organic waste to produce organic fertilisers, the cost will be less because we will stop importing chemical fertilisers,” he says. “With excess organic waste we can export fertilisers in the future. It will lessen soil degradation, create job opportunities and most importantly improve public health because the quality of crops will rise. This will happen without any economic burden to the government.” He adds that for the success of any efforts in the environmental sector “we need to work with the government because when it comes to the interest of the country all stakeholders must be at the negotiation table. We have to cooperate, network, put political differences aside and come up with the best solutions to solve environmental challenges.” Zayed is less confident in the government’s ability to collaborate with diverse facets of society. “The average Egyptian is not even part of the equation for this regime,” he says. “Unless this is changed, sitting with a government that does not listen to anything but its own voice is futile.”

Since family is the main unit in societies, focusing on reducing waste in each family will be a smart move that will be beneficial on environmental and economical levels. https://www.youtube.com/watch?time_continue=8&v=CSUmo-40pqA

Courtesy: www.shutterstock.com Jano Charbel March 16, 2017 Egypt’s fresh water is decreasing at alarming rates, and the country will face nationwide shortages by 2025, according to a report published in the Geological Society of America’s May issue. The report forecasts that dwindling freshwater supplies and the increasing salinity level of the Nile Delta’s agricultural land threaten to make the country uninhabitable by 2100. The non-profit US organization’s report attributes these changes to the effects of climate change and increased human activity near the Nile in recent decades, including the construction of dams on the river in Egypt and in Ethiopia. “A minimal relative sea-level rise of ~100 cm is predicted between now and the year 2100 at the Nile delta’s coast,” the report reads. If the prediction is accurate, the new sea level will be approximately one meter higher than the average sea level along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast, which, in addition to land subsidence and salinification of agricultural lands in the Nile Delta, will likely have a significant impact on Egypt’s population, agricultural production and the overall habitability. “It is not necessarily the case that whole towns and cities along Egypt’s Mediterranean coast will be underwater, but seeping seawater and the increasing salinity of soils may make the area uninhabitable,” Ahmed al-Droubi, an environmentalist and coordinator for the Egyptians Against CoalCampaign, tells Mada Masr. Droubi argues that a one-meter sea level increase could result in the loss of approximately a third of the Nile Delta’s arable land, a development that would place a further strain on Egypt’s dependence on foreign sources, as the country currently importing around 50 percent of its food. A January report issued by the Bank Information Center estimated that rising sea levels in the Nile Delta could displace over 2 million people. While many of the predications carry grave future developments, incremental changes are already being observed.  The GSA report asserts that soil in the delta region is being submerged at a rate of 1 cm each year due to rising sea levels, coupled with land subsidence and sediment compaction, and that the intrusion of seawater is already resulting in highly saline soils along the northern portion of the Nile Delta. Most of the fresh water that reaches the Nile Delta is diverted and channeled into complex and inefficient networks for the distribution of agricultural water. Open irrigation networks continue to result in a high rate of evaporation of the Nile’s fresh water, a notable fact as a report issued by the Irrigation Ministry states that agriculture accounts for around 85 percent of Egypt’s water consumption. Less than 10 percent of the Nile water flow currently exits into the Mediterranean Sea from Egypt’s northern coast, according to the GSA report. This outflow is “a mostly saline and highly polluted aqueous mix,” which means there is little replenishment of soil sediments, rendering agriculture largely unviable. Droubi says the amount of fresh water available in Egypt “may drastically fluctuate” in the coming decades due to factors like global warming and rising ocean temperatures, compounded by the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam on the Blue Nile. “There may be a 50 percent decrease in the fresh water available to us. These figures are not yet confirmed, but there will be a great deal of variability and unpredictability,” Droubi says. “This would make agricultural planning difficult or unsustainable in the future.” The GSA report pays particular attention to the construction of dams along the Nile as a causal factor in the current situation and future challenges. Construction of the Aswan High Dam in the 1960s and the Old Aswan Dam decades earlier have served to lessen the quality and quantity of soil nutrients reaching the Nile Delta, according to the report, which adds that the construction of the Grand Ethiopian Renaissance Dam will impact the flow of the Nile River to Egypt even further. Estimated to be completed later this year, the new Ethiopian dam may drastically reduce Egypt’s access to Nile water – perhaps by as much as 25 percent – over a time period just over five years, during which the dam’s 74-billion-cubic-meter reservoir will be filled to its capacity. There are also talks to build further dams further upstream in Sudan. The GSA projects that Egypt will be beset by a country-wide fresh water and energy shortage as early as 2025. Chronic water shortages have already been noted in some areas of Egypt in recent years.

الالتزام البيئي سياتي من تغليظ العقوبات وتنفيذها على المخالفين بيئيا لعقوبات تصل لغلق المحلات او المصانع وسجن صاحبها وتغريمه مخالفات مالية عند التنفيذ بالمساواة على الجميع يكون احترام القانون والبيئة امر لا تهاون فيه وبالتالي تبدأ اليئة فى التحسن شئيا فشيئا

يمكن تنمية وتطوير المدن منم الناحية البيئة عن طريق زيادة الوعي والتدريب علي كيفية الحفاظ علي البيئة بالاضافة الي الاهتمام بالمناهج الدراسية التي تربي الاطفال الصغار علي حب الحفاظ علي البيئة

I think the answer to many of the environmental problems that we face in Egypt revolves around changing the perspectives and mindsets. Methodology of finding solutions: We need proper data on the causes of pollution with percentages to find out what are the bigger polluters so we efficiently use our resources in tackling those causes. No need to work on a specific polluter if its effect on the environment is minimal in comparison with the other polluters. Cost, Short Term v. Long term.

Instead of just thinking about the ways to decrease sources of pollution, we should also think about how to purify the existing air. Trees are a great source of oxygen and naturally break down CO2, which is what we really need now. They also add beauty to our surroundings. I think that we need to make a nationwide program in schools where every student in every school in the country must plant a tree each year for the next 20 years. Students should be encouraged to plant trees that produce fruits and vegetables so that they not only purify the air but help solve our growing malnutrition problem. Students will continue to take care of the trees they plant over the years, so that they learn about agriculture as an educational exercise but also so that they nurture a relationship with the trees and feel personally responsible for the trees to ensure their proper growth.  

Public service officers are usually slow typists who are using PCs the same way they use pen-and-paper. Thus, it takes the same number of steps - if not more - to accomplish something using technology as it does manually. Thousands of hours are lost every day from citizens trying to get basic paper work done at الشهر العقاري and other . In addition to PCs representing a challenge, there are major inefficiencies linked to machines. At the metro stations, ticket machines are broken, for example. Instead of fixing them, you have appointed supervisors whose only job is ensuring that people passing the machines have tickets.

Government offices should not be all in the same city or neighborhood as it is the case, for example, with شهادة التحركات from مجمع التحرير . Instead, there should be "government kiosks" available in every neighborhood that offer public services.

I recognize the increasing numbers of cancer victims, and the very low health levels in Egypt. and I assume that this is because of the polluted atmosphere in Egypt. but as Egypt is still a developing country and is not an industrial culture yet, so I believe that factories and industries are not the main source of pollution with the highest influence on the Egyptians life standers. even thought we don't use the best practices and we harm and damage our environment and their for our life standards. I believe that the quality of food and water we consume on standard levels are the basic reasons of the decrease on the general health levels in Egypt. 1. the irresponsible use of chemical fertilizers in farming, and the absence of related authorities monitoring on the use of these poisons. 2. the acceptance in the lows that allowed beverage and food manufacturers to use artificial colors, taste and smell additives.  

الالتزام البيئي سياتي من تغليظ العقوبات وتنفيذها على المخالفين بيئيا لعقوبات تصل لغلق المحلات او المصانع وسجن صاحبها وتغريمه مخالفات مالية عند التنفيذ بالمساواة على الجميع يكون احترام القانون والبيئة امر لا تهاون فيه وبالتالي تبدأ اليئة فى التحسن شئيا فشيئا

يمكن تنمية وتطوير المدن منم الناحية البيئة عن طريق زيادة الوعي والتدريب علي كيفية الحفاظ علي البيئة بالاضافة الي الاهتمام بالمناهج الدراسية التي تربي الاطفال الصغار علي حب الحفاظ علي البيئة

I think the answer to many of the environmental problems that we face in Egypt revolves around changing the perspectives and mindsets. Methodology of finding solutions: We need proper data on the causes of pollution with percentages to find out what are the bigger polluters so we efficiently use our resources in tackling those causes. No need to work on a specific polluter if its effect on the environment is minimal in comparison with the other polluters. Cost, Short Term v. Long term.

Instead of just thinking about the ways to decrease sources of pollution, we should also think about how to purify the existing air. Trees are a great source of oxygen and naturally break down CO2, which is what we really need now. They also add beauty to our surroundings. I think that we need to make a nationwide program in schools where every student in every school in the country must plant a tree each year for the next 20 years. Students should be encouraged to plant trees that produce fruits and vegetables so that they not only purify the air but help solve our growing malnutrition problem. Students will continue to take care of the trees they plant over the years, so that they learn about agriculture as an educational exercise but also so that they nurture a relationship with the trees and feel personally responsible for the trees to ensure their proper growth.  

Public service officers are usually slow typists who are using PCs the same way they use pen-and-paper. Thus, it takes the same number of steps - if not more - to accomplish something using technology as it does manually. Thousands of hours are lost every day from citizens trying to get basic paper work done at الشهر العقاري and other . In addition to PCs representing a challenge, there are major inefficiencies linked to machines. At the metro stations, ticket machines are broken, for example. Instead of fixing them, you have appointed supervisors whose only job is ensuring that people passing the machines have tickets.

Government offices should not be all in the same city or neighborhood as it is the case, for example, with شهادة التحركات from مجمع التحرير . Instead, there should be "government kiosks" available in every neighborhood that offer public services.

I recognize the increasing numbers of cancer victims, and the very low health levels in Egypt. and I assume that this is because of the polluted atmosphere in Egypt. but as Egypt is still a developing country and is not an industrial culture yet, so I believe that factories and industries are not the main source of pollution with the highest influence on the Egyptians life standers. even thought we don't use the best practices and we harm and damage our environment and their for our life standards. I believe that the quality of food and water we consume on standard levels are the basic reasons of the decrease on the general health levels in Egypt. 1. the irresponsible use of chemical fertilizers in farming, and the absence of related authorities monitoring on the use of these poisons. 2. the acceptance in the lows that allowed beverage and food manufacturers to use artificial colors, taste and smell additives.