Egypt taking great strides towards sustainability, green economy

26 / 07 / 2020

By Marwa Nassar - -

Egypt has taken great strides towards green economy and sustainability in view of its efforts to encourage eco-tourism, promote biodiversity, reduce plastic waste and cut greenhouse gas emissions.

Egypt has been cherishing sustainability and this was greatly manifested in launching the Go Green Initiative and working to turn Sharm El Sheikh into a green city so that the Red Sea resort city will be the first green city in Egypt, the Arab world, the Middle East and Africa.

Sharm El Sheikh to become green soon:

Egypt has been taking great steps since 2019 to turn Sharm El Sheikh City in to a green city.

Egypt has joined hands with the United Nations Development Program (UNDP) to turn Sharm El Sheikh into a “green city.”

Earlier in July, South Sinai Governor Khaled Fouda said the Red Sea resort city of Sharm El Sheikh will turn green very soon.

This will lead to reducing greenhouse gas emissions in Sharm El Sheikh in addition efforts are underway for managing solid waste.

Preserving marine life is also a top priority.

About 33 programs are being implemented to promote the use of solar energy as well as clean transportation in addition to expanding use of bikes.Tourist launches will also be converted to be run by natural gas.

The state also plans to expand green areas throughout the city in addition to recycling waste and ditch plastic waste.

Within this context, the Red Sea governorate is seeking to disseminate awareness among people on the dangers of using plastic bags in view of their harmful impact on marine creatures.

The Red Sea governorate has worked on distributing bags made of paper and cloth at facilities and among citizens to encourage them to take the step so that the governorate will gradually get rid of plastic bags in line with the Environment Ministry’s plan.

Promoting eco-tourism and biodiversity:

Egypt has been also working to promoting eco-tourism and biodiversity.

This was manifested in upgrading the guide for granting Green Star Hotel Certificate in order to step up measures to protect biodiversity and marine life.

The “Green Star Hotel” (GSH) Program – which is meant to support Sustainable Tourism – is a national green certification and capacity-building program managed by the Egyptian Hotel Association (EHA) under the patronage of the Egyptian Ministry of Tourism.

The GSH program offers an opportunity for hotels operating in Egypt to be internationally recognized for raising their environmental performance and social standards while reducing their operational costs.

The certificate aims to support the use of renewable energy, especially the solar one, and commitment to sustainable development.

About 83 hotels have received the Green Star Hotel Certificate in Egypt in 2019.

The hotels holding the green certificates are located in Cairo, Ain Sokhna, Sharm el-Sheikh,Taba, Hurghada and Marsa Alam.

The Ministry of Tourism has joined hands with the Chamber of Tourism Establishments to encourage more hotels to become eco-friendly.

Upgrading protectorates, promoting biodiversity:

The Minister of Environment is working on developing natural protectorates in South Sinai in line with international standards.

The tourism Ministry is collaborating with the Ministries of Environment and Culture to up the number of natural protectorates to 40 instead of 27.

A mechanism will be laid down to pinpoint the activities allowed in the protectorates to maintain their wealth within the framework of promoting eco-tourism.

Protecting marine life is also top priority to Egypt:

Egypt has been the first country in its region and the 11th worldwide to officially adopt the international Green Fins Initiative which is a UN Environment initiative, internationally coordinated by The Reef-World Foundation, with an aims to protect and conserve coral reefs through environmentally friendly guidelines to promote a sustainable diving and snorkeling tourism industry.

Green Fins provides the only internationally recognized environmental standards for the diving and snorkeling industry and has a robust assessment system to measure compliance. Reducing diving and snorkeling-related damage to sensitive marine ecosystems, including coral reefs, helps to make them more resilient to other stressors such as those associated with climate change.

Green Fins encourages and empowers members of the diving industry to act to reduce the pressures on coral reefs by offering dive and snorkel companies practical, low-cost alternatives to harmful practices – such as anchoring, fish feeding and chemical pollution – as well as providing strategic support and resources. Members receive annual assessments, training and feedback to help them reduce their environmental impact in line with the Code of Conduct. By reducing the local direct and indirect pressures tourism puts on coral reefs, it helps make corals healthier and more resilient to other stressors such as the effects of climate change.

Ditching single-use plastic waste:

The Environment Ministry will also step up efforts to ditch the use of single-use plastic waste during safari tours and ensuring safe disposal of plastic waste during daily voyages and at tourist facilities.

Efforts are underway to replace plastic products with paper and cartoon products in addition to raising awareness among workers at tourist facilities about the importance of protecting the environment.

Within this context, a 10-day campaign was launched in June to recover plastic waste from the seabed of the Red Sea.

The campaign – which was the first of its kind – was spearheaded under the “Go Green” Initiative.

The campaign managed to retrieve 14 tons of plastic waste, including plastics, glass, metals and wood. The waste was disposed to a safe landfill.

Egypt’s largest mangrove planting project:

Moreover, Egypt has launched the largest mangrove planting project in the Red Sea governorate in February 2020.

The project falls within the framework of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi’s directives to expand environmental tourism projects and take advantage of natural reserves.

Four plant nurseries have been established for mangrove trees in the Safaga, Hamata, and Shalateen areas of the Red Sea Governorate, as well as the Nabaq nature reserve in South Sinai.

The nurseries have been built on a total area of 500 feddans and are set to produce 300,000 seedlings a year.

The project is one of a number of initiatives launched by Egypt to achieve sustainable development and reduce the negative impact of climate change, especially in promising tourist areas like the Red Sea, where luxury resorts and world-class diving opportunities remain an important draw for foreign travelers.

Egypt and the UNDP have also agreed to cooperate to build environment-friendly houses in Gharqana village of Nabq Protectorate within the framework of “Decent Life” Initiative.

Egypt’s “Go Green” Initiative serving SDGs:

Egypt’s launch of “Go Green” Initiative marked a step forward towards attaining the Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs).

The initiative – under the patronage of President Abdel Fattah El Sisi – was spearheaded during the 2020 celebrations of the national environment day.

The three-year initiative aims mainly at spreading awareness among people about the importance of changing their attitudes to save the environment.

The initiative was first mooted in 2019 and was launched after preparing needed strategy for implementing it.

The initiative aims at promoting the Egyptian economy, boosting competitiveness and creating jobs in addition to supporting Egypt to fulfill its regional and international undertakings under international conventions in order to achieve sustainability in using natural resources.

The several-stage initiative is meant to address 36 environmental issues. It will raise a different slogan every month according to the issue it is addressing, like ditching plastic waste, deforestation and cutting greenhouse gas emissions.

It also aims to incentivize youths to protect the environment and natural resources, especially curbing air pollution in order to attain Egypt’s strategic goal to reduce air pollution caused by solid particles by 50 percent in 2030.

Turning cars to use natural gas pivotal for combating climate change:

Egypt has been keen on curbing greenhouse gas emissions by launching an overture for turning vehicles from diesel oil to natural gas.

This will mark a breakthrough in serving the United Nations Sustainable Development Goals (SDGs) as this action will help reducing greenhouse gas emission (GHG), boosting green jobs, protecting environment, improving air quality, reducing oil consumption and promoting auto-feeding industry.

President Abdel Fattah El Sisi has recently unveiled state plans to allow licensing only new vehicles which operate with natural gas within the framework of commitment to the SDGs.

The state also plans to replace old cars which were manufactured more than 20 years ago under a national initiative for sustainable fuel in order to reduce pollution, improve people’s living conditions and boost auto-feeding industry.

Experts said that the cost of converting diesel oil cars to operate by natural gas stands at about EGP 8 billion within three years.

They said this will lead to cutting fuel consumption by 40 percent, adding that cars’ dependence on natural gas will up car’s engine’s capability by about 10 percent and extending the average lifespan of a car’s engine by 25 percent.

Turning cars to operate by natural gas is expected to boost local auto-feeding industry by 30 percent.

Egypt has been striving at all levels to attain sustainability goals, serve green economy and combat climate change which poses grave threat to the whole planet.