Hani Sweilem: Egypt’s climate adaptation strategies are an extension of the COP27 recommendations
Hani Sweilem: EstersJEgypt’s approaches to climate adaptation are an extension of the recommendations ofCOP27
The American University in Cairoorganized an international conference entitled: “Working to Reduce Emissions Causing Climate Change”, in which Dr. Hani Sweilem, “Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation”, participated, highlighting the obstacles related to climate change facing the water sector; Pointing out that the stability of water resources is matched by an increase in population numbers, as the population of Egypt jumped from 27 million people in the 1960s to 105 million people today, a jump that expresses the extent of the effort exerted by the state in the field of water management.
Regarding this imbalance between population and water resources, Sweilem stated that Egypt’s water needs push us to address this imbalance by reusing water, or importing agricultural crops that cost the government huge amounts of money.
The Minister then reviewed the various climatic influences on the water sector, and among these influences were: rising temperatures and the accompanying increase in water consumption, and the decrease in the amount of rain falling in Egypt, especially in the last winter. Dr. Hani Sweilem added to these two effects: the intensification of flash floods that hit many governorates; This prompted the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation to establish 1,470 facilities to protect against the dangers of these floods. He also believed that the rise in sea level and marine cores in the Nile Delta and coastal areas is one of the climate influences that should be taken into account. For this last effect, Sweilem confirmed that the Ministry has carried out numerous works to protect the beaches, with lengths of up to 144 kilometers and 69 kilometers, using environmentally friendly materials.
The Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation added that these challenges prompted the Egyptian state to implement a number of strategies; So that it can deal with the increasing climate changes at the local level, then the international level, as these strategies were of great importance within the procedures for adapting to climate changes, taking into account the dimension of mitigating climate changes by reducing operational emissions issued by the elements of the water system.
The Ministry’s desire to implement these and similar strategies – according to the Minister’s confirmation – was so that the Egyptian projects would be in line with global adaptation and mitigation measures, as they are projects that have an effective contribution to achieving the goal of “NET ZERO emissions,” such as the canal rehabilitation project, which has reached 7,000 kilometers so far.
Regarding this project, Dr. Hani Sweilem confirmed that it is a rehabilitation project that has a major role in facilitating the procedures for delivering water to the ends of the canals. Hence, the number of hours of pumping surface groundwater wells (supplementary irrigation) is reduced, so that carbon dioxide emissions can – in the end – be reduced.
In the same context, he explained that the canal rehabilitation project could reach a length of 33 thousand kilometers, especially in the field of submersible weed removal, where the required water levels can be provided, thus improving the efficiency of operating water lifting stations and reducing their energy consumption. In addition to these benefits, such projects help expand the use of solar energy when raising underground well water. So that we can reduce harmful emissions, as well as work to increase crop production by maximizing their yield by expanding the use of modern irrigation systems.
On the other hand, Dr. Hani Sweilem – Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation – explained that Egyptian efforts to adapt and mitigate multiple climate changes are not limited to internal measures only, but there are other efforts at the global level, and this was evident in the success achieved through Egypt’s presidency of the last climate conference “COP27”, where The Egyptian government included water issues in climate conferences, and this was when water was referred to five times among the recommendations issued by the conference, in addition to launching the “AWARe” initiative, through which Egypt seeks to preserve water resources.
At the conclusion of his speech, Sweilem indicated that Egypt is currently working to support African cooperation in the field of water conservation, and this is through its current presidency of the Council of African Ministers of Water (AMCAW).
