Egypt’s Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation has spent over EGP 560m in the past nine months on building protective constructions to keep Egyptian shores safe. The projects come amid an accelerating erosion process and a sea level rise (SLR).
The protective constructions include nourishing the beaches with sand, concrete pilings, and submerged breakwaters. The measures taken were in accordance with the nature of each zone, the conditions of sea currents, and erosion and sedimentation processes, said Chief of the Egyptian Public Authority for Shore Protection (ESCWA) Ashour Abdul Kareem.
The ESCWA monitors climate change and builds protections to preserve the coastline from a sea level rise which potentially put residential areas and agricultural lands at risk.
In a statement Sunday, the ministry said that of the amount invested so far, EGP 310m went towards protecting the coastal zone in Alexandria, one of the regions in Egypt most affected by SLR.
The ESCWA has also conducted EGP 41m worth of protection works in Kafr El-Sheikh governorate. This comes as part of the $2m grant which the ministry obtained from the Green Climate Fund last year.
The grant has been allocated to the Enhancing Climate Change Adaptation in the North Coast and Nile Delta Regions of Egypt Project.
