Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad has highlighted green recovery issues during her virtual participation in a symposium organised by the Arab Office for Youth and Environment.
The symposium took place in cooperation with the Egyptian Forum for Sustainable Development, under the title “Restoring Ecosystems… Challenges and Solutions for Green Recovery”.
The virtual participation came as part of the celebration for World Environment Day, which is being held this year under the theme of restoring the ecosystem for the sake of nature.
During the symposium, Fouad stressed that the celebration for World Environment Day reflects the importance of the environment and the need to preserve it.
“Simple individual actions such as riding a bike, dimming the lights, reducing water consumption, and others in total contribute to preserving the environment,” she said.
The minister noted that the World Environment Day celebration is one of the most important environmental celebrations worldwide. Also of importance to Egypt is the government’s decision to place the environmental file on the agenda of political priorities.
She explained that the Egyptian government has realised the importance of the environment and the green economy.
The issue has become greater than any structural reforms, as President Abdel Fattah Al-Sisi has shown great interest in environmental topics. He has also directed that about half of the state’s projects should be green.
Fouad added that the general framework of the green recovery strategy has been completed, and that the novel coronavirus (COVID-19) pandemic has accelerated the process.
She noted that moving in the direction of green recovery will create a new market for supply and demand for a new type of non-traditional jobs based on modern technologies.
