Egypt’s Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad, Minister of Local Development Mahmoud Shaarawy, and Minister of Agriculture and Land Reclamation Elsayed Elkosayer, have held an extensive meeting to discuss preparations to face air pollution, especially black clouds, during 2021.
During the meeting, Fouad praised the success achieved by the government in confronting black clouds during the past year, thanks to the integration and joint coordination between all concerned ministries and authorities. She noted that the government succeeded in transforming this great challenge into an economic opportunity that generates financial returns.
The Minister of Environment added that the country avoided 25,000 tonnes of air pollutants in 2020, as the number of hours for monitoring air quality has been increased for 2019 and 2020 compared to 2015, which represents the base year according to the strategy of Egypt Vision 2030.
She hailed the coordination with the Ministry of Agriculture and the Ministry of Local Development, to organise and decentralise the management of agricultural and municipal waste and reduce the rates of open burning of waste.
Fouad further explained that this year’s system also witnesses the implementation of a plan by the Ministry of Environment to use the applications of modern technologies for monitoring systems for fires, emissions, early warning and air quality, and the implementation of joint campaigns between the Ministries of Environment and Interior to examine vehicle exhaust at the level of the governorates of Greater Cairo and Delta regions.
The Ministry of Environment has set a development plan to control the sources of pollution by dividing the work axes between the Ministries of Environment, Local Development, Agriculture, Housing, and Transport, in addition to the use of communication systems and electronic applications to link the central operating room with regional branches in the Delta governorates.
