Egypt’s Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad; inaugurated the strategic planning workshop for natural reserves, and the second consultative session for the management of marine reserves, which is organized by the project for integrating biodiversity with ecotourism.
This came in the presence of Alessandro Fracassetti, the Resident Representative of the United Nations Development Program (UNDP), and Mohamed Aliouh, the Project Manager.
In her speech, the Minister of Environment stressed that Egypt is making unremitting efforts to achieve its commitment to the new global procedures in the United Nations Framework Convention on Biological Diversity and efforts to announce the post-2020 biodiversity framework at the Biodiversity Conference in Canada 2022.
Fouad indicated that the success of achieving the new vision in the management of reserves requires the availability of a number of factors, the first of which is the establishment of an organizational, institutional and legal system that allows for its implementation. Therefore, the Ministry of the Environment has put in place some organizing procedures, including collecting fees for practising activities in reserves in order to manage the volume of visitors to reserves in a way that does not constitute pressure on its resources.
The Minister of the Environment also stressed the importance of the human factor and the return of the relationship of harmony and compatibility between humans and nature, by training in management plans, and creating a dialogue with the main beneficiaries of the private sector and local residents of tribes and associations to present their views, stressing the importance of those voices and opinions in the success of the project.
For his part, Fracassetti stressed that effective management planning is an important tool to ensure the sustainability of any nature reserve, stressing the importance of ensuring the greatest possible consultation with stakeholders and setting mutually agreed goals that everyone adheres to.
He also expressed the pleasure of the UNDP providing support to the Egyptian government to declare a new marine-protected natural area in the southern Red Sea region.
