Egypt’s Minister of Water Resources and Irrigation Hani Sweilam participated on Wednesday in a virtual meeting of the Committee of Leaders of the Coalition for Water and Climate.
During his speech, Sweilam referred to the activities of the upcoming UN Conference of Parties on Climate Change (COP27) — which will be held in Sharm El-Sheikh this November — as Egypt seeks to include water issues in the conference activities, placing the water sector at the top of the international climate agenda.
He added that the extreme weather phenomena that the world is already witnessing in many countries requires the mobilisation of international efforts in the field of adaptation and mitigating the negative effects of climate change.
The minister also pointed out that Egypt — in cooperation with many international partners — launched an international initiative to adapt the water sector to climate changes during the activities of the COP27, inviting members of the committee to support this initiative, which deals with water and climate challenges at the global level with a focus on developing countries.
Sweilam added that this initiative aims to achieve integration between water policies and scientific research to prepare future measures in the field of adaptation.
The initiative includes a number of axes concerned with rationalising water usage and improving water supply, linking water resource management policies with climate action at the national level for each country, and working to improve early warning systems for crises and natural disasters.
He especially stressed the need to provide the necessary support for the development and application of early warning systems in the field of water and climate at the regional level to increase the readiness of all countries in dealing with extreme weather phenomena such as floods and drought in a manner that provides protection for citizens from the dangers of climate change.
