Cairo -
The Egyptian Ministry of Environment announced the selection of Kharga city (the capital of the New Valley Governorate) as the first environmentally and climate-friendly city in the country, coinciding with the celebration of World Environment Day.
In a statement issued earlier this week, the ministry stated that a specialized committee was dispatched to examine the environmental situation of Kharga (southwest of the country), and study the elements of declaring it the first environmentally friendly city.
The Minister of Environment, Yasmine Fouad, said, "The evaluation process that was carried out to declare the city environmentally friendly took into account the basic needs of humans, including the use of drinking water, sanitation, energy and rationalization of the use of natural resources."
The Minister of Environment during an inspection tour in the city of Kharga (communication sites)
The Minister indicated - during an inspection tour of Al-Kharga last Sunday - that the Ministry of Environment used equipment to monitor air, water and noise quality in the city over a period of 6 months, stressing that it already conforms to all established standards, and is an ideal model for eco-tourism.
The area of Al-Kharga city is 8.6 square kilometers, or 19.6% of the total area of the New Valley. It is inhabited by about 95 thousand people, representing 39.6% of the population of the governorate. It is famous for its manufacture of dates and pottery.
Why Kharga?
According to government officials, a number of factors qualified the city of Kharga to become the first environmentally and climate-friendly city in Egypt, such as:
The absence of any sources of industrial pollution, as there are no factories in the city except for canning dates.
high average per capita share of green spaces;
At a rate of 9.5 palm trees per person, 520 square meters of field crops, 18 square meters of productive trees, and a per capita share of land of 500 square metres.
Kharga depends on new and renewable energy sources (solar energy and natural gas) in homes, government facilities, places of worship, street lighting, and water extraction from irrigation wells.
Noise levels in the city throughout the day do not exceed the permissible limits in the Executive Regulations of Environmental Law No. 4 of 1994.
There are lanes and space for bicycles, as well as encouraging public transportation.
There are air quality monitoring stations affiliated with the Directorate of Health Affairs, modern laboratories for water quality monitoring affiliated with the Ministry of Water Resources and Irrigation, and noise monitoring devices affiliated with the Department of Environmental Affairs in the governorate.
It contains all sewage and treatment services.
Waste in the city is separated and recycled, including food waste, and used to make fertilizer for agriculture.
The tendency to abandon the use of single-use plastic bags under the slogan "a city without plastic", and in that a unit for paper industries was established to produce paper cups and bags.
Over the past 3 years, many afforestation projects have been implemented, including afforestation of the road leading to the city's airport with a length of 11 km with about 7,000 trees, and the establishment of a nursery on an area of 5 acres and containing 30,000 diverse seedlings.
Launching the initiative to plant rooftops, which aims to cool the weather, achieve self-sufficiency in food, provide job opportunities for women, and teach children and youth the importance of agriculture.
A artisanal area has been designated two kilometers from the city with an area of 59 acres, and all polluting workshops and activities have been moved outside the residential block.
The Minister of Environment confirms that "Al-Kharga" is an ideal model for eco-tourism (communication sites)
palm waste
The Arab Organization for Industrialization is preparing to establish a factory specialized in using palm waste and fronds to produce pressed wood panels in the city of Kharga.
Head of the Arab Organization for Industrialization Abdel Moneim Al-Terras confirmed that the project is the first of its kind in the world, and will be implemented in cooperation with a German company specialized in manufacturing compressed wood.
He added - in statements on the sidelines of his participation in the activities of the Islamic Development Bank Group meeting last Saturday - that the production capacity of the new factory will reach 100,000 cubic meters of wood panels annually, pointing to the economic and environmental benefits of the project.
Al-Terras pointed out that Egypt annually imports about 500,000 cubic meters of wood, at a value of 350 million dollars.
Egypt owns about 15 million palm trees, of which 2.5 million are in the New Valley Governorate, and is the first in the production of dates with a total of 1.6 million tons annually.
Sharm El Sheikh is green
In a related context, the project document "Sharm El Sheikh is a green city" was signed last Monday, which is a project funded by the Global Environment Facility and implemented by the Environmental Affairs Agency in cooperation between the Ministry of Foreign Affairs and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP).
On the sidelines of the document signing ceremony, the Minister of Environment said that the project aims to transform Sharm El Sheikh (the largest city in South Sinai Governorate) into an environmentally sustainable and integrated tourist city at an estimated cost of $7 million.
She added that an integrated strategy for sustainable development will be developed in Sharm El-Sheikh by adopting more low-carbon technologies, good waste management practices, and more enhanced protection for the city's natural capital.
Sharm El-Sheikh is scheduled to host the Climate Change Conference (COP27) in November.
In the context of the celebration of World Environment Day: The Minister of Environment announces the city of Kharga, the first environmentally and climate-friendly city in the New Valley Governorate
The city of a snapshot of the Minister of Environment
in the desert, where there are no trees cut down and no residents who work as a shower, and whoever wants to deceive the Minister, please go outside pic.twitter.com/VGtEmh0Kal
— Already Happened (@7adasBelfe3l) June 5, 2022
We know more information about emissions, energy sources and renewable resources, especially water and transportation methods.
I wish it had specific goals instead of vague descriptions. The
Minister of Environment: We have been working for 6 months to declare the city of Kharga a climate-friendly – Gateway… https://t.co/BX3wAGmKSF
— nabeel elhady (@nolhady) June 6, 2022