Supporting Egypt to advance their NAP process

The Arab Republic of Egypt is dry, hot and mostly arid, with a mild winter season and a hot and dry summer. Egypt’s landscapes, people, and economy are highly vulnerable to the ongoing impacts of climate change and the Intergovernmental Panel on Climate Change (IPCC) listed the Nile Delta as one of the world’s three “extreme” hotspots. National development is challenged by the increasing frequency, intensity and magnitude of extreme weather events such as heat waves, flash floods, and heavy precipitation, as well as sand and dust storms. Damage to infrastructure, beaches and fertile land, as well as salt water intrusion is projected have most severe impacts on the water resources, agriculture and fisheries, energy and tourism sectors. 

 

Egypt is already Africa’s third most populous country, with 96.6 million residents (2016), high population growth, at over 2 percent per annum, and rapid urbanisation is putting serious stress on water supplies. These already prevalent issues will be compounded by climate change impacts, further threatening water security, food security, and the health of the human communities and biodiversity. The agricultural industry - already responsible for 85 percent of water consumption – will be restricted by water availability. Climate change studies have already predicted that this, among other impacts like higher temperatures and more prevalent pests, will likely reduce the productivity of the two major crops – wheat and maize – by 19 percent by 2050. Other economic impacts will be felt through the productivity of solar and other energy infrastructures, as well as the through the tourism industry, which will be hampered by dust storms and heatwaves. Egypt’s ability to respond to these impacts is challenged by low technical capacity for adaptation planning and limited information on the severity of climate risks and vulnerabilities. Climate change impacts detrimental to economic productivity will further reduce Egypt’s capacity to address these issues.

 

The Government of Egypt has sought to address these issues through a number of institutional arrangements, such as the National Adaptation Strategy (2011) and the Sustainable Development Strategy – Egypt’s ‘Vision 2030’. Moreover, in 2015, Egypt submitted an Intend Nationally Determined Contribution (I/NDC) to the Paris Agreement as well as embarking on a process to develop a NAP. The NDC highlights the country’s climate vulnerabilities (agriculture; coastal zones; tourism, especially coastal-orientated tourism; national heritage; health; and energy) as well as outlining conditional commitments to take adaptation actions to protect these areas. The Government of Egypt is seeking funding support from the Green Climate Fund to advance the development of a NAP with the goal of decreasing vulnerability to climate change. The funding will allow the Government of Egypt to improve institutional and technical capacity for adaptation planning, examine climate risks, determine priorities, integrate climate change adaptation into national and sectoral planning and budgeting, and increase future investment in adaptation actions, and make progress towards transformational development and achieving the Sustainable Development Goals.