A study shows the climate change impacts on Egypt.

1. Climate change in Egypt, Perspectives, Impacts and Adaptation
Egypt is one of the transcontinental countries in this world, located
between the northeast corner of Africa and Southwest Corner of Asia via
a land formed by the Sinai Peninsula.
Most of Egypt`s territory which is about 1million square kilometers, lies
within the Nile valley of North Africa and bordered by the
Mediterranean sea to the north, the Gaza strip and Israel to the
northeast, the Gulf of Aqaba to the east, the Red sea to the east and
south, Sudan to the south and Libya to the west.
Egypt has a hot, dry desert climate; the temperature is very hot in
summer days and warm or mild cold in winter days.
Some mountain locations in the Sinai Peninsula, such as Saint Catherine,
have cooler night temperature more than any location.
Egypt receives its rainfall during the winter times, in Alexandria (the
second biggest city after Cairo the Capital) and other coastal areas of the
Mediterranean and red sea.
According to World Meteorological Organization (UN), Egypt receives
less than 80 mm of precipitation annually in most areas and almost
never rains in the summer.
Egypt is one of the potential vulnerable countries to the effect of Global
Warming and climate change and regarded as the fifteenth most
populated countries in the world with susceptible human-induced of
environment that would worsen the prevalent problems.
Egypt’s negative environmental consequences of climate change are
noticed in the rise of sea level, water scarcity, agriculture and food
insufficiency, and pressures on human health and the national economy.
The direct impacts of climate change on Egypt, will reflect on the
average temperature, which is expected to increase by 4°C in Cairo, and
by 3.1 °C to 4.7 °C in the rest of Egypt by 2060 (Gregory et al, 2007).

2. Also, the annual precipitation may drop by 10 to 40% over most of Egypt
by 2100, and the Mediterranean Sea level will rise by 0.5m by 2050
which could lead to flooding the coastal areas along the Nile Delta.
The rising of the sea level is one of the major threats that threaten
Egypt, specifically Alexandria, the major historical and cultural city, not
only in Egypt, but also globally, the city which contains Alexandria library
(The Bibliotheca Alexandrina) could be a victim of sea level rise.
According to a report produced for the Organization for Economic
Development (Agrawala et al, 2004), the Nile Delta is already subsiding
at a rate of 3-5 mm per year.
Just a.25-meter rise in sea level would devastate the populous cities
that drive Egypt’s economy.
Alexandria is not the only Egyptian city that would be devastated by
even a 0.5-meter rise in sea level, ( Agrawala et al,2004) study finds that
a 0.5-meter rise would cost over 2 billion dollars and eliminate over one
third of the jobs located in Rosetta, another city in the Delta.
The Egyptian Report to the United Nations Framework Convention on
Climate Change (UNFCCC) in 1999 estimated that sea level rise would
force the migration of 2 million people currently living in the Nile Delta.
Other cities threatened by a rising sea level in the delta include Port
Said, Matruh City, and Arish City.
Climate change will harm Egypt’s tourism sector through sea level rises
and ocean acidification.
The Nile Delta is home to much of Egypt’s tourism, and for cities like
Alexandria or Matruh City, the threat of a rising sea level will reduce
both their adaptive capacity to sustain tourism as well as the desire of
tourists to visit them. Forty-nine percent of Alexandria’s tourism
industry would be underwater if sea level raised 0.5 meters.
In addition, high levels of carbon dioxide in the atmosphere will result in
ocean acidification, destroying coral reefs.

3. The bleaching of the coral reefs is not just the loss of an important
ecosystem, but also the elimination of a prime tourist attraction.
Disruption to the Egyptian tourism sector could have broader societal
implications, as 20% of Egypt’s foreign currency earnings are from
tourism and according to Egypt’s Minister of Tourism, 12.6% of the
workforce depending upon the travel industry.
Egypt is like other developing countries, seeking for development and
economic growth and at the same time, aims to reduce the impacts of
climate change in the future, but it cannot work alone without aids from
other developed countries , there are some obstacles which could
hinder the efforts to overcome the climate change, one of these
obstacles is the poor awareness about about the climate change within
general public of Egyptian people, more efforts are needed to discus the
negative impacts of climate change on Egypt specially on the tourism
sector.
On the other hand , Egyptian government responses to climate change
by trials to reduce greenhouse gas emissions by increase reliance on
renewable energy sources like solar and wind energy.
By 2020 Egypt plans to produce 20% of its energy from renewable
sources. Egypt has already received 300 million dollars from the World
Bank’s Clean Technology Fund and is planning to implement and support
further development and proliferation of renewable energy technologies
Egypt’s geography allows for the development of several sources of
renewable energy on a large scale.

4. References:
Agrawala s., Moehner a., El raey m, Conway d., Van aalst m., Hagenstad
m. And Smith j. Development and climate change in Egypt :focus on
coastal resources and the Nile. 2004
Gregory, Rafik Youssef and Soliman, Adel Tawfik. Egypt’s National Study
Final Report. Prepared for Plan Bleu. March 2007
Weather Information for Cairo". World Meteorological Organization.
Retrieved April 14, 2014.