The Government of Egypt has prepared an official report for submission to the Secretariat of the United Nations Framework Convention on Climate Change.
The updated report states that Egypt is a developing country with a rapidly growing population, reaching about 102 million people in January 2022, and about 95% of the population lives in the Nile Valley and Delta.
With ambitious economic growth prospects, this demographic is putting significant pressure on natural resources, employment, infrastructure, education, and health care.
The government report says the Nile River is the main source of fresh water for Egypt, as it supplies Egypt with 55.5 billion cubic meters per year, according to the share agreed in international treaties. Other quantities are provided by non-renewable deep aquifers (2.1 billion cubic meters), rainfall (1.3 billion cubic meters) and desalination (0.35 billion cubic meters) to increase the total available water annually.
resources up to 59.25 billion cubic meters. m, and the total water demand is estimated at 114 billion cubic meters. m.
To fill this gap, the state expects the reuse of agricultural drainage and treated wastewater in the amount equivalent to 21 billion cubic meters. 1972 cubic meters per year in 1970 to 570 cubic meters in 2018.
It is expected to fall to 390 cubic meters per year by 2050, bringing the country closer to the threshold of acute water shortage. Egypt is experiencing a water shortage of 117% as of 2017 as a result of climate change and water pollution. Geopolitical factors This is expected to lead worsening water shortages in Egypt.
Scenarios indicate that the flow of the Nile to Aswan will decrease as a result of the effects of the entire Nile Basin, and Egypt is highly vulnerable to the impacts of climate change, as the Nile Delta is one of three hotspots highly vulnerable to the 2050 megadelta areas according to the IPCC.6 Estimates He suggests that sea level rise (SLR) could reach about 1.0 m by 2100, flooding many coastal areas in the Nile Delta, the northern coast, and the Sinai.
This will flood at least 1% of Egypt’s area, since most of its population lives on only 5.5% of its total area.
Salt water intrusion due to sea level rise, lower recharge rates, and higher evaporation rates at higher temperatures will expand areas of groundwater and estuary salinity, reducing the availability of fresh water available for drinking and irrigation.
30% loss of agricultural production in the Delta
Over 30% of the Nile Delta is lowland (below +2.00 m) and is subject to many risks such as erosion and flooding, and the Nile Delta provides about three-fifths of Egypt’s food production.
Egyptian studies predict that by 2030, due to the effects of climate change, the cultivated area will decrease to about 0.95 million feddans (8.2% of Egypt’s cultivated area). by 2030.
Source: Masravi