Read at : Google Alert – desertification
http://weekly.ahram.org.eg/2011/1053/ec3.htm
Hyper-arid Egypt
A recently issued UN report reveals that desertification is among Egypt’s main environmental threats. Reem Leila leafs through the report
On the occasion of the World Day to Combat Desertification and Drought, marked on 17 June, a UN report entitled Desertification Challenge in Egypt revealed that Egypt ranked first in the rate of desertification. Egypt is facing a serious challenge in its swift loss of agricultural lands. According to the report, Egypt is losing its fertile lands faster than any other country. The report reveals that Egypt is losing 3.5 feddans of its agricultural lands every hour, the equivalent of 30,000 feddans per year due to urban spread- out and construction. This is an unprecedented record in the global rate of deforestation. (One feddan equals 4200.83 metre square, also 0.42 hectares).
The report, authored by Ismail Abdel-Galil, the national coordinator for the UN Convention to Combat Desertification, stated that during the past three months — after the 25 January Revolution — the loss of fertile land has escalated to five feddans per hour due to the state of chaos and lack of security. “Egypt is losing thousands of fertile feddans formed through the accumulation of the River Nile’s alluvium throughout the past thousands of years. This is almost impossible to be repaired due to the decline in land reclamations policies adopted by the government,” stated Abdel-Galil.
According to the report, the reduction of agricultural lands increases the food gap, thus leading to importing more food and agricultural products. This provides decision- makers with a hint about the likely increase in the import bill.
The UN report also pointed out that this month there were 158,000 transgression cases on agricultural lands compared to 128,000 cases last month.
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