Climate Change in Egypt - Case Study Example

Climate Change in Egypt Lecturer Due Introduction Egypt stands as one of the main developing countries in Africa. The country is located onthe northern side of Africa close to the Red and Mediterranean Seas. Cairo is the country’s capital city. Egypt forms part of the world’s oldest civilizations. It is a centre of agriculture, tourism, fishing, and business. However, located within the Sahara desert the country faces various climatic problems that affect it in diversified ways. The country suffers through global warming, which threatens to destroy its economy (Parry, 2007). Scientific evidence puts the effects of Green House Gases and global temperatures rise as the root cause of global warming; hence climatic change. With unfavourable weather conditions to facilitate normal farming, the country employs the use of greenhouses to enable farmers to grow and take care of their crops. Despite the advantages, greenhouses produce carbon dioxide (CO2), a gas that propels heat retention in the atmosphere leading to global warming. Climatic Change initiates several negative impacts on a county’s economy based on several activities. Egypt is the most politically and economically developed nation among other third world countries found in the Nile Basin. However, climatic change threatens the country’s economic, political, and social position (Moran, 2011). This makes the nation vulnerable to decreased economic growth, unfavourable weather and geographical conditions, and poor agriculture. Socially, climatic change affects population growth and leads to emigration. This results to slow economic growth and subsidised country production. The country’s officials have teamed up with the science, weather forecast, and agricultural teams in order to initiate ways of handling the issue. The team has initiated and developed several counter-actions to assist in saving the country from the terrible outcomes of global warming and climatic change. Impacts Impacts of climatic change on weather and geography Climatic change leads to a rise in atmospheric temperatures. Increase in temperature leads to melting of ice in the highlands and mountains. Eventually, this leads to an increase in sea level resulting to submergence of coastal land. Decrease of land affects economic growth and hinders several activities such as farming and industrialization. According to reports released by Agrawala et al for the Organization for Economic Development, the Nile delta subsides at a rate of 3-5mm per annum. Carbon dioxide concentration in the air leads to high acidic rainfall, which dissolves and destroys coral reefs around the coastal region. Furthermore, rise in sea level also leads to destruction of coral reef, which supports the ecosystem and is a tourist attraction. Climatic change has also led to the decrease in volume of water flowing through the River Nile (Watson, 1998). Low rainfall and high rate of evaporation reduces the amount of water in catchment areas hence decrease in the size of the River. Climatic change affects and leads to unfavourable weather conditions. Over the 20th century, meteorologists have noticed a 0.5 degree increase in temperature per decade (Scheffran, 2012). Climatic change as a result of global warming affects weather patterns. Egypt currently experiences low precipitation and increased temperatures. The country experiences strong floods and extreme drought as a result of global warming, which affects the nation’s climate leading to extreme rainfall and sunshine. The dynamics of climatic change lead to unpredictable weather conditions that disrupt and bring confusion to the agricultural activities in the country. Greenhouse gases produce carbon dioxide, which affects and destroys the ozone layer hence leading to rise in atmospheric temperatures. Eventually, this reduces amount of rainfall anticipated due to a higher rate of evaporation of surface water. Impact of climatic change on the Economic activities Egypt’s lists itself as one of the uprising developing countries among Africa’s south global nations. The country practices activities such as farming, fishing, tourism, and production of hydro-electric power. However, climatic change poses as a major hindering factor in relation to economic growth in the nation. In the agricultural sector, unpredictable weather patterns make it difficult for farmers to practice effective farming (Deressa, 2007). Extreme precipitation leads to floods which destroy crops and cause soil erosion. Soil erosion leads to the degradation of soil fertility hence poor and unhealthy growth of crops. On the other hand, extreme sunshine conditions lead to drought which affects all life. Lack of precipitation over a long period makes agricultural production a difficult and nearly impossible activity. High rate of evaporation as a result of climatic change has led to the decrease in volume of water in the Nile Basin (Scheffran, 2012). People depending on the water for farming face vast challenges and at times leads to conflict between communities. Low agricultural production lowers Gross Domestic Product in the country hence slow economic growth rate (Dinar, 2008). Impacts of climatic change also pose a threat on food security. Currently, Egypt imports 40% of its food and 60% of its grain. In 2010, most of the people in the Nile Valley and Delta suffered from the heat wave that hit the region. It led to poor agricultural production hence increasing price on food. The need to set up projects such as Nile Delta Irrigation project, increases the cost of production, which simultaneously leads to increase in the cost of food (Deressa, 2007). Fishermen who rely on fishing as an income earner are also at a disadvantage due to lack of enough fish as a result of lack of enough water. This leads to poor and low standards of living hence increasing level of poverty in the region. Climatic change also impacts the level of employment in the nation. Unfavourable climate leads to low production, and with low production producers employ fewer personnel. The high cost of living also leads to low employment. This creates a loop of no production in the nation hence a rise in poverty level, poor standards of living and other related factors (Deressa, 2007). The country faces slow economic growth rate as a consequence of unemployment. Lack of any solution may lead to negative economic growth rate. Rising sea levels force destruction and relocation of industries situated along the Nile Delta. Most entrepreneurs planning to invest in business activities or set up industrial firms around the delta get discouraged by this fact. Lack of investment leads to reduced employment and low domestic production in the region hence poor economic growth. Rising sea levels also affects the tourism sector due to the destruction of coral reefs by acidic water (Parry, 2007). The Nile Delta is home to most of Egypt’s tourist attraction sites, but climatic changes destroy tourist attraction sites. The tourism sector provides 20% of Egypt’s foreign exchange money (Moran, 2011). Coral reefs and the coast provide tourists with beautiful sites to visit, but with their destruction tourism decreases hence poor state income (Verner, 2012). Excess heat and strong floods prevent tourist from visiting the area. Extreme weather conditions lead to poor transport in the region slowing down any activities including tourist transportation. The heat wave in 2010 affected the tourism sector just as the agricultural sector due to unfavourable health conditions. Few tourists visited the country. Impact on Aswan High Dam and Production of HEP Climatic change bears both positive and negative impacts on building of dams and production of Hydro Electric Power. Climatic change forced the Egyptian government to come up with a way to store water through the construction of dams; for example, the Aswan High dam (Giupponi, 2003). The presence of this issue led to the innovation of a facility that could provide multifunctional services to the people of Egypt. Increase in temperature, which leads to more ice melting, increases the volume of water in the Nile. This provides additional water, which power plants use to produce hydro-electric power. At the same time, the dam acts as a water reservoir that provides people with water for irrigation. For example, in cases of high rainfall the dam stores the water, which the country utilises during long dry periods. This enables farmers to acquire water for their crops even when the rains fail. However, after the construction of the dam progressive increase in temperature leads to low electricity production since there is less water to turn the turbines (Giupponi, 2003). Climatic change affects the reliability of hydroelectric power; therefore, discouraging any investments in sectors such as the manufacturing industry, which depends on reliable power supply. This eventually slows and stalls economic growth in the nation. Impact of climate change in the socio-political arena Egypt’s population almost completely depends on the River Nile, which supplies 95% of the country’s water. Most of the people settle along the banks of the river, and approximately 40% of the population resides along the coast. Historically, Egypt utilizes 66% of the Nile for its economic and domestic activities (Scheffran, 2012). However, with the current climatic crisis other regions demand an equal share in water usage. A cold political conflict between Egypt and its surrounding countries has developed with no apparent solution in sight. With the diminution in the amount of rainfall, an increase in the numbers of people and a rise in economic development there is a huge demand for water. The demand for water, which is so little, threatens the rise of political instability within the nation and externally. Harsh climatic conditions force people to move from one region to another seeking out for water. The extremely high temperatures also lead to emigration of people to other favourable regions. With the predicted rise in sea level, 40% of the population living at the coast anticipate relocating to suitable environments. High cost of living that develops due to the lack of enough resources propels human migration. Migration results to uneven distribution of people, which leads to uneven production in a nation. The country loses its work force hence low production leading to slow economic growth. The extreme weather conditions affect human health most elderly people developed health conditions during the 2010 heat wave. Drought leads to the loss of life and poor health due to lack of enough food. Lack of enough water increases waterborne epidemics since people use whatever drop they get. Vulnerability The Nile provides 95% of Egypt’s water used for irrigation, industrial purposes, and in carrying out economic activities (Scheffran, 2012). Most of the country’s population settles along the course of the river while a third of the population settles at the delta. Therefore, the country is extremely vulnerable to any adverse climatic changes, which may lead to unavailability of water (Strzepek, 1995). Climatologists in conjunction with scientists have come up with several predicaments stating the future position of the nation as a result of the impacts of climatic change (Parry, 2007). The team has also come up with several factors, which explain and show Egypt’s vulnerability to climate change. Predictions show that lack of proper solutions places Egypt in a difficult position. It might suffer from drought, unavailability of water, decrease in level of water, in the Nile, and loss of arable land (Leary, 2013). Factors such as increased desertification increase in human population, progressive emission of CO2 from green houses, and global warming make the country extremely vulnerable to impacts of climatic change. The Sahara desert is the world’s largest desert, its experiences extremely high temperatures. Egypt constitutes some of the countries found within the desert. This classifies the region as a place of extremely high temperatures and very low rainfall per annum. Naturally it is a desert, and nothing can be done to change that. Temperature rise at a rate of 0.5 degrees per annum. Climatologists expect a 1.5 to 4.0 rise in temperature by 2050 (Scheffran, 2012). This factor increases the nation’s vulnerability to climatic change and its impacts. Unavoidable high temperatures increase the rate of water evaporation hence decreasing size of the River Nile. Global warming is a factor affecting so many countries around the world. Most countries suffer from high temperatures, extreme sunlight conditions, and unpredictable heavy rainfall. This uncontrollable and unfavourable conditions place Egypt at a highly vulnerable position. Global warming decreases the level of rainfall in the region hence decreasing the amount of water in the river Nile (Navarra, 2013). Cases of extreme heat are likely to be seen in the near future. Such impacts may lead to migration of people to neighbouring nations in order to elude the harsh weather. A study carried out in 1995, indicates that constant rise in sea level threatens the submergence of land arable for farming. This not only risks impact on the agricultural sector but also the tourism sector. Destruction of the coastal tourist attraction sites by acidic water reduces chances of tourists visiting the country. Farmers use greenhouses due to unfavourable climatic conditions to grow crops since it is easy to control the inside temperature. The climatic conditions leave farmers with no other efficient practice but to use greenhouses. Therefore, it is difficult to prevent the use of greenhouses in the region. Greenhouses release large volumes of carbon dioxide. Scientists and geologist reveal that CO2 affects the ozone layer and leads to slow destruction of the protective layer. Penetration of harmful sunlight propels development of other factors such as desertification, global warming and increased atmospheric temperature. Carbon dioxide also leads to the formation of acidic rain. Acidic rain destroys soil nutrient composition and leads to lack of fresh water (Lichtfouse, 2013). Unsolved disputes due to high demand for water by other neighbouring countries exposes the nation to political instability. High demand for water increases with a decrease in the amount of water found in water sources. This leads to political differences, and with the increase in human population and decrease in the amount of rainfall Egypt is highly vulnerable to the political impact caused by climatic change. From the factors discussed, it is true to argue that present uncontrollable factors lead to the development of other secondary factors (Mintzer, 1992). This creates an unstoppable loop of factors, which put the country at a great risk towards exposure to climatic change impacts. Adaptability With the aspiration to take control over the situation, the UN Development Program in conjunction with Egypt’s Ministry of Water and irrigation and National Water Research Centre has come up with software to manage water. The software gives different scenarios in climatic change hence providing a plan to manage water storage. There still are several uncertainties pertinent to the effects of climatic change on the river Nile. However, Egypt has set up several contingency policies to enable it to adapt to the climatic changes (Agrawala, 2005). The Ministry of Water and Irrigation explains ways in which the country can improve on increasing the amount of water. OECD proposed ways of attaining other sources of water to prevent overdependence on one source of water (Agrawala, 2005). Some of the implanted ideas involve harvesting rain water and storing it in large reservoirs for future use. The second process involves extraction of underground water from underground wells and streams. This provides clean water for domestic and industrial use. The next adaptation process involves recycling water. Water used in industries could be refined and cleaned and released back to the river. Despite the desert conditions in the region, such adaptation tactics enable the region to carry out agricultural activities. The nation has also developed several strategies in order to adapt to the food crisis brought about by climatic change and poor agriculture. Some of these adaptation strategies include state providence of meteorological information. The state should provide farmers with accurate weather information for a period of six to eight months. Weather information disseminated assists farmers to select crops which can survive the anticipated climatic conditions (Bicknell, 2009). Through weather forecasting, farmers are able to plan on how to store water in order to survive through anticipated cases of drought and low rainfall. The government funds and supports the nation’s meteorological team and also uses outside help from United Nations agencies to assist in gaining better information. Adaptability to climatic change ensures food security in the nation. It enables farmers to maintain high productivity throughout the year hence reducing cases of high food pricing. Promoting scientific research in the country enables farmers to know better ways of utilizing carbon dioxide (Fujikura, 2011). As seen before, carbon dioxide is one of the promoting factors in climatic change. However, with developed scientific information farmers can find better ways of utilizing carbon dioxide emitted from Green Houses. Farmers have developed ways of recycling carbon dioxide and methane gas produced by livestock. The methane gas provides energy for cooking or electricity in the home. Nitrogen gas manufactures fertilizers used in improving the soil fertility. The Agricultural Ministry funds the science department in order to enable it to come up with new and better ways of carbon dioxide utilization. All this leads to improved agriculture and food security The government decided to concentrate on one main sector which agriculture in order to reduce the burden on farmers. Farmers go through many problems especially in terms of resources such as water. The expensive it is for a farmer to conduct his or her production activities, the higher the pricing on food at the end of the day. The state chips in, in a bid, to neutralize the water issue hence lessening the farmers’ burden (Fujikura, 2011). The State improved the road network in order to provide easy mode of transport. It has also invested in agriculture through the creation of irrigation schemes, which provide people with enough water. Through such improvements, the state can increase food security as well as provide employment to the people of Egypt. This improves the living standards of the residents and also increases economic growth rate. A set of preventive and precautionary measures create the adaptation policies towards climate change impact on the tourism sector. The state proclaims marine and wildlife protectorates as the most vulnerable regions hence given more attention. The government implements direct positive defensive measures that involve protection of the Egyptian coast from destruction through rising sea level. These measures include construction of protective barriers towards protection of the coastal zone. Conclusion This discussion clearly shows the existence of an indirect link between the primary effects of climate change such as temperature and low precipitation, and secondary effects on agriculture, tourism, and social political arena. Egypt faces various challenges including an increase in population, scarcity of resources such as water, and less arable land for farming. When these factors link to other factors such as CO2 release and increased desertification, the nation becomes highly vulnerable to the effects of climatic change. However, the country’s government has come up with several adaptation strategies in order to save various sectors such as the agricultural, tourism, and water availability. As the state continues to develop more strategies, it should aim at more flexible actions, which will cater for all sectors during different situations. References Agrawala, S., & Ahmed, A. U. (2005). Bridge over troubled waters linking climate change and development. 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