Egypt will participate on Saturday in 2016's ''Earth Hour" activities by turning off lights at tourist attractions between 8:30 and 9:30 pm, state news agency MENA reported. Last year, more than 172 countries participated in the environmental campaign, which started in 2007 in Sydney. Key monuments that are "switched off' include London's Big Ben and Paris' Eiffel Tower. Egypt has participated in the scheme since 2009, by turning off power at key tourist sites including the Giza Pyramids, the Sphinx, Cairo's Citadel, Cairo Tower, and a number of hotels, in coordination with the tourism and culture ministries and provincial administration. The environment ministry said in a report on on Friday that the main goal behind turning off the lights was not to just reduce power consumption for an hour, but to unite nations in the mission to protect the planet. The report added that Egypt's participation over the past years in the initiative has lead to a decrease in the consumption of power of about 100 megawatts, which is equivalent to the power generated by two small generating plants. Last November, President Abdel-Fattah El-Sisi presented Egyptian and African initiatives to face climate change at the UN summit on the issue in Paris, calling for international support for African countries to face the impacts of climate change. http://english.ahram.org.eg/News/193304.aspx
