THE LIFE Red Sea Project, funded by USAID, held two workshops from 19 to 23 March in Shalateen and Marsa Alam. Environmental Award Programme (EAP) workshops, the events drew over 50 participants from all walks of life -- male and female, government representatives, locals and environmentalists. The EAP is a strategy aimed at boosting public awareness of and participation in the management and protection of the environment. "We hope that through this programme, participants will benefit and become models," said Bakr El-Rashidi, governor of the Red Sea. Through sustainable development in the form of ecotourism, he added, the EPA aims to protect the environment while fulfilling the needs of tourists and locals along the southern Red Sea coast. El-Rashidi also spoke of better interaction among social representatives thanks to the workshops, mentioning the kind of improvements in standards of living they are expected to give rise to. For his part Abdel-Megid Abdel-Razeq of Life Red Sea said that during the period of 2002-2004, the EAP has been successfully implemented as a one-year programme in parts of the Delta, Alexandria, Cairo, Hurghada, Al-Qusseir, Safaga and Ras Gharib: "Throughout these years of touring Egypt, we learned a lot and developed the EAP accordingly. Through implementing the programme in the Red Sea we aim at providing permanent and temporary work opportunities..."
