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. With the situation being what it is, Salah Arafa, physics professor at the American University in Cairo (AUC) and head of the Dialogue Forum for Participation and Development, says there is a dire need to take swift political and legislative decisions in order to keep the country from experiencing famine. "Current laws and regulations governing the process of buying and owning lands in the desert must be properly and closely reported," said Arafa. According to Arafa, increasing youth awareness about the importance of leaving the narrow strip of the Nile Valley to the spacious desert is a must. "The government along with all the concerned authorities must provide adequate financial support to youth in order to encourage them to leave their homeland to the desert to build new communities," stated Arafa. The population will increase during the coming 30-40 years; accordingly, it is essential that at least 40 million people within the coming few years must leave the valley to the desert. According to Mohamed Deraz, head of the Desertification Research Centre in Egypt, youth must be provided with training courses -- for at least a year or two -- in order to educate them on the best possible means of leading their lives in the desert. According to Deraz, youth should be provided with proper machinery in order to help them in cultivating the land and digging for water. They must also be trained to live in different circumstances. The government must build schools, universities, hospitals and provide transportation in order to encourage youth to go and live in the desert. "Each of the five million unemployed citizens can be granted 10 feddans for reclamation. Within a few years, Egypt will be covered in green instead of the desert as is the case now," suggested Deraz. At the same time, laws must be strictly applied on anyone building over cultivable lands. "The law exists but it is not enforced," said Deraz. Deraz raised the other important issue of water desalination utilising solar power might play an essential role to encourage youth to live in the desert. "We are facing a serious problem; this requires immediate intervention by adopting new laws and legislations because this is Egypt's only way out." said Deraz. According to the report, two million feddans are suffering from salination. Some 60 per cent of cultivated lands in the northern part of Egypt are affected by salt due to the misuse of irrigation water and an improper field drainage system.
