Egypt's Minister of Environment Yasmine Fouad said on Friday that the ministry is working on preparations for countering black cloud, the process that will be conducted by all who are interested in environmental affairs including staff members of the ministry, youth, citizens, and collectors of rice straw. Egypt faces the black cloud every year following the season of harvesting rice, in summer months. The black cloud is a result of burning huge amounts of rice straw in the cultivated land in the Nile Delta. During a meeting for heads of the ministry's sectors, Fouad stressed that she aims to achieve a recycling system of agricultural wastes to get the highest benefit from it by innovative tools and solutions, as well as providing job opportunities for youth. According to a statement, the ministry is working on putting rules to enable youth and the private sector to engage in environmental work, raising environmental awareness, providing job opportunities, providing funds for environmental investment, as well as pointing out stories of success in environmental work. She also stressed that environmental work has become an opportunity, as achieving environmental aspects for development helps in achieving socio-economic aspects, and the system of managing environmental wastes is part of the comprehensive environmental system. Executive chief of the Environmental Affairs Agency Mohamed Shehab, said during the meeting that success in countering air pollution waves last year was a result of the success of the ministry's environmental system.
