Egypt on Sunday celebrated the sixth International Day of Clean Air for Blue Skies with a "Race for Air" event at the Wadi Degla Protectorate, organised by the World Bank-funded Greater Cairo Air Pollution Management and Climate Change Project. The event, which is held globally on Sept. 7 each year, included races, clean-up campaigns, and interactive workshops, and was attended by officials from the Ministry of Environment, the World Bank, the Arab Union for Youth and Environment, and civil society organisations, as well as 100 youth and child volunteers. In a statement, Minister of Local Development and acting Minister of Environment, Manal Awad, said that improving air quality is a top priority for the political leadership and the government. She added that the day's activities were a joint effort with civil society, the private sector, and various community groups "for clean air and a more sustainable planet." "The running and cycling races are a strong message that active and sustainable modes of transport are a real and practical alternative to reducing emissions and improving air quality," said Mohamed Hassan, the national coordinator of the air pollution management project. He added that the clean-up campaigns and recycling workshops "made children ambassadors for the environment." Laurent Louis, a senior environmental specialist at the World Bank in Cairo, expressed his pleasure at participating in the event and affirmed the cooperation between the Egyptian government and the World Bank in implementing the Greater Cairo project, which he described as a "global example of how to address specific pollution sources… in an integrated manner." During the event, the Wadi Degla Protectorate was transformed into an open-air environmental workshop. Young volunteers led an extensive clean-up campaign, removing plastic and paper waste. Interactive workshops were held where participants created artwork from recycled materials and learned about reducing waste and air pollution.
