By A'laa Koddous Allah The Ministry of Environment recently launched a clean-up campaign for the Red Sea island of Magawish, which has been declared a nature reserve for seagulls and other migratory nesting birds. The Minister of Environment, Yasmin Fouad, said that the campaign was part of Egypt's preparations for hosting the Biological Diversity conference in November. It is also an update to the initiative, ‘Red Sea Islands free of plastic'. Plastic wastes are threatening the Red Sea's coral reefs, marine organisms and mangrove trees. The campaign also aimed to raise awareness of the importance of nature reserves and their role in preserving biological diversity by activating the principle of participatory management of natural resources and protected areas by the local community. "Egypt annually uses billions of pounds worth of plastic bags and these bags cause the death of millions of marine organism, most notably dolphins and turtles," the Minister said. "They are also a major cause of the destruction of the environment and the death of a large number of birds." Plastic bags block sunlight, food and oxygen from reaching coral reefs. This causes them to change colour and eventually leads to their death. There are also numbers of sinking roads in Alexandria due to the improper disposal of plastic waste in the drainage network. Ahmed Ghalab, the Director of the Red Sea Reserves, said that the beaches of Magawish island are exposed to currents of water and tides which throw garbage on the island's beaches and into a number of bays. "In addition to the help of divers to collect any remnants of plastic on the seabed and coral reefs, a number of motor launches were used. The waste collected was then taken to the desert for burial," he said. The aim of the campaign, he said, was to raise awareness of the importance of cleanliness of the beaches and the sea bottom to conserve the marine environment, beaches, coral reefs and diving areas. More than 120 people took part in the campaign. They were from the Red Sea Protected Areas, the environmental department of the governorate and the Environmental Protection Society. Volunteers from among the youth of Hurghada also helped. They were taken by boat to Magawish island. There they collected solid wastes and transferred them to the Hurghada public garbage dump. People from many diving centres also took part in cleaning the seabed around the island. The Environmental Society, which includes foreign tourists as members, urged the residents of Hurghada and their families and friends to increase the number of expatriates joining the initiative to clean the island. It offered to transport the volunteers by boat from the new Hurghada Marina back and forth as well as to provide them with hats, shoes to wear on the beach, gloves, towels and food.
