CAIRO: A project designed to enhance and finance the management systems of Egypt's nature reserves was announced today by officials in the Egyptian Ministry of Environment and the United Nations Development Program (UNDP). The project will last six years and will be funded by the Global Environment Facility and the UNDP, said Mawaheb Abu el-Azm, executive head of the Environmental Affairs Authority. The project will fund three nature reserves: Ras Mohammad National Park in Sinai, Wadi Al Rayan in Fayoum, and Wadi el-Gemal Reserve in the Red Sea. The goal of the project is to increase the revenue of these reserves by 500 percent, open an environmentally-friendly investment fund, promote and preserve biological diversity and to create job opportunities. Biological diversity faces many challenges in Egypt, el-Azm added, including the lack of funding for such initiatives, climate change and toxic gasses in the air. Egyptian nature reserves are a main source of revenue in environmental tourism, which accounts for 60 percent of total tourism in Egypt.
